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The Law Library has a physical archive of the following superseded materials:
Terminology:
The Legislative Counsel Bureau's Research Library has created a collection of historical documents relating to Nevada statutory law. These include the admission acts; a handwritten version of the original 1864 state constitution; and documents relating to the development of the current Nevada Revised Statutes.
The Nevada Constitution is included in the official Nevada Revised Statutes as well as in the unofficial versions of the NRS published by Thomson Reuters (West) and Michie's (Lexis). All of these versions of the constitution are annotated with references to judicial opinions interpreting various constitutional provisions.
The Legislative Counsel Bureau's Research Library has created a collection of historical documents (linked above) which includes a typewritten and handwritten copy of the Nevada Constitution. A current version of the constitution is also linked. This site also provides access to the Official Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Constitutional Convention of the State of Nevada, Assembled at Carson City, July 4, 1864, to Form a Constitution and State Government. This document is helpful in researching constitutional history in that the drafters of the constitution discuss the reasons why specific provisions were included.
Commentary on the Nevada Constitution
Although this guide focuses on Nevada primary sources, there are a few books on the Nevada Constitution that might also be helpful with constitutional research:
The flow chart below illustrates the publication process for laws enacted by the Nevada Legislature.
The current statutory code is the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS).
The NRS was first published in 1957 and is republished every two years to align with the Nevada Legislature's biennial meeting schedule. The Legislature meets in odd-numbered years with the occasional special session(s) occurring in the even-numbered years. When special legislative sessions occur in even-numbered years, update pages are provided to replace affected pages.
The official NRS is published by the Legislative Counsel Bureau in loose-leaf binders and is annotated.
Where to find the Nevada Revised Statutes:
Nevada's session laws are the Statutes of Nevada. Session laws contain all of the laws passed by a legislature in one legislative session. They are organized chronologically in the order in which each law was passed (but not necessarily by the date each law will become effective). Not every law that is published in the session laws will also be published in the Nevada Revised Statutes.
Where to find the Statutes of Nevada:
The pre-NRS statutory compilations are:
The prior statutory compilations are available in print at the NSCLL as well as in PDF format through HeinOnline (accessible only in the Law Library).
Understanding how to use these history notes is vital in learning the origin of Nevada’s statutes. A statute from 2019 could have been enacted as early as Nevada statehood in the 1860s, or from another state. These historical statutory codes help lead you there.
A CAUTIONARY NOTE ABOUT WESTLAW: Westlaw is inconsistent with citations to pre-NRS statutory codes. As such, it is advisable to do historical statutory research using the NRS as provided by the LCB.
In 1911, three very important acts were enacted that serve as the foundation of many civil and criminal laws:
Many provisions of the current NRS have as their origin one of these three major acts.
Unfortunately, committee minutes documenting legislative intent were not kept until 1965. For a chronological description of how each of the 1911 Acts progressed through the legislative process (as reported in Assembly and Senate Journals), consult these documents:
Additionally, identifying the jurisdiction from which a Nevada statute is based is often possible to ascertain by referencing the annotations to the sections from the Revised Laws of Nevada (1912—the first place these acts were published -- they were exempted from publication in the Statutes of Nevada). Some, but not all, statutory sections have origins in California statutes, and references will be made accordingly.
You will know you're dealing with one of the 1911 Acts if your statutory history note looks like one of the following examples: