> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://vaquill.ai/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Browse the statutory hierarchy > Walk the statutory tree one level at a time, in statutory order. Each call returns the immediate children of wherever you are, so you can enumerate a code top to bottom without searching. **Cost**: 1 credit. A request whose filters do not fit the corpus is rejected before anything is charged. A filter naming a container that does not exist is refunded, and so is a browse that returns no rows, so exploring the hierarchy never costs you anything for a level that turns out to be empty. Pass the deepest level you already know; the response returns the level below it: - `corpusType=USC` -> the titles - `corpusType=USC&titleNumber=42` -> the chapters in Title 42 - `corpusType=USC&titleNumber=42&chapter=21` -> the sections in Chapter 21 (leaf) - `corpusType=CFR&titleNumber=17&part=240` -> the sections in Part 240 (leaf) - `corpusType=STATE&state=tx` -> the state's codes - `corpusType=STATE&state=tx&code=tx_pe` -> the chapters in the Texas Penal Code - `corpusType=STATE&state=ny&code=ny_jud&article=2` -> the sections in a New York article (leaf) - `corpusType=CONSTITUTION` -> the articles and amendments of the US Constitution - `corpusType=CONSTITUTION&article=Article III` -> the sections of Article III (leaf) - `corpusType=STATE_CONSTITUTION&state=nm` -> the articles of the New Mexico Constitution - `corpusType=FEDERAL_RULES` -> the rule sets (FRCP, FRE, FRCrP, ...) - `corpusType=FEDERAL_RULES&code=frcp` -> the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (leaf) Interior nodes carry a `sectionCount` and `isLeaf: false`; drill into one by passing its `identifier` back as the filter its `kind` names (`title` -> `titleNumber`, `chapter`, `part`, `code`, `article`). Leaf nodes are sections and carry an `actId` for `/us/statutes/section/{actId}`. Browse supports `USC`, `CFR`, `STATE`, `REGULATION`, `CONSTITUTION`, `STATE_CONSTITUTION` and `FEDERAL_RULES`, which is also what `browsable` says on each `GET /us/statutes/coverage` legend entry. The rest are dated series or share no tree, so use `/us/statutes/search` for those. Federal rules are published twice: by the Judicial Conference at uscourts.gov (`frcp`, `fre`, ...) and as an appendix to the U.S. Code (`uscapp_t28a_fre`, ...). Each is its own rule set here, so neither is listed twice under one heading. ## OpenAPI ````yaml https://api.vaquill.ai/external/openapi.json get /api/v1/us/statutes/divisions openapi: 3.1.0 info: title: Vaquill Developer API description: >- Public API for legal statutes and legislation. **Authentication**: Pass your API key as `Authorization: Bearer vq_key_...` (preferred) or in the `X-API-Key` header. The `api_key` query parameter also works where a header cannot be set, but a URL ends up in logs and browser history. Sending two different keys in one request is rejected with a 401. **Credits**: Each call costs API credits. See `GET /api/v1/api-credits/pricing` for the full pricing matrix. ## Jurisdictions | Jurisdiction | Coverage | `countryCode` | |---|---|---| | **United States** | USC and the Statutes at Large, the CFR and its annual editions, all 52 state and territory statutory codes (50 states plus DC and Puerto Rico), state administrative regulations, court rules, federal and state constitutions, federal agency guidance and adjudications, the Federal Register, the Sentencing Guidelines and US tax treaties. | `US` | See the full [Coverage page](https://www.vaquill.ai/docs/api-guide/coverage) for the jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown, or call `/us/statutes/coverage` for live counts. Coverage is per (jurisdiction, corpusType) pair, so treat that endpoint as the authoritative list rather than this summary. ## Endpoints - **US Statutes**: Search and retrieve any of the corpora above with full text, resolve a citation to its exact section, browse the statutory hierarchy, read a section as it stood on a past date, and follow its change history, cross-references and defined terms - **Board Watches**: Subscribe to a corpus source and get a webhook or email when it refreshes with real changes (free, API key required) - **Pricing**: Credit costs per endpoint (no auth required) ## Rate limits Limits are enforced per API key and scale with your plan. A `429` response includes a `Retry-After` header. | Plan | Per minute | Per hour | Per day | |---|---|---|---| | Vaquill API Pro | 60 | 1,000 | 2,000 | | Vaquill API Business | 150 | 2,500 | 10,000 | For full documentation, visit the [API Reference](https://www.vaquill.ai/docs/api-reference/). version: 1.0.0 contact: name: Vaquill API Support url: https://www.vaquill.ai email: support@vaquill.ai license: name: Proprietary url: https://www.vaquill.ai/terms termsOfService: https://www.vaquill.ai/terms servers: - url: https://api.vaquill.ai description: Production security: - ApiKeyAuth: [] - ApiKeyHeader: [] - ApiKeyQuery: [] tags: - name: US Statutes description: >- Search and retrieve US primary law. Covers the United