Why Research Historical Utah Statutes?

While the most recent version of Utah statute is the only version that is currently binding law, attorneys frequently must answer questions about the legality of actions taken years ago, when the law may have been different. Additionally, revisions to the law and the original text can yield convincing arguments for differing interpretations of a current statute’s purpose and meaning. Therefore, many legal practitioners find themselves digging into the history behind a Utah statute.

Utah Legislature’s Website

The official website of the Utah State Legislature—le.utah.gov—is home to the most updated version of Utah law.  It is also where you can find recent proposals to change the law, along with detailed legislative history on past proposals.  For all bills from 1990 to present, the website contains the bill text and a recording of the applicable floor debates.  For more recent bills, recordings of committee hearings and a detailed voting history is also available.

HeinOnline

HeinOnline contains a collection of historical Utah statutes, as well as territorial laws and the laws of the State of Deseret.  While not a complete collection, it is especially useful for researching Utah laws prior to the 1953 recodification.  HeinOnline is available to BYU Law students, BYU students via the Harold B. Lee Library, and to members of the public at one of the Law Library’s legal research terminals.  These historical Utah laws can be found within the “State Statutes: A Historical Archive” collection.

Westlaw

Westlaw contains annotated Utah Code going back to 2004.  Similar to a paper annotated code, the most recent version of a statute will tell you the law that originally enacted it, as well as all laws that have modified that section. The “History” tab at the top also lets you compare the language of past versions of the statute, and Westlaw typically has the text of the session law and the enrolled bill text as well, all valuable for legislative history research.  Westlaw is available to BYU Law students, and to members of the public at one of the Law Library’s legal research terminals.

Utah Law Digital Commons

The University of Utah currently has a compilation of PDF scans of historical Utah Code from 1953 to 1995 available here: https://dc.law.utah.edu/uca/.  The University is in the process of making earlier code versions available as well, and will post new uploads to that site.

BYU Law Library

The BYU Law Library maintains a collection of the Laws of Utah from 1855 to present.  Additionally, the library has copies of the compiled Utah Code for most years since 1953, including annotated versions.  Certainly with older statutes, but even with more recent law, it is often far more efficient and effective to come look through these volumes in person, rather than searching in Westlaw or the legislature’s website. These volumes are mainly found in the basement of the law library, with a limited selection kept in the Reserve Room.

 Research Tips:

  • If the historical statute  is still in modern code to some extent, start with the annotated code of that section, as it will list historical changes to the code and which session law those changes will be found in.  You can then find the law in the correct Laws of Utah volume, which will tell you the bill that enacted that law, as well as the bill sponsors.  This can also be helpful if you are looking for legislative history.
  • Sometimes the legislature has merely renumbered a section of code, without actually changing the substantive law.  The annotated code should list the previous code number, but it is always wise to check an older version of the code to see if you can find similar language.
  • Don’t forget about the index! Many versions of the Utah Code and Laws of Utah will have a topical index, making it much easier to find renumbered statutes or laws for which you don’t know the code section number.
  • Prior to 1970, the state only published Laws of Utah on odd years (at the end of the 2-year legislative term).  Thus, there is no distinct session law for even-numbered years prior to 1970 (e.g. 1964, 1902, 1878, etc.)
  • Ask for help!  There is almost always a Reference Assistant at the Reference Desk, and they are more than happy to answer questions or assist you in finding a particular statute.

If you’re looking for a specific historical code section but are unable to come into the library in person, feel free to email Reference Services at reference@law.byu.edu and they can likely send you a scan of that section.

Written by Henry Wright (3L)

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