The Nevada Revised Statutes, usually cited as the NRS, are the official collection of Nevada’s state laws, organized by subject and kept current by the Legislative Counsel Bureau after every legislative session. The code covers 59 broad subject titles, from criminal penalties and property transfers to gaming, water rights, and professional licensing.1Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes – Table of Titles and Chapters If you need to know what Nevada law says on a given topic, the NRS is where the governing text lives.
How to Read an NRS Citation
The code uses three tiers: titles, chapters, and sections. Titles group broad subject areas. Chapters narrow those subjects into specific topics. Sections are the individual legal provisions you actually read and cite.
Take NRS 193.130. The 193 is the chapter, Criminality Generally. The 130 is the specific section within that chapter, Categories and Punishment of Felonies.2Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 193.130 – Categories and Punishment of Felonies The decimal numbering lets you jump straight to a provision without knowing the bill number or the year it passed. Courts, attorneys, and state agencies all use this format as the standard shorthand for Nevada law.
Where to Find the Nevada Revised Statutes
The Official Online Version (Free)
The full text of the NRS is published on the Nevada Legislature’s website by the Legal Division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.3Nevada Legislature. Legislative Counsel Bureau Legal Division You can browse by title and chapter or search for section numbers and terms. The same site also publishes the Nevada Constitution, session laws, court rules, and the Nevada Administrative Code.4Nevada Legislature. Legislative Counsel Bureau Publications
One limit to know about: the official online version is unannotated. You get the statutory text, amendment history, and cross-references, but no summaries of court decisions that have interpreted the statute.
Annotated Versions
Annotated codes carry the same statutory text and add citations to court cases interpreting each section, references to related regulations, and pointers to secondary materials. If you need to know how a court has actually applied a statute, an annotated version is the more useful tool. These are available through paid legal databases such as Westlaw and LexisNexis, and in print at law libraries.
Print and Library Copies
Public law libraries across the state keep the full multi-volume NRS in print. The Nevada Supreme Court Law Library is a primary resource, and many county law libraries carry current volumes. Some government offices also keep copies of chapters relevant to their work available for public inspection.
What’s Inside the Code
Fifty-nine titles is a lot of ground. The ones most people actually open include:
- Title 7: Business Associations, Securities, and Commodities
- Title 10: Property Rights and Transactions
- Title 11: Domestic Relations (marriage, divorce, child custody)
- Title 15: Crimes and Punishments
- Title 32: Revenue and Taxation
- Title 41: Gaming, Horse Racing, and Sporting Events
- Title 54: Professions, Occupations, and Businesses
Criminal Law
Most criminal law sits in Title 15. Nevada sorts felonies into five categories, A through E, with Category A the most serious. A Category B felony carries a prison term of at least one year and up to 20 years.2Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 193.130 – Categories and Punishment of Felonies A gross misdemeanor can bring up to 364 days in county jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.5Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 193.140 – Punishment of Gross Misdemeanors Many specific offenses carry their own penalty ranges that override these defaults, so the general categories are a starting point, not the final word.
Family Matters
Title 11 covers marriage, divorce, custody, and child support.1Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes – Table of Titles and Chapters Nevada is a community property state, which means assets and debts acquired during a marriage generally belong to both spouses equally. Chapter 123 addresses the rights of married couples, including how income and property are treated.6Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 123 – Rights of Married Couples Divorce procedure, custody standards, and child support formulas each have their own chapters.
Real Estate and Landlord-Tenant
Title 10 governs real property transfers, deed recording, and the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants.1Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes – Table of Titles and Chapters Title 9 handles security instruments, mortgages, and deeds of trust, and works alongside Title 10 for real estate transactions involving financing.
Professional and Business Licensing
Title 54 regulates licensed professions and occupations. Contractors, medical professionals, real estate agents, and dozens of other licensed callings each have dedicated chapters covering education requirements, examinations, renewals, and grounds for discipline. Title 7 separately handles business entity formation (corporations, LLCs, partnerships) along with securities regulation.
The NRS Isn’t the Whole Picture
Administrative Regulations
Reading only the NRS can leave gaps. The Nevada Administrative Code (NAC) contains the regulations state agencies adopt to implement the statutes. Where the NRS might say a profession requires a license, the NAC spells out the application forms, continuing education hours, fee schedules, and procedural detail. The Legislative Counsel Bureau publishes the NAC alongside the NRS, and both are searchable on the Legislature’s website.3Nevada Legislature. Legislative Counsel Bureau Legal Division If you need the day-to-day compliance rules, check both.
Federal Law
The NRS operates within the U.S. constitutional framework. Under the Supremacy Clause, federal law takes priority where it conflicts with a state statute. Some areas, such as bankruptcy, immigration, and patent protection, are almost entirely federal, and the NRS has little role. In others, federal and state law overlap: federal statutes set floors for wages and workplace safety, and Nevada can impose stricter requirements through its own code. For traditional state subjects such as family law, property, and most criminal offenses, federal preemption generally does not apply unless Congress has made the intent to override state law unmistakably clear.
Uniform Laws
Not every provision in the NRS was written from scratch in Carson City. Nevada has adopted several model acts drafted by organizations such as the Uniform Law Commission, including the Uniform Commercial Code. When the Legislature adopts a uniform act it can modify the language before codifying it, so Nevada’s version will not always match another state’s adoption of the same model. Always check the NRS text rather than assuming the Nevada version mirrors another state’s.
How New Laws Get Into the Code
Nevada’s Legislature meets every two years, convening on the first Monday of February in each odd-numbered year for a session that cannot exceed 120 days.7Nevada Legislature. 2025 Nevada Legislative Manual Chapter 4 – The Legislature in Action Bills passed in session are first published chronologically as the Statutes of Nevada, also called session laws.8Nevada Supreme Court Law Library. Nevada Primary Sources – The Nevada Constitution, Statutes and Session Laws Those session laws are useful for tracing legislative history but impractical for everyday research.
The Legislative Counsel then integrates the new acts into the existing NRS. Under NRS Chapter 220, the Legislative Counsel has authority to classify and arrange Nevada’s statute laws in logical order, assigning chapter and section numbers to new provisions, removing repealed language, and updating amended sections.9Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 220 – Revision of Statutes One limit matters: the Legislative Counsel cannot change the meaning of any law during codification. The authority covers renumbering, fixing typos, updating agency names, and reorganizing structure, but the substance stays as the Legislature enacted it.10Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code 220.120 – Compilation of Nevada Revised Statutes
Because of this biennial cycle, the version of a statute you read online in the months after a session may reflect amendments that just took effect. Check the section’s history notes to confirm the current language and its effective date before relying on it.