States Code and the Statutes at Large, the Code of Federal Regulations and its annual editions, state statutory codes and administrative regulations, federal and state constitutions, court rules, Federal Register rules and Presidential documents, federal and state agency guidance, agency adjudications, state Attorney General opinions, the Sentencing Guidelines and US tax treaties. Scope a search with the `corpusType` filter, and call `/us/statutes/coverage` for the live jurisdiction-by-corpusType list. - **Search**: Search across all USC, CFR, state, and regulatory sections - **Section**: Get metadata, citation, hierarchy, and source links for a specific section - **Body**: Get the full text of a section - **Enactments**: Which state session laws a publisher's own tables list against a section (supported jurisdictions only, never a complete history) - name: US Session Laws description: >- State session laws: the acts of each legislature as they were enacted, chapter by chapter, before they are folded into a code. A session law is what the governor signs. It carries the act's own text, including the language it strikes and inserts, its approval and effective dates, and, where the publisher prints one, the code sections it changes. That makes it the source for "which act changed this section, and when did it take effect". Every act has a permanent `sessionLawId` (for example `SSL_MN_2025R_G_Y2025_C1`, Minnesota Laws 2025, regular session, chapter 1) whether or not we hold its text, and a citation or bill number such as `S.F.No. 1552` is accepted where an id goes. v1 serves STATE acts only. Federal session laws (the Statutes at Large, `SAL_` ids) are served by `/us/statutes/section`, and `/us/statutes/resolve` points a session-law citation here. **Start here**: check `/us/statutes/coverage` (free) for what we hold per state: each jurisdiction's `sessionLaws` block lists its sessions, which are complete or only partly collected, and the `series` and `instrumentTypes` that exist. Then **List** a session or a date range to get ids, **Get** one act for its record, then **Body** for its text. A law missing from a partly collected session is a free 404 (`session_not_fully_collected`), not proof it does not exist. - **List**: everything enacted in a state's session, approved in a window, or taking effect on a date - **Get**: one act by id or by citation; dates (`effectiveDates` is always a list), sources and the code sections it affects - **Body**: the act's text as printed, paged by cursor, with amendatory markup preserved where the publisher printed it - **Batch**: up to 50 ids or citations in one call, the same record as Get, billed per law served, with every miss listed and its reason - **Changes**: a sync feed of the registry over an integer cursor (`sinceId`): what began to be served, was corrected, withdrawn or merged The reverse link, from a code section to the acts a publisher's own tables list against it, is `GET /us/statutes/section/{actId}/enactments`. - name: Board Watches description: >- Law-change alerts. Subscribe to a **board** (a tracked corpus source, identified by `corpusType` plus an optional `state`) and get a webhook or email whenever it refreshes with real changes, naming the exact sections that changed. Fetch old-vs-new text for any amended section via the change diff. Boards refresh on their own existing cadence; watching one does not change how often it refreshes. Every endpoint here is **free**: authenticated by API key and rate-limited, but not credit-metered. See the [Law Change Alerts guide](https://www.vaquill.ai/docs/api-guide/alerts) for the full walkthrough. - name: Pricing description: >- Credit pricing and conversion rates. No authentication required. 1 credit = $0.01 USD. - name: Credits description: >- Your own credit balance: what is spendable right now, where it came from, and what is about to expire. Free and never charged, so it is safe to poll for low-balance alerting or to pre-flight a batch job. externalDocs: description: Full API Reference url: https://www.vaquill.ai/docs/api-reference/ paths: /api/v1/us/statutes/divisions: get: tags: - US Statutes summary: Browse the statutory hierarchy description: >- Walk the statutory tree one level at a time, in statutory order. Each call returns the immediate children of wherever you are, so you can enumerate a code top to bottom without searching. **Cost**: 1 credit. A request whose filters do not fit the corpus is rejected before anything is charged. A filter naming a container that does not exist is refunded, and so is a browse that returns no rows, so exploring the hierarchy never costs you anything for a level that turns out to be empty. Pass the deepest level you already know; the response returns the level below it: - `corpusType=USC` -> the titles - `corpusType=USC&titleNumber=42` -> the chapters in Title 42 - `corpusType=USC&titleNumber=42&chapter=21` -> the sections in Chapter 21 (leaf) - `corpusType=CFR&titleNumber=17&part=240` -> the sections in Part 240 (leaf) - `corpusType=STATE&state=tx` -> the state's codes - `corpusType=STATE&state=tx&code=tx_pe` -> the chapters in the Texas Penal Code - `corpusType=STATE&state=ny&code=ny_jud&article=2` -> the sections in a New York article (leaf) - `corpusType=CONSTITUTION` -> the articles and amendments of the US Constitution - `corpusType=CONSTITUTION&article=Article III` -> the sections of Article III (leaf) - `corpusType=STATE_CONSTITUTION&state=nm` -> the articles of the New Mexico Constitution - `corpusType=FEDERAL_RULES` -> the rule sets (FRCP, FRE, FRCrP, ...) - `corpusType=FEDERAL_RULES&code=frcp` -> the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (leaf) Interior nodes carry a `sectionCount` and `isLeaf: false`; drill into one by passing its `identifier` back as the filter its `kind` names (`title` -> `titleNumber`, `chapter`, `part`, `code`, `article`). Leaf nodes are sections and carry an `actId` for `/us/statutes/section/{actId}`. Browse supports `USC`, `CFR`, `STATE`, `REGULATION`, `CONSTITUTION`, `STATE_CONSTITUTION` and `FEDERAL_RULES`, which is also what `browsable` says on each `GET /us/statutes/coverage` legend entry. The rest are dated series or share no tree, so use `/us/statutes/search` for those. Federal rules are published twice: by the Judicial Conference at uscourts.gov (`frcp`, `fre`, ...) and as an appendix to the U.S. Code (`uscapp_t28a_fre`, ...). Each is its own rule set here, so neither is listed twice under one heading. operationId: list_statute_divisions_api_v1_us_statutes_divisions_get parameters: - name: corpusType in: query required: true schema: type: string description: >- Corpus to browse. Case-insensitive. The browsable subset of the `corpusType` tokens on `/us/statutes/coverage`. examples: - USC enum: - USC - CFR - STATE - REGULATION - CONSTITUTION - STATE_CONSTITUTION - FEDERAL_RULES title: Corpustype description: >- Corpus to browse. Case-insensitive. The browsable subset of the `corpusType` tokens on `/us/statutes/coverage`. - name: state in: query required: false schema: anyOf: - type: string enum: - al - ak - as - az - ar - ca - co - ct - de - dc - fl - ga - gu - hi - id - il - in - ia - ks - ky - la - me - md - ma - mi - mn - ms - mo - mt - ne - nv - nh - nj - nm - ny - nc - nd - mp - oh - ok - or - pa - pr - ri - sc - sd - tn - tx - ut - vt - vi - va - wa - wv - wi - wy - type: 'null' description: >- 2-letter jurisdiction code, required for the state-scoped corpora (STATE, REGULATION, STATE_CONSTITUTION). Case-insensitive. examples: - tx title: State description: >- 2-letter jurisdiction code, required for the state-scoped corpora (STATE, REGULATION, STATE_CONSTITUTION). Case-insensitive. - name: titleNumber in: query required: false schema: anyOf: - type: integer minimum: 1 - type: 'null' description: USC/CFR title number to drill into. examples: - 42 title: Titlenumber description: USC/CFR title number to drill into. - name: code in: query required: false schema: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' description: >- Code to drill into: a state code such as `tx_pe` (list them with `corpusType=STATE&state=`), or a federal rule set such as `frcp` (list them with `corpusType=FEDERAL_RULES`). examples: - tx_pe title: Code description: >- Code to drill into: a state code such as `tx_pe` (list them with `corpusType=STATE&state=`), or a federal rule set such as `frcp` (list them with `corpusType=FEDERAL_RULES`). - name: chapter in: query required: false schema: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' description: >- Chapter identifier to drill into (USC and state codes). Accepted alongside `part` on CFR, where it is not needed: part numbers are unique within a title. examples: - '21' title: Chapter description: >- Chapter identifier to drill into (USC and state codes). Accepted alongside `part` on CFR, where it is not needed: part numbers are unique within a title. - name: part in: query required: false schema: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' description: Part identifier to drill into (CFR). examples: - '240' title: Part description: Part identifier to drill into (CFR). - name: article in: query required: false schema: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' description: >- Article to drill into: a constitution's article or amendment (`Article III`, `Amendment XIV`), or the article of a state code that is divided by articles rather than chapters (New York, where the listing's `kind` is `article`). Pass the `identifier` exactly as the listing returned it. examples: - Article III title: Article description: >- Article to drill into: a constitution's article or amendment (`Article III`, `Amendment XIV`), or the article of a state code that is divided by articles rather than chapters (New York, where the listing's `kind` is `article`). Pass the `identifier` exactly as the listing returned it. - name: excludeRepealed in: query required: false schema: type: boolean description: >- Leave out sections whose status is affirmatively dead (repealed, superseded, renumbered and similar). A section carrying no recorded status is KEPT: a missing status is not evidence of repeal. Same