Reference Question of the Week

Why do they ask you to cite to the official code when no one seems to ever really use it for research? Most people seem to research on Lexis or Westlaw. And even if they don't have access to that, they would probably use an annotated code, rather than the official U.S.C.

Answer: Unofficial codes, especially those on Lexis and Westlaw, are updated more frequently than official codes like the U.S.C., which makes them much easier to use in research, since it is much easier to see if a code section has been amended. But these frequent updates also make it harder for a researcher trying to verify a source at a future date to be sure that the researcher is looking at the identical code that was cited. Changes that are only noted in pocket parts are hard to verify, since pocket parts come and go. A code section that was cited in an unofficial code volume could have appeared in a volume that has subsequently been replaced, and that might make it difficult for the researcher to see the code section as it was at the time cited.

Online it is even more difficult for a researcher to be sure he or she is looking at the code as it was when it was cited. When citing to a code in an electronic database, a writer is required to “give the name of the database and information regarding the currency of the database as provided by the database itself.” (Bluebook Rule 18.1.2) A researcher in the future would never be able to recreate the database as it was on the date cited once the database has been amended with new information. This citation form should only be used if a statute is too new to be in any print form.

Both the U.S. and Massachusetts have official codes that make it easy for a subsequent researcher to determine that he or she was seeing the statute exactly as it appeared at the time it was cited to, and that is why citation form requires use of the official code, even though most research is conducted in unofficial codes online or in print.