What is statutory history? This statutory history traces the changes in the sections of Maine's Revised Statutes since the inception of the current arrangement of the law in 1964. Each individual change to a statutory section prescribed by a Public Law (or occasionally by other types of laws or revisor's reports) is reflected in this table.

The starting point is the Cross Reference Table published with each session of the Laws of Maine. These have been cumulated since 1965 to yield the present tables.

The statutory history is divided by title and then by whole section. Changes to subdivisions of a section are listed after changes to the whole section.

The links to "Law Chapter" will open the chaptered law making the statutory change. The "Law Section" gives the section of the law making the change. The "Page (in Law)" shows the page within the published law where the change was made; this is particularly helpful when dealing with lengthy laws. Where two pages are shown, the first page reference is to the start of the law section that includes the enacting or amending clause, while the second page numbers pinpoints where the change regarding a particular statutory section is made. The links in the "Bill" column connect to the individual legislative history for the law making the statutory change. The unlinked LD numbers in the "Bill" column will become active gradually as our legislative history collection continues to grow.

The nature of the statutory change is briefly indicated in the "Effect" column. Most of the descriptions are self-explanatory. The changes marked "affected by" are more general and may include language affecting effective date, terms of application, conditions, contingencies, retroactivity and other considerations. "Affected by" provisions should always be researched carefully to determine the impact on the statutory change in question.

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