vocabulary as the filter of this name on `POST /us/statutes/search`. default: false title: Excluderepealed description: >- Leave out sections whose status is affirmatively dead (repealed, superseded, renumbered and similar). A section carrying no recorded status is KEPT: a missing status is not evidence of repeal. Same vocabulary as the filter of this name on `POST /us/statutes/search`. - name: actStatus in: query required: false schema: anyOf: - type: string enum: - abolished - deleted - expired - in_force - inactive - non_precedential - not_funded - not_yet_effective - omitted - proposed - recodified - recompiled - rejected - relocated - removed - renumbered - repealed - rescinded - reserved - revoked - superseded - terminated - transferred - unconstitutional - vacant - vacated - vetoed - withdrawn - type: 'null' description: >- List only sections carrying this status, e.g. `repealed`. The inverse of `excludeRepealed`, and useful for auditing what a container holds that is no longer operative. title: Actstatus description: >- List only sections carrying this status, e.g. `repealed`. The inverse of `excludeRepealed`, and useful for auditing what a container holds that is no longer operative. - name: cursor in: query required: false schema: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' description: >- Resume token from a previous response's `nextCursor`. Only meaningful at the level that lists sections. Omit it to start at the beginning of the container. title: Cursor description: >- Resume token from a previous response's `nextCursor`. Only meaningful at the level that lists sections. Omit it to start at the beginning of the container. responses: '200': description: The child divisions at the requested level. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UsStatutesDivisionsResponse' example: corpusType: USC level: sections parentLabel: Title 42, Chapter 21 divisions: - identifier: '1981' name: Equal rights under the law kind: section isLeaf: true actId: USC_T42_C21_S1981 - identifier: 1981a name: >- Damages in cases of intentional discrimination in employment kind: section isLeaf: true actId: USC_T42_C21_S1981a - identifier: '1982' name: Property rights of citizens kind: section isLeaf: true actId: USC_T42_C21_S1982 - identifier: '1983' name: Civil action for deprivation of rights kind: section isLeaf: true actId: USC_T42_C21_S1983 count: 38 processingTimeMs: 5.1 creditsConsumed: 1 '401': description: Invalid or missing API key. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiDetailError' '402': description: Insufficient credits. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiDetailError' '422': description: Filters do not fit the corpus shape. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiDetailError' '429': description: Rate limit exceeded. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiDetailError' components: schemas: UsStatutesDivisionsResponse: properties: corpusType: type: string title: Corpustype description: The corpus being walked, echoed back from the request. examples: - USC state: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' title: State description: The jurisdiction, for state-scoped corpora. level: type: string title: Level description: >- Kind of children returned: `titles`, `chapters`, `parts`, `codes`, `articles`, or `sections`. parentLabel: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' title: Parentlabel description: Human label for the container these divisions sit under. divisions: items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UsDivisionNode' type: array title: Divisions description: The child divisions, in statutory (natural) order. count: type: integer title: Count description: Number of divisions returned. default: 0 nextCursor: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' title: Nextcursor description: >- Opaque token to resume this listing. Present only when `truncated` is true. Pass it back as `cursor` to get the next batch of sections in the same container, and keep going until it comes back null. Treat it as opaque: it encodes a storage position, and building one by hand will not work. One ordering caveat. `divisions` is sorted into statutory order WITHIN each response, and pages are walked in storage order, so concatenating pages does not give you one globally sorted list. The union of every page is the complete container; sort it yourself once you hold it all. examples: - s~a3f1c2e0-55b1-4a7d-9d02-1f3b6c8e9a44 truncated: type: boolean title: Truncated description: >- True when this container held more sections than one call can walk, so `divisions` is a PREFIX of its contents rather than all of them. Check it before treating a listing as complete: the level that returns sections is bounded, and a container past that bound previously returned a short list that looked whole. When it is true, narrow the scope (drill into a chapter or part rather than a whole code), or page through it with `nextCursor`. default: false examples: - false note: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' title: