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LRAW Research Spring 2024

How are Regulations Found?

Three Finding Methods

Three methods for finding South Carolina regulations are:

  1. by citation,
  2. by table of contents, and
  3. by subject.

The examples below illustrate situations in which these methods can be helpful.

Finding SC Regulations by Citation

Scenario: You read in a secondary source that the way to claim prizes in the South Carolina Education Lottery is described in a regulation numbered 44-70.

Since you know the citation, you can enter 44-70 into the search box of Westlaw, Lexis, or the SC Legislature website to retrieve the regulation.

Scenario: You decide to use a citation to this regulation in legal writing that needs to conform to the Bluebook. 

In order to check that a citation is correct according to the Bluebook, you'll need to look it up in print.

A volume of the SC Code of Regulations. The spine indicates this volume contains regulations "R 44-10 to R 61-17" which includes the regulations of the South Carolina Lottery Commission.

You can locate a regulation by citation in the print South Carolina Code of Regulations by first finding the volume that contains the correct range of chapter and section numbers. The range is printed on the spine.

To confirm that you've cited the regulation correctly, you would choose the print volume featured at left, since the range listed on the spine (R 44-10 to R 61-17) includes R 44-70.

Two pages from the print SC Code of Regulations. At the top of the page, the agency name (Lottery Commission) is listed as well as guide numbers indicating that the pages include regulations "R 44-50.20" to "R 44-80."

You would then use the guide numbers at the top (at the top left is R 44-50.20, and at the top right is R 44-80) to help you turn to the page containing the correct chapter and section, R 44-70. See Citing SC Regulations for more details in the cite-checking process.

Finding SC Regulations by Table of Contents

Scenario: You have been asked to find the Lottery Commission's regulations on claiming prizes. If you do a keyword search, other agencies' regulations might also appear in your search results (for example, the Department of Revenue may have a tax regulation that mentions lottery prizes), and you don't want to waste time looking at any other agencies' regulations.

 

If you know the name of the relevant agency, it can be helpful to 

  1. start at the SC Code of Regulations' Table of Contents
  2. find the name of the agency as a chapter name, then
  3. locate the relevant regulation from within the list of that agency's regulations.

South Carolina Legislature: Table of Contents

On the South Carolina Legislature website, you can start at the SC Code of Regulations' Table of Contents by clicking on Code of Regulations.

Then find the name of the agency as a chapter name by doing a ctrl+f or cmd+f search for Lottery Commission.

Open Chapter 44 as Word or PDF version, then search using ctrl+f or cmd+f for Claiming Prizes

Screenshot of SC Legislature website home page, noting a link to the "Code of Regulations" under "South Carolina Law"""

Screenshot from SC Legislature website; browsing list of chapters of the Code of Regulations, noting Chapter 44

Scenario: You've found the right regulation, but you "don't know what you don't know" about how to interpret it.

 

You should always check to see if surrounding sections may contain definitions, exceptions, or other important context that could affect the meaning of a particular section of the SC Code of Regulations. 

The Table of Contents lets you "zoom out" to see a regulation in context.

The Previous and Next buttons let you move section by section, forward or backward through the regulations, like turning pages of a book, to see a regulation in context.

In Print: Table of Contents

If you already know that R. 44-70 describes "Claiming Prizes" you can find other, related sections in print by turning to the beginning of the chapter (Chapter 44) and browsing the listing of sections. 

You might think that if there's a time limit for claiming lottery prizes, that the time limit would be found in R. 44-70 "Claiming Prizes." Actually the time to claim a prize is in the "Definitions" section under "Unclaimed Prize" (180 days).


Westlaw: Table of Contents

Once you have found a South Carolina regulation in Westlaw, such as R. 44-70 on "Claiming Prizes," you may think this is all you need to know about claiming prizes from the South Carolina Education Lottery.

However, R. 44-70 does not answer the question of whether someone must appear in person to claim a lottery prize. If your search results didn't lead you to it, how would you discover that R. 44-80 discusses "Assigning the Right to Claim a Prize?" We can suggest two ways:

  1. Check the Table of Contents and quickly skim the headings of related regulations in the same chapter, or
  2. Use the "Previous" and "Next" arrows beside the Table of Contents button, to see if the regulations immediately before and after affect the meaning of the regulation you've found.

Lexis Advance: Table of Contents

On Lexis, the Table of Contents menu is to the left, and the "Previous" and "Next" links are at the top left and top right.

screenshot

Finding SC Regulations by Subject

Scenario: You need the lottery regulations. You don't know the specific agency or the citation. All you know is that the topic of the regulations you need is lotteries.

 

Using keyword search on Westlaw or Lexis to find regulations by subject is similar to keyword searching for statutes. If you need a review, look back at Finding South Carolina Statutes on Westlaw and Lexis.

Westlaw: Using the Index

Another option when searching by subject in Westlaw is to use the index. There is not a separate index for SC regulations. All SC statutes and regulations are grouped by topic in one index. Remember that you want to find and read all related statutes and regulations on your subject, because you want to find all relevant rules.

To use the South Carolina Statutes Index for both statutes and regulations:

  1. Navigate to South Carolina Statutes & Court Rules;
  2. Select the link for the South Carolina Statutes Index on the right under Tools & Resources.
  3. Either search in the box at the top, or click on a letter of the alphabet and scroll down in the alphabetical list. When you find a topic that looks relevant, click on it to see a list of links to related statutes and regulations.
  4. Links to statutes begin SC ST. Links to regulations begin SC ADC.Screenshot from Westlaw Edge, noting the entries in the SC Statutes Index under "Lotteries." One of these entries is listed as "Definitions, SC Adc 44-10."

South Carolina Legislature: Keyword Searching

When you click on Code of Regulations on scstatehouse.gov, you don't immediately see a search box.

Click on "Search the Full Text of the Code of State Regulations" to get a search box.

screenshot snippet of https://scstatehouse.gov/coderegs/statmast.php indicating where to click on Search the Full Text of the Code of State Regulations
 
Your search results will be a list of chapter numbers and agency names. Each chapter may contain one instance of your search terms or many instances; you'll have to click the link to the chapter to see.
 
The South Carolina Legislature website makes some unusual assumptions about keyword searches you type in the search box—unusual compared to Google, Westlaw, or Lexis keyword searches. If you're getting unexpected results (or lack of results) on the South Carolina Legislature website, we recommend clicking on "For help with formatting search criteria, click here."
 
Screenshot of SC Legislature website, noting search help links at the top of the page. Search help information opens in a new pop-up window, and explains available advanced search formats. Also featured are the results of keyword search of the Code of Regulations for the terms "Lottery Commission," which retrieves Chapter 44.

 

Every document in your search results will automatically include arrows around your original search terms where each appears in the text. Click these arrows to navigate to each occurrence of these search terms in your results.

Screenshot of South Carolina Legislature website, noting Chapter 44 of the Code of Regulations, which was retrieved following a keyword search for the terms "Lottery Commission." Instances of this search, "Lottery Commission," are noted in the text of the chapter and are surrounded by arrows that can be used to navigate to each instance of these terms.