Okay, but the USC and the CFR seem to cover the same subjects. Title 33 is "Navigation and Navigable Waters" in both of them. So...I don't understand the difference.

Is it that the Code covers the specific laws that have been passed by Congress, and that the CFR takes that as a basis and then creates federal regulations?

They shouldn't conflict, should they?

Ok, imagining little Nilly cracking up at Ernie and dying of teh cute.

I don't know if the US is the same, but here, the laws deal with the thou shalts and shalt nots and the regulations deal with the administrative requirements that fufill the shalls and shan'ts.

Is it that the Code covers the specific laws that have been passed by Congress, and that the CFR takes that as a basis and then creates federal regulations?

Yes. In the index to the CFR there's a table that tells you where the authority is (in the USC) that gave the agency the right to make regulations on a certain subject.

They shouldn't conflict, should they?

They shouldn't. I wouldn't necessarily be surprised if there was an instance where the agency's interpretation seemed wrong.

Um, how does one do that? "Hey, kid, wanna neglect some words? all the cool kids are doing that!" sort of thing?

Well, give us a little credit; that's not much of a trick.

Penn & Teller have done a mind-reading act with the Bible, though. Maybe it's like that. Or, I dunno, pulling Leviticus out of a hat.

Okay, got it. Thanks, everyone whose name starts with S. (Sparky, Stephanie, Sue.)

Dana, Stephanie, Sue and Sparky1 are of course correct. The US Code stuff passed by Congress establishes what the law is, and among other things gives the agencies power to pass regulations to help enforce/promote the law, while the CFR regulations fill in the details on how the law is implemented.

If there is a conflict (and it happens a fair bit), the US Code wins. That usually takes a court case though.

eta: Too late. Never mind.

Too late. Never mind.

No, no, more information is never bad.

If there is a conflict (and it happens a fair bit), the US Code wins. That usually takes a court case though.

I think it's not that there was a conflict in my case, but that I was expecting information to be in the U.S. Code which is only in the CFR. Which makes sense now that I understand which is which and what does what.

Which makes sense now that I understand which is which and what does what.

That last part puts you ahead of many many lawyers.

Oh, and just because I like to really beat a subject to death, I use the Immigration parts of the USC and CFR every day. I generally think of the USC part as the overarching guideline. It's also the authority we quote whenever we approve/deny something. However, the CFR addresses the nitty gritty procedural stuff and, as already mentioned, it can be changed by our agency. So, if we don't like the way something is working, we can change it.