Note description: >- Why the result is empty, when it is. Absent on a normal result. An empty `divisions` with a note is an answer; without one it would be ambiguous between a bad identifier and a level this corpus does not store. examples: - >- New York statutes are organized by article, which this corpus does not index. processingTimeMs: type: number title: Processingtimems description: >- Server-side time for this request in milliseconds, excluding network transit. Useful for spotting a slow query; not billed on. default: 0 examples: - 240.5 creditsConsumed: type: number title: Creditsconsumed description: >- Credits actually charged for this call. Read it rather than assuming the list price: failed and refunded work bills 0, and batch endpoints charge per item returned, so a partial result costs less than a full one. default: 0 examples: - 1 type: object required: - corpusType - level title: UsStatutesDivisionsResponse description: Response for `GET /us/statutes/divisions`. ApiDetailError: properties: detail: type: string title: Detail description: >- Human-readable reason, safe to surface to an end user. Branch on the HTTP status rather than on this string: the wording is not part of the contract and may be reworded, but 401 (bad key), 402 (out of credits), 403 (missing scope), 404 (no such resource) and 429 (rate limited) are stable. examples: - Insufficient API credits. errors: anyOf: - items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ApiFieldError' type: array - type: 'null' title: Errors description: 'Present on 422 only: every field that failed validation.' type: object required: - detail title: ApiDetailError description: >- Error envelope the API actually returns. Every error (400/401/402/403/404/405/422/429/5xx) carries a `detail` string, e.g. `{"detail": "Insufficient API credits."}`, on every mount of the API. A 422 adds `errors`, one entry per rejected field. Some 404s add endpoint-specific diagnosis beside `detail` (the statutes section routes add `actId`, `reason` and `didYouMean`); treat unknown keys as optional. UsDivisionNode: properties: identifier: type: string title: Identifier description: >- The division's identifier within its parent, e.g. `42` (title), `21` (chapter), `240` (part), `tx_pe` (state code), `frcp` (federal rule set), `Article III` (article), or `1983` (section). Pass it back verbatim. name: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' title: Name description: Human-readable name of the division, when the source provides one. kind: type: string title: Kind description: >- Division kind, which is also the filter to drill into it with: `title` (as `titleNumber`), `chapter`, `part`, `code`, `article`, or `section` (a leaf; fetch it by `actId`). isLeaf: type: boolean title: Isleaf description: True for sections (terminal nodes); false for interior divisions. actId: anyOf: - type: string - type: 'null' title: Actid description: >- Section identifier, present only on leaf sections. Pass it to `/us/statutes/section/{actId}`. sectionCount: anyOf: - type: integer minimum: 0 - type: 'null' title: Sectioncount description: Sections under an interior division. Null on leaf sections. type: object required: - identifier - kind - isLeaf title: UsDivisionNode description: >- One child division in a `GET /us/statutes/divisions` listing. Interior nodes (titles, chapters, parts, codes, articles) carry a `sectionCount` and `isLeaf: false`; drill into one by passing its `identifier` back as the filter its `kind` names. Leaf nodes are sections and carry an `actId` you can pass to `/us/statutes/section/{actId}`. ApiFieldError: properties: loc: items: anyOf: - type: string - type: integer type: array title: Loc description: >- Where the bad value is: `body`, `query` or `path`, then the parameter name exactly as you send it (camelCase), then list indexes. A bare `["body"]` means the body as a whole was not a JSON object. examples: - - body - corpusType msg: type: string title: Msg description: What is wrong with the value, in plain English. examples: - Input should be 'USC', 'CFR' or 'STATE' type: type: string title: Type description: >- Machine-readable error kind, e.g. `missing`, `literal_error`, `json_invalid`. examples: - literal_error type: object required: - loc - msg - type title: ApiFieldError description: One rejected field in a 422 response. securitySchemes: ApiKeyAuth: type: http scheme: bearer bearerFormat: vq_key_* description: >- API key issued from the developer dashboard. Pass as `Authorization: Bearer vq_key_...` (preferred). ApiKeyHeader: type: apiKey in: header name: X-API-Key description: >- The same API key as a bare header value: `X-API-Key: vq_key_...`. Equivalent to the Bearer form. ApiKeyQuery: type: apiKey in: query name: api_key description: >- The same API key as a query parameter: `?api_key=vq_key_...`. Use only where you cannot set a header. A URL can end up in proxy and server logs, browser history and shared links, so prefer either header form, and rotate a key that has leaked. ```` This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.