Division of Archives and Records Service

Utah Code Annotated, i 1851-

View history of records' creator.

Schedule Description

In these volumes, known under various names, the laws passed at the annual sessions of the legislature are recorded, repealed laws are deleted, and the current laws grouped systematically by topic. Most have annotations which provide additional information on the law in question. The first compilation was published in 1851. Thereafter the governor and legislature periodically appointed a commission to help compile and recodify the laws. Compilations were made in 1851, 1855, 1866, 1870, 1888, 1898, 1907, 1917, 1933, 1943, and 1953. Periodic updates, in the form of replacement volumes and pocket supplements, were made on the 1933, 1943, and 1953 editions to bring their holdings up to date with the current changes in the law.Any record, regardless of format, that is issued by a governmental entity for public distribution at the total or partial expense of that governmental entity. See Utah Code Section 9-7-101 8(a)(b) (2010) and 9-7-208 (2006)

Scope and Content

In these volumes, known under various names, the laws passed at the annual sessions of the legislature are recorded, repealed laws are deleted, and the current laws grouped systematically by topic. Most have annotations which provide additional information on the law in question. This information may include legislative histories, references to secondary sources, notes to decisions of the Utah appellate courts, and other explanatory material. Copies of both the state and federal constitutions are also recorded in the Revised Statutes of 1898 and in The Utah Code Annotated. Other federal laws as they pertain to Utah territory are also frequently included at the beginning of volumes issued prior to 1898.

The history of the Compiled Laws of Utah starts on February 27, 1851 when Willard Richards published a compilation entitled Laws and Ordinances of the State of Deseret. Thereafter, the governor and legislative assembly periodically would appoint a Code Commission, in 1941 known as the Compilation Commission, to help compile and recodify the laws.

A report by the Code Commission to the State Legislature entitled Proposed Revisions of the Statutes of Utah led to the 1898 publication of the Revised Statutes. The compiled laws were revised again in 1933. To keep up with changes in the law made at each legislative session, periodic updates to the compiled laws were issued. The first of these was published in 1939 to bring the laws contained in the 1933 Revised Statutes up to date as of January 1, 1939.

On January 26, 1943, Senate bill 18 passed approving, adopting, and legalizing a six volume set of compiled laws known as the Utah Code Annotated. This set was in use from 1943 until 1953 when, due to the growth of state government, it became necessary to replace the six volume set of the code with a larger set. Therefore, on March 12, 1953, the Legislature passed Senate bill 125 which approved the Utah Code Annotated 1953 in ten volumes by the Allen Smith Company. Supplements and replacements were published by the Allen Smith Company until 1986 when the publication rights were passed to the Michie Company.

Along with the volumes of the Utah Code Annotated for 1943 and 1953 are pocket supplements to update the volumes when there were changes in the law. The supplements themselves were often supplemented. There were interim supplements published and used until the new pocket supplements arrived. Special supplements were published after special legislative sessions or when material arrived too late to be incorporated in an earlier pocket supplement. When the supplements for a volume became too large or too numerous, a complete second volume would be published as a replacement volume. Some volumes were broken into A, B, and C sections if the original became too large. Others, like the Uniform Probate Code and the Criminal Code, originally appearing as titles in volume 8, became separate volumes.

This series contains originals, supplements, and replacements. However, an office would normally keep the original and supplements until a replacement volume was issued. Then the original and supplements would be discarded, and the replacement and its subsequent supplements retained until a second replacement volume was issued, and so forth. Thus you would always have a correct copy of the current law; you would not have a complete record of the interim changes.

From the territorial period until statehood, the Secretary of the Territory was in charge of seeing that the compiled laws and codes were printed and distributed. After statehood, the duty of overseeing the printing and distribution of the laws was held by various agencies at various times, including the State Board of Examiners, Legislative Printing, the Finance Department's Division of Documents, and the State Archivist.

Notes

Microfiche holdings require staff assistance due to fewer reference copies. Handle masters under supervision.

Entries are numerical by chapter and section until 1933 when it moves to title, chapter, and section. Volume 8C appears out of sequence after vol. 9B on reel 115.

The various supplements were not issued regularly, but as needed. In addition, there are some gaps in the holdings: the 1943, 1947, 1949, and 1951 pocket supplements to the 1943 code; many of the 1953 supplements to the 1953 code; the 1985 supplements to vols. 1A, 1B, and 4B; 1986 replacement vols. 1B, 6A, 7A part I; the 1986 cumulative or interim supplements to vols. 3A, 3B, 5B, 8B; the 1987 cumulative or interim supplements to vols. 1B, 1C, 2B, 4B, 5A, 7A pt. I, 8C, and parallel tables. The subscription was allowed to lapse in 1988, so holdings are limited that year. Known gaps include replacement volumes for volume 10, 11, Judicial Administration, and Utah Court Rules; cumulative supplements for replacement volumes 1A, 2A, 3A, 3B, 3C, and 8C; supplements for replacement volumes 1B, 2B, and 4A; and an interim supplement for replacement volume 5B.

There are no supplements for 1997.

The subscription to the annotated code lapsed between 2007 and 2009. Replacement volumes for 2007-2008 along with supplements issued in 2008 were obtained from other libraries and additional purchases. However, October 2008 Utah Court Rules Supplement remains missing.

The Utah Court Rules for 2020 were never received. Also at this time, the subscription changed management. Every effort was made to ensure complete issues for affected years, but there may be gaps as a result in the superseded collection.

Paper, damaged binding - Older volumes need rebinding

Microfiche processed by Rebekkah Shaw under the National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant to the Utah State Archives and Records Services for the Utah Microfiche Backlog Project (Grant No.: NAR10-RB-50086-10). July 2010 - December 2011

This series was processed by A.C. Cone in September 1990. Additions in holdings are made as needed. A large set of volumes and supplements from 1992 to 2002 were filmed in 2006. All holdings from 2003 onward will be retained permanently in paper format after being superseded.

Additional paper holdings from various sources were processed by Gina Strack in July 2025, covering from about 1971 to 2002. All but a few (noted as "none" for reel numbers) had been microfilmed in the past and will be preserved in paper with later volumes.

The agency and title were updated in August 2023 by Gina Strack to reflect a more accurate creating office of the Division of Archives and Records Service and a formal title.