Connecticut Statutes & Acts

Currently, the General Statutes of Connecticut are organized into titles, chapters, and sections.

Titles are the largest categories, covering broad subject areas.

Within the titles are chapters that focus on smaller subject areas. (Title 42a contains articles instead of chapters, but the function of these is the same.) Some large chapters are further subdivided into Parts.

Finally, there are sections within each chapter, and section numbers are typically what are used to identify specific laws.

As shown in the example below, following each section of the statutes is a list of every public act that has amended that section. Researching the legislative histories of these acts can help explain how and why each of the laws has changed over time. The references to judicial opinions citing the section, which are printed after the list of amending acts, offer insight into the interpretation of the laws, as well.

Please note that in the statutes published by the State of Connecticut, the earliest possible amendment to be listed in the amending acts will be the 1949 Revision. However, this is a cutoff date that usually indicates that the statute existed prior to the that revision and that further research is required to identify the act that originally established the statute. When researching legislative history, it may be helpful to consult the annotated statutes published by Thomson-West, as these provide notes on derivation from acts that pre-date the 1949 Revision.