Some Arkansas law sits on the books twice. Repeal one copy and the other keeps working, which is why the people who draft bills there are told to go hunting for the twin before they strike anything.
Their reference for it is Appendix H of the Legislative Drafting Manual, published by the Bureau of Legislative Research, headed Table of Dual-Codified Arkansas Code Sections. Each row names a section, the other place or places the same enacted text landed, and the act it came from. Section 8 of Act 85 of 1935 sits at 5-38-310(b), at 5-38-311(b), and again at 20-22-305. Three addresses, one law.
The manual's repeal rule says the quiet part plainly. A drafter "must investigate whether a section of the Arkansas Code that is being repealed is dual-codified," and if it is, "both of the dual-codified sections should be repealed." Should. Not shall, not is automatically. And the appendix itself records rows where one twin is tagged repealed and the twin beside it is not.
So if you find an Arkansas section struck out, that is the start of the question, not the end.
The Code answers to six names
Arkansas Code § 1-2-113 lets you call the Code any of six things: Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated, Arkansas Code of 1987, Arkansas Code Annotated, Arkansas Code, the Code, or this Code. All six are lawful. None of them is the one everybody uses.
In practice the state's own institutions split three ways. Bill drafters are told to write only "Arkansas Code," as in Arkansas Code § 8-6-1305, for consistency and because it searches cleanly. The attorney general's opinions write "A.C.A. § 25-19-105(c)(1)." Briefs and law reviews use Ark. Code Ann. Read all three, write one, and do not assume a mismatch means two different provisions.
The section number hides a level. Arkansas numbers run title, chapter, then a last unit that carries both the subchapter and the section, and the split depends on how many digits are in it. A three-digit last unit gives one digit to the subchapter. A four-digit one gives two. So 8-6-1305 is title 8, chapter 6, subchapter 13, section 05, and nothing in the hyphens warns you the subchapter grew.
Cases changed citation in February 2009
Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 5-2 drew a line on February 14, 2009. Decisions before it live in the bound Arkansas Reports and Arkansas Appellate Reports. Decisions after it are officially reported as an electronic file created and maintained by the Reporter of Decisions on the Judiciary's website, and they get a citation made of the year, the court, and the opinion's sequence number for that year.
Kelly v. Estate of Edwards, 2009 Ark. 78, 301 S.W.3d 156
Burkett v. Exxon Tiger Mart, Inc., 2009 Ark. App. 93, 301 S.W.3d 495
Ark. is the supreme court, Ark. App. is the court of appeals, and the regional parallel cite is required when one exists. The rule also says a parenthetical containing a date or a court abbreviation shall not be used, so no trailing (Ark. 2009). Everything issued after July 1, 2009 is precedent and citable.
The rules are mid-move, and the move decides enforceability
Act 662 of 2019 handed the Bureau of Legislative Research a second codification job: compile, format and index the general and permanent rules of state agencies into the Code of Arkansas Rules. Sections are cited like 12 CAR § 131-204. The online searchable database is the official version and is prima facie evidence of the rules in it. It updates at least monthly and prints the date of its last update in bold. Emergency rules are left out by design.
Then there is the sentence that changes how you research. Except for rules the bureau omits as impractical to publish, a rule that is not included in the Code of Arkansas Rules is not enforceable by the agency that made it.
That is a rare thing in state law. Most codes tell you where a rule lives. This one decides whether the rule bites.
The move shows in the numbers. Arkansas has 27,844 regulation sections. 21,892 are recorded in force and 599 repealed, but 5,188 carry no recorded status in either direction. When an entire body of rules is being restyled and renumbered agency by agency, provenance thins out in the middle of the job. Treat an Arkansas rule with no status the way you would treat an undated document, and go to the official database for the current text.
Why there are so many attorney general opinions
Arkansas holds 10,298 attorney general opinions against 38,973 statute sections. More than one opinion for every four sections of the Code.
Two duties drive it. The first is the ordinary one, formal written advice to the Governor, heads of executive agencies, members of the General Assembly and certain other state officials. The second is a records job most states do not give their attorney general. Under the Freedom of Information Act the office reviews a custodian's decision on personnel and employee-evaluation records, request by request, with the office itself describing that authority as limited by A.C.A. § 25-19-105(c)(3)(B)(i). Those reviews arrive steadily and each one produces a numbered opinion.
