44 U.S.C. § 1501
Section 1501 · Definitions
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 46 court decisions — leading case Rodriguez v. Suzuki Motor Corp. (1999)
Most recently applied in Humane Society of the United States v. AGRI (July 2022)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires—
"document" means a Presidential proclamation or Executive order and an order, regulation, rule, certificate, code of fair competition, license, notice, or similar instrument, issued, prescribed, or promulgated by a Federal agency;
"Federal agency" or "agency" means the President of the United States, or an executive department, independent board, establishment, bureau, agency, institution, commission, or separate office of the administrative branch of the Government of the United States but not the legislative or judicial branches of the Government;
"person" means an individual, partnership, association, or corporation;
"publish" means to circulate for sale or distribution to the public, as determined by the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register; and
"National Archives of the United States" has the same meaning as in section 2901(11) of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., §304 (July 26, 1935, ch. 417, §4, 49 Stat. 501).
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2025—Pub. L. 118–267 inserted definition of "publish".
1984—Pub. L. 98–497 inserted definition of "National Archives of the United States".
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985, see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under section 2102 of this title.