The collection can be sorted by the popular name of the law, by the date of its enactment, or by descriptive category of naming convention. The categories are our attempt to bring some degree of order to the chaos.
Database of Federal Statute Names
Database of Federal Statute Popular Names
| Title |
Type |
Popular Name | Short Title | Named For? | Classification | PL | Statute At Large | Date(s) Enacted | Interesting Part Statutized? | Leads to other named Legislation | Link/Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legislative Pay Act of 1929 | Description | Legislative Pay Act of 1929 | "Legislative Pay Act of 1929" | Ch. 33, 46 Stat 32 | ||||||||
| Right to Work Law | Description | Right to Work Law | NO short title | 29 USC 164 | ch 372, S 14, 49 Stat 457 | N | nothing in statute about "Right to Work", cited as the "National Labor Relations Act"; "Right to Work" never statutized | |||||
| Federal Switchblade Act | Description | Federal Switchblade Act | NO short title | 15 USC 1241 | 85-623 | 72 Stat 562 | N | not statutized (though amended in 1986 by 100 Stat 3207) | ||||
| Baby Doe Amendment | Case | Baby Doe Amendment | NO short title | Series of "Baby Doe" child endangerment cases in the early 1980s. | 98-457, title I part B | 98 Stat 1752 | N |
Kathryn Moss, "The 'Baby Doe' Legislation Its Rise and Fall" Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 4 (June 1987) |
services and treatment for disabled infants -- possible that "Baby Doe" was an individual infant and this was passed in response?? | |||
| Sabbatino Amendment (see Hickenlooper Amendment) | Case | Sabbatino Amendment (see Hickenlooper Amendment) | NO short title | Sen. Bourke Hickenlooper (IA) introduced the amendment, and the name "Sabbatino" comes from Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398 (1964). The amendment reversed the Court's holding in favor of the validity of the act of state doctrine. | 22 USC 2370(e )(2) | 88-633, part III, ��_��__301(d)(4) | 78 Stat 1013 | N |
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000559 |
Unclear why the Hickenlooper Amendment listed in the PNT is from 1964. It was first attached to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1962 (76 Stat 255). Also, Rep. Hays apparently claimed co-parentage of the amendment (see W. Averell Harriman, The Protection of Foreign Investment and the Hickenlooper Amendment, 112 U.Penn.L.Rev. 1116, http://www.jstor.org/pss/3310530) | ||
| Wunderlich Act | Case | Wunderlich Act | NO short title | Named for U.S. v. Wunderlich (1951); Act was enacted to overturn the decision | ch 199, 68 Stat 81 | X | nothing in statute; permitting review of decisions by govt agency heads | |||||
| Hiss Act (Pensions) | Case | Hiss Act (Pensions) | NO short title | Accused spy and convicted perjurer Alger Hiss | ch. 1214, 68 Stat 1142 | X |
Hiss v. Hampton, 338 F.Supp. 1141 (D.D.C. 1972) |
nothing in statute | ||||
| Petrillo Bill | Case | Petrillo Bill | "Communications Act of 1934" | Defendant James Petrillo in U.S. v. Petrillo (332 U.S. 1, 1947), who was prosecuted for violation of a provision of the Communications Act of 1934. Petrillo was the head of the American Federation of Musicians. | 47 USC 609 | ch 652, 48 Stat 1064 | N | "Petrillo" not statutized; short title at end - "Communications Act of 1934" (creating FCC); Although the two acts are cross-referenced in the PNT, the "Petrillo Bill" was actually an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, adopted on April 16, 1946. See American Newspaper Publishers Ass'n v. NLRB (345 U.S. 100) (1953). | ||||
| Jencks Act | Case | Jencks Act | NO short title | Named for Clinton Jencks, a union organizer whose appeal to the Supreme Court (in Jencks v. US, 353 US 657 (1957)) spurred Congress to pass a law requiring prosecutors to produce a verbatim statement or report made by government witnesses in federal criminal trials. | 18 USC 3500 | 85-269 | 71 Stat 595 | Y |
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/dec/31/guardianobituaries.film |
name not statutized; BUT referred to as "Jencks Act" in notes by the Advisory Committee on Rules in the 1983 FRCP revisions | ||
| Thomas Alva Edison Commemorative Coin Act | Award | Thomas Alva Edison Commemorative Coin Act | "Thomas Alva Edison Commemorative Coin Act " | Inventor and New Jerseyian Thomas A. Edison, in aticipation of the 125th anniversary of his invention of the light bulb. | 31 USC 5112 (note) | 105-331 | 112 Stat 3073 | Y |
Findings in text of legislation. |
short title and long title |