Skip to Main Content
×
Visitors, please read the Law Library's Visitors Policy for updated visitor's requirements.
If research assistance is needed, please do not visit the library without receiving confirmation of your appointment from a library staff member.

Legislative History

This LibGuide will help users locate documents and conduct legislative history research at North Carolina Central University School of Law's Library.

Illustration of How a Bill becomes a Law

Click on the image below to open in a new window.

Image created for the Design for America contest sponsored by Sunlight Labs.

Introduction to Legislative History

Legislators pass laws with specific goals in mind.  Unfortunately, these goals are not always clear - especially when there has been no judicial interpretation of the law.  This is why legislative history research is conducted.  Researchers pull together all of the documents created in the passing of a law and strive to ascertain what the purpose of the law is and how it should be interpreted and applied.