Slip Law

In the United States federal system, a slip law is the initial official pamphlet publication of an Act of Congress after it has been signed by the President, enacted over a veto, or otherwise become law. It is prepared and distributed by the Office of the Federal Register (National Archives and Records Administration) and printed by the Government Publishing Office. Each slip law contains the full text of a single public or private law, along with marginal notes, a citation to the Statutes at Large, references to the U.S. Code sections affected, and a legislative history summary.

Slip laws are the first authoritative text of a new statute available to the public. They are designated by a public law number in the form "Pub. L. No. 117–169" (the digits before the dash indicate the Congress; those after indicate the chronological order of enactment in that Congress). They serve as competent evidence of the law in federal courts under 1 U.S.C. § 113 until superseded by the bound Statutes at Large volume for that session, which then becomes legal evidence of the laws contained in it.

The publication sequence for U.S. federal statutes typically runs:

• Slip law — individual pamphlet, issued shortly after enactment
• Statutes at Large — chronological bound compilation by session of Congress
• United States Code — subject-matter codification, updated every six years with annual supplements

Many U.S. states publish analogous slip laws or "slip sheets" for their own enactments, though terminology varies (e.g., "chapter laws" in some jurisdictions). The United Kingdom equivalent is the individually published Act of Parliament issued by The Stationery Office before inclusion in the annual bound volumes.

For researchers, slip laws matter because they are often the only available text of recent legislation for weeks or months before codification, and because the public law number is the standard citation form used in agency rulemaking and litigation.