Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 49, December 7, 2024
(a)Use. Every statute is subdivided into sections beginning with the word "Section" followed by the section number. In some cases, a statute may contain only one section.(b)Heading. Sections may, and in lengthy statutes should, contain headings following the section number and concluded by a period, followed by a dash. Section headings must be kept as brief as possible consistent with the contents of the section. The value of a section heading is lost if it is lengthened by unnecessary verbiage. It is better not to use it if it is inaccurate and thereby misleading. For these reasons, general and comprehensive terms should be selected for section headings. They should indicate what the section deals with, not what the section does.(c)Numbering. In statutes containing no major subdivisions, sections are numbered sequentially throughout the statute ( i.e. 1, 2, 3, etc.). In statutes containing chapters, sections are numbered sequentially throughout each chapter with the last two digits indicating the sequence of the sections within a chapter and the digit or digits preceding such digits indicating the number of the chapter. Thus, in Chapter 3, sections are numbered 301, 302, 303, etc. Section numbers should be skipped between subchapters in chapters to facilitate later amendment and the first section in each subchapter should end with the number 1 (e.g. 301, 311, 321, etc.).(d)Addition of new section. If it becomes necessary to introduce a new section between existing sections, the new section is designated by the addition of a period and number suffix to the preceding section number. Thus, a section introduced between sections 5 and 6 would be numbered Section 5.1.