Code of Federal Regulations
A few volumes of the CFR at a law library
(titles 12-26).
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
is the codification of the general and perman-
ent rules and regulations (sometimes called
administrative law) published in the Federal
Register by the executive departments and
agencies of the Federal Government of the
United States. The CFR is published by the
Office of the Federal Register, an agency of
the National Archives and Records Adminis-
tration (NARA).
The CFR is divided into 50 titles that rep-
resent broad areas subject
to Federal
regulation.
Background
Administrative law exists because the United
States Congress often grants broad authority
to executive branch agencies to interpret the
statutes in the United States Code (and in un-
codified statutes) which the agencies are en-
trusted with enforcing. Congress may be too
busy or congested to micromanage the juris-
diction of those agencies by writing statutes
that cover every possible detail, or Congress
may determine that the technical specialists
at the agency are best equipped to develop
detailed applications of statutes to particular
fact patterns as they arise.
Under the Administrative Procedure Act,
the agencies are permitted to promulgate de-
tailed rules and regulations through a public
"rulemaking" process where the public is
allowed to comment, known as public inform-
ation. After a period of time, the rules and
regulations are usually published in the
Federal Register.
Effect of administrative
law
The regulations are treated by the courts as
being as legally binding as statutory law,
provided the regulations are a reasonable in-
terpretation of the underlying statutes. This
"reasonable interpretation" test or Chevron
doctrine was articulated by the U.S. Supreme
Court in a unanimous decision (6 voting, 3 re-
cused) involving a challenge to new Clean Air
Act regulations promulgated by the Reagan
administration in 1981. See Chevron U.S.A.,
Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council,
Inc..[1]
For example, if Congress pass