Opinions are numbered by year and sequence, as in Opinion No. 2023-038, and the office cites its own back catalogue as Ark. Att'y Gen. Op. No. 2000-137.
Where the constitution puts things
Arkansas carries 513 constitution sections, 22 of them repealed, and the 1874 constitution takes amendments as separately numbered instruments rather than edits to the articles. Some are later folded in. The drafting manual has to write "Arkansas Constitution, Article 5, § 1 (formerly Amendment 7)" to point at the initiative and referendum power, because both labels are in live use.
One consequence is worth knowing before you rely on a court rule. Amendment 80, § 9 lets the General Assembly annul or amend rules the supreme court promulgated under several named sections of that amendment, by a two-thirds vote of each house. A rule of court in Arkansas can be undone by the legislature.
A short check before you quote
- Split the section number by digit count so you know which subchapter you are in.
- Search the number in Appendix H before you read a repeal as the end of the provision.
- For a rule, search the official Code of Arkansas Rules by citation and read the update date on the page.
- For a case, put the decision date next to February 14, 2009 and pick the format from that.
That last one catches people who pull an old brief for its citations. A 2007 Arkansas opinion and a 2011 one are cited in two completely different shapes, and the 2011 shape has no parenthetical at all.
Facts used
All Arkansas corpus counts below are from Vaquill AI's US primary law data, measured 2026-09-18.
| Claim | Value | Where from |
|---|---|---|
| Statute sections | 38,973 (36,232 in force, 2,481 repealed) | Corpus status counts |
| Regulation sections | 27,844 (21,892 in force, 599 repealed, 5,188 unknown status) | Corpus status counts |
| Attorney general opinions held | 10,298 | Corpus counts |
| Constitution sections | 513, of which 22 repealed | Corpus status counts |
| Court rule sections | 774 | Corpus counts |
| All Arkansas sections held | 78,761 | Corpus counts |
| Table of Dual-Codified Arkansas Code Sections | Appendix H | Legislative Drafting Manual, Bureau of Legislative Research |
| Section 8 of Act 85 of 1935 codified at 5-38-310(b), 5-38-311(b) and 20-22-305 | Verified | Same appendix |
| A drafter must check whether a repealed section is dual-codified, and both should be repealed | Rule 5.5(g) | Same manual |
| Six permitted designations for the Code | § 1-2-113 | Same manual, quoting the section |
| Drafters told to write only "Arkansas Code" | Verified | Same manual |
| Attorney general writes A.C.A. in its own opinions | Verified | Published attorney general opinions |
| Last unit of a section number carries subchapter plus section, split by digit count | Verified | Same manual, numbering system |
| Official report of decisions after February 14, 2009 is an electronic file on the Judiciary website | Rule 5-2 | Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Rule 5-2 |
| Citation form 2009 Ark. 78 and 2009 Ark. App. 93, no date or court parenthetical | Verified | Arkansas Judiciary citation guidelines |
| Everything issued after July 1, 2009 is precedent | Rule 5-2(c) | Same rule |
| Code of Arkansas Rules established, BLR to compile and index | Act 662 of 2019 | Act text and § 25-15-218 |
| Online database is the official version and prima facie evidence, updated at least monthly | Verified | § 25-15-218(a)(4) |
| A rule not included in the Code of Arkansas Rules is not enforceable by the agency | § 25-15-218(c)(1) | Act text |
| Emergency rules excluded from the Code of Arkansas Rules | Verified | Same section |
| Rule citation form 12 CAR § 131-204 | Verified | Code of Arkansas Rules, published rule |
| Attorney general reviews FOIA personnel and employee-evaluation record decisions | A.C.A. § 25-19-105(c)(3)(B)(i) | Attorney General's opinions division page and published opinions |
| Opinions numbered by year and sequence, cited as Ark. Att'y Gen. Op. No. 2000-137 | Verified | Published attorney general opinions |
| Article 5, § 1 was formerly Amendment 7 | Verified | Legislative Drafting Manual |
| General Assembly may annul or amend certain supreme court rules by two-thirds of each house | Amendment 80, § 9 | Same manual |
New legal AI guides, weekly.
Further Reading
Co-Founder & CTO
Priyansh leads engineering and AI at Vaquill, from the matter workbench to drafting, document comparison, document matrix, and citation-verified research.