A programmer can point at any line of code and see who wrote it, when, and what the file looked like on any past day. A lawyer reading a federal statute usually cannot, at least not without an afternoon in the notes at the foot of the section. But why shouldn't they have the same, convenient system of record? It is especially relevant given that so much first-pass legal research now runs through language models, which are often unable to utilise the proper lineage of a law, handcuffing its ability to offer interpretation.
The definition of a small business debtor in 11 USC § 1182(1) shows how far apart those answers can be. It was created in 2019 with the existing small business debt limit.[4] The CARES Act raised the limit to $7.5 million in March 2020 as a temporary measure, later extended to March 2022.[5],[6] That increase lapsed on 27 March 2022, and on 21 June 2022 Congress restored it for two more years, for cases commenced on or after 27 March 2020 and still pending, which reached back over the gap.[7] The higher limit expired again in June 2024, and after the triennial adjustment in April 2025 it stands at $3,424,000.[8],[9] For a case filed in May 2022, the release point printed at the time gives the lower limit, and only a later Act changes the answer. A history that is useful to a lawyer has to carry the text, the date each change took force, and the scope of any law that reaches back.
