About

How to Use LexFed

What is LexFed?

LexFed is a unified reference for federal law — the United States Code (USC) and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in one place, cross-referenced and searchable. It exists because most federal law reference sites are difficult to navigate, poorly cross-referenced, and use jargon that makes them inaccessible to anyone without a legal background.

USC vs. CFR

The U.S. Code (USC) contains the permanent statutory laws passed by Congress. When Congress passes a law, it is codified into one of the 54 titles of the U.S. Code. Statutes are the source of authority — they delegate power to agencies to write regulations.

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) contains the regulations written by federal agencies under authority delegated by Congress. The CFR has 50 titles roughly matching the USC. Every CFR section should cite back to an authorizing USC statute — LexFed links them bidirectionally.

AI Summaries

Each section can be viewed in three modes: the original legal text, a plain English restatement, or an ELI5 (explain like I'm 5) summary. The plain English and ELI5 summaries are generated by Claude (Anthropic's AI) and cached on first request.

Important: AI summaries are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Always consult the original statutory text and a qualified attorney for legal questions.

Navigation Tips

  • Use Search to find sections by keyword across both USC and CFR.
  • Use Topic Hubs to jump straight to a subject area.
  • On any section page, scroll down to see linked implementing regulations (for USC) or authorizing statutes (for CFR).
  • Use the Previous / Next links at the bottom of each section to read sequentially.
  • The Changes feed shows recent CFR amendments with Federal Register citations.

Data Sources

Open Source

LexFed is open source. View the code on GitHub.