Behind the search

How it works.

Collect the text

We collect statutes and regulations from public sources, including government downloads, websites, and dated archives. We keep the source files so sections can be checked against the material they came from.

We reproduce the legal text and leave out publisher-added commentary and indexes. We don't write summaries or legal interpretations.

Where a state does not publish its code in a form we can collect, we start from a dated copy: the publisher's own pages as saved by the Internet Archive; the state's own files as republished by Public.Resource.Org, which puts them in the public domain; or the Open US Law dataset published by Vaquill AI. We use only its releases published under CC BY 4.0; from v2026.09 Vaquill licenses it CC BY-NC 4.0, and we do not use those releases. The legal text itself is public domain. Sections that come from a copy say so beside the text, with the copy's date, and we replace them from the official source when it becomes available.

Georgia is the clearest case. The state published its whole code as a download every quarter for four years and then stopped; Public.Resource.Org kept every release. We read the November 2022 release, so the Georgia text here does not include laws passed after the 2022 session, and every Georgia section says so beside it.

Mississippi is a mixed case. The copy we can collect leaves out twelve of its fifty titles, including the criminal code, so for those we use the state’s own 2020 download, which Public.Resource.Org also kept. A Mississippi search can return sections with two different dates, and each section shows its own.

Arkansas and Tennessee are the same kind of mixed case. The Arkansas copy is missing the commercial code (sales, leases, checks, bank deposits, secured lending), and the Tennessee copy is missing most of one title: public health and safety, from the health department and vital records to the building and elevator codes. For those we use each state’s own 2020 and 2021 download. As with Mississippi, a result can be older than the ones beside it, and each section shows its own date.

Keep the date with it

A section's date reflects its source's publication date, edition, or archive date. It is not necessarily the date the law took effect. Older snapshots are labeled, and a known newer source version is flagged beside the text.

See coverage for the dates of each collection.

Check each update

Automated checks look for missing text, unexpected changes in section counts, and broken citations. When a new collection fails its checks, we keep the previous accepted copy while the problem is investigated.

Find a section

Search with a topic, a question, or a citation. We combine word matches with matches in meaning, then show passages from the original text. A citation takes you straight to the matching section.

Results are starting points for reading. A section can match your question without applying to your situation. Try a shorter phrase if you don't find what you need.

Find the right place

A state search includes that state's text and federal law. For a street address, we use the US Census Bureau's address lookup to identify the state, county, and city, then search the collections available here.

Local coverage is limited. When text isn't in the collection, the agent tools can point to other code sources where known.

Correct mistakes

If a section looks wrong, send us the citation or page link. We check it against the saved source and publisher.