The Code of Virginia is the official, subject-organized collection of every permanent statute enacted by the General Assembly, spanning 66 titles that cover areas from crimes and motor vehicles to taxation and local government. You can read it for free online at law.lis.virginia.gov, where the full text is searchable and each statute carries its own section number.1Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia
Most people come to the Code with a specific question: what does the law say about a particular offense, license, deadline, or right? The structure is built to answer exactly that kind of question quickly, once you know how it is laid out.
How the Code Is Organized
The Code uses a layered structure that moves from broad subject areas down to individual rules. At the top are Titles, each covering a major area of law. Title 18.2 handles crimes and offenses, Title 46.2 covers motor vehicles, and Title 15.2 addresses counties, cities, and towns.1Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia
Within each title, Chapters narrow the focus. Title 46.2, for example, breaks into Chapter 1 for general provisions, Chapter 2 for the Department of Motor Vehicles, Chapter 3 for driver licensing, and so on.2Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Title 46.2 – Motor Vehicles Some larger titles add Subtitles that group related chapters. Title 15.2 uses Subtitle I for general provisions and charters, Subtitle II for powers of local government, and Subtitle III for boundary adjustments.3Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia – Title 15.2 Counties, Cities and Towns
Within chapters, Articles cluster laws around a shared theme, and the most specific level is the Section. Sections are identified by a hyphenated number like 18.2-10 or 46.2-100. That is where you find the actual text of the law. Start with the title that matches your subject, drill into the relevant chapter, and scan for the section number you need.
Finding a Law Online
The primary free resource is the Virginia Legislative Information System at law.lis.virginia.gov. It provides the current text of every Code section, a searchable full-text database, and tools to track how specific sections have changed across legislative sessions.4Division of Legislative Automated Systems. Legislative Information System The system also carries the full text of every introduced bill and resolution, the Virginia Administrative Code, and session-law records.5Virginia Legislative Information System. Virginia Legislative Information System
You can browse by table of contents through all 66 titles, or jump directly to a section if you already have its number.1Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia When searching by keyword, keep your terms narrow. A search for “reckless driving” returns far more useful results than a search for “driving.” Section pages include cross-references to related sections, which helps when a statute’s meaning depends on definitions or penalties housed elsewhere in the Code.
If you need an annotated edition or a subscription database without paying for it, public law libraries are available in many Virginia cities and counties.6Virginia Judicial System. Law Libraries The Virginia State Law Library at the Supreme Court of Virginia serves judges, attorneys, legislators, and their staff rather than the general public, but it will direct walk-in visitors to the nearest local law library.7Virginia Court System. State Law Library
How to Cite a Virginia Statute
The standard citation form is “Va. Code” followed by the section symbol and the section number. For example, Va. Code § 18.2-10 identifies the statute setting out felony classifications and punishments.8Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-10 – Punishment for Conviction of Felony; Penalty Subsections sit in parentheses right after the section number, so Va. Code § 18.2-10(f) points to the specific provision on Class 6 felonies.
The baseline for the current Code’s organization is the Code of Virginia, 1950, which is why older legal materials sometimes reference it by that name. The official annotated version, published by LexisNexis, carries the title Code of Virginia, 1950 Annotated.
Statutes vs. Regulations
The Code of Virginia contains statutes passed by the General Assembly. The Virginia Administrative Code (VAC) is a separate collection that holds the regulations adopted by state agencies to implement those statutes. The VAC is organized into 24 subject-matter titles, from Administration and Agriculture through Transportation and Motor Vehicles.9Virginia Code Commission. Administrative Code – Virginia Law
If you are dealing with a regulated area like healthcare, insurance, or environmental compliance, you will often need to read both the statute in the Code of Virginia and the corresponding regulation in the VAC to see the full rule. New and proposed regulations are published every other Monday in the Virginia Register of Regulations, which serves as the official notice of regulatory activity in the Commonwealth.10Virginia Regulatory Town Hall. Register of Regulations FAQs
When a New Law Takes Effect
Laws passed during a regular session of the General Assembly generally take effect on July 1 of that year unless the bill specifies a later date. Three categories skip that waiting period: emergency acts (which require a four-fifths vote in each house and must state the emergency in the body of the bill), general appropriation acts, and decennial reapportionment acts. Each takes effect from passage.
Laws passed during a special session follow a different timeline, taking effect on the first day of the fourth month after the special session adjourns, unless the bill sets another date. Checking only the bill’s passage date can mislead you about whether a law is actually in force, so always look for the effective date.
Acts of Assembly vs. the Code
The Acts of Assembly and the Code of Virginia are two different ways of organizing the same body of law. The Acts of Assembly compile every bill passed during a particular legislative session in the order the Governor signed them, serving as the official chronological record. The Code takes those same laws and sorts them by subject into titles, chapters, and sections.11LIS Help. Virginia Law – FAQs
Not every law makes it into the Code. Codified bills amend, repeal, or add a section and become part of the permanent subject-matter structure. Uncodified bills, like budget measures, local charter bills, and claims bills, appear only in the Acts of Assembly because they have limited scope or duration.11LIS Help. Virginia Law – FAQs At the end of each Code section you will see history notes with notations like “c.” followed by a number. That refers to the chapter in the Acts of Assembly where the amendment was originally passed, letting you trace any section back to the session-law record for its full legislative history.
Annotated vs. Unannotated Editions
The free online version of the Code is unannotated. It gives you the raw text of each statute and nothing more. Annotated editions, published in print and through subscription databases by LexisNexis and West (Thomson Reuters), add legislative histories, cross-references to related statutes and court rules, summaries of court decisions interpreting the statute, and references to law review articles.1Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia
For most people checking a single statute, the free version is enough. Annotations become valuable when you need to know how courts have applied a provision or whether a related statute changes the meaning of the one you are reading. Annotations and revisors’ notes are copyrighted by their private publishers, which is why they do not appear on the public site.