196:, "From 1897 to 1907 a commission was engaged in an effort to codify the great mass of accumulating legislation. The work of the commission involved an expenditure of over $ 300,000, but was never carried to completion." During the 1920s, some members of Congress revived the codification project, resulting in the approval of the Code by Congress in 1926.
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However, a House committee decided that in the process of codification, the commission had changed the original statutes too much. Congress then authorized a joint committee to appoint someone to finish the project, and
Washington D.C. lawyer Thomas Jefferson Durant then finalized a revision that
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was ratified, those needing to research federal law had no official codification upon which to authoritatively rely. Instead, the only way to accurately know the law was to consult the individual acts of
Congress, which had been compiled and published since 1845 as
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Various problems soon emerged with the first edition, including substantive errors. On March 2, 1877, the
Congress called for an updated and expanded edition of the Revised Statutes. Charles Pinckney James was again called to service to support
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as these commissioners. Cushing, James, and
Johnston were unable to complete their task within the allotted time. Congress continued the work by passing a continuation of the original act in 1870. President
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Following the second edition, subsequent new enactments by
Congress were not incorporated into the official code. Thus, over time, researchers once again had to delve through many volumes of the
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By a separate Act of June 20, 1874, Congress required the
Secretary of State to publish it, and once published in 1875, it became "legal evidence" of the laws of the United States.
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The second edition was just one volume. Unlike the first edition, Congress did not enact the second edition into positive law. Instead, the second edition was specified to be
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was issued in 1878 that remedied some of those problems. However, for the next 50 years, subsequent Acts of
Congress were not regularly incorporated into the
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264:. Revision and Consolidation of the Statutes. An Act to provide for the Revision and Consolidation of the Statute Laws of the United States.
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recommended such revision in his annual message of
December 3, 1861. It was not until 1866 and the administration of President
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281:. Statutes of the United States. An act to provide for the revision and consolidation of the Statutes of the United States.
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was to make it easier to research federal law without needing to consult the individual Acts of
Congress published in the
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evidence of the law that could be rebutted by referring to the original legal text of session laws in
Statutes at Large.
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of Massachusetts began to press Congress to revise and consolidate national statutes in 1851. Ten years later, President
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The Act called for three commissioners to carry out this work for three years, and President Johnson appointed
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An Act to provide for the Revision and Consolidation of the Statute Laws of the United States.
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After problems were quickly identified in the first edition, a second edition of the
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of the Acts of Congress. It was enacted into law in 1874. The purpose of the
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Second edition of the Revised Statutes of the United States (1878):
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First edition of the Revised Statutes of the United States (1875):
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renewed the appointment of Charles Pinckney James but called on
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Charles Sumner: his complete works. With Introduction by Hon.
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and Victor C. Barringer to replace Cushing and Johnston.
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Congress approved Durant's revision and enacted it into
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in 1926, which is now regularly maintained and updated.
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undid the substantive changes made by the commission.
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or use unofficial, privately published supplements.
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First official codification of the Acts of Congress
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222:. In Custodia Legis blog, Library of Congress
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305:Burdick, William L. (March 1925).
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312:American Bar Association Journal
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