South Carolina Code of Laws: Structure, Access, and Citation

The South Carolina Code of Laws is the official compilation of every permanent statute the General Assembly has enacted, organized by subject across 63 Titles that cover taxation, criminal offenses, property, family law, insurance, health, and much more. You can read and search the entire Code for free at scstatehouse.gov, though the printed South Carolina Code of Laws Annotated remains the only official version.¹

How the Code Is Organized

The structure runs three levels deep: Titles, Chapters, and Sections. Each Title covers a broad subject. Title 16 holds Crimes and Offenses. Title 63 contains the South Carolina Children’s Code.²³ Within each Title, Chapters break the subject into narrower topics, and Sections contain the actual statutory text.

The Titles move roughly from state government structure through local government, elections, public employees, taxation, courts, criminal law, domestic relations, property, banking, insurance, labor, health, and agriculture, among many other subjects.¹ Scanning the full table of contents on the legislature’s site is often the quickest way to identify which Title you need.

Reading a Section Number

Section numbers follow a consistent pattern. In Section 1-1-10, the first number is the Title, the second is the Chapter, and the third identifies the Section within that Chapter. So Section 23-31-510 sits in Title 23 (Law Enforcement and Public Safety), Chapter 31. Related provisions stay grouped, so if the Section you land on is close but not right, look at the ones just before and after.

Finding a Statute Online

The Legislative Council hosts the unannotated Code of Laws for free at scstatehouse.gov.¹ Unannotated means you get the statute itself plus history and editor’s notes, without case summaries or commentary. You can copy the text freely.

There are two ways in. You can browse the table of contents, which lists all 63 Titles by subject, then click down into the Chapters and Sections. This works when you know the general area of law but not the specific number. For a landlord-tenant question, for example, you would head into Title 27 (Property and Conveyances).

The alternative is the full-text search tool from the Code of Laws main page.¹ Type a keyword like “trespass” or “DUI” and the system returns matching Sections across the Code. You can also type a Section number directly to jump straight to the text. If your first keyword returns too much or too little, try a few alternatives. Legal wording doesn’t always match the everyday term you’d reach for first.

Official Versus Unofficial: Which Version Controls

The online Code is unofficial. The legislature’s own disclaimer notes that only the current printed volumes of the South Carolina Code of Laws Annotated contain the official version.¹ For most day-to-day research this distinction rarely matters. If you are preparing a legal filing or need to prove exact statutory wording in court, the print annotated version is what carries official weight.

The annotated print edition also adds research tools after each statute: cross-references to related laws and regulations, citations to journal articles and legal encyclopedias, and notes on how courts have interpreted the statute.⁴ County law libraries, the State House library, and law school libraries carry these volumes. If you need to know not just what a statute says but how judges have applied it, the annotated version saves hours of separate work.

When the Code of Laws Isn’t the Whole Answer

Three things sit outside the Code of Laws but can still control your situation.

State Regulations

State agencies issue regulations under authority the General Assembly has delegated to them, and those regulations carry the force of law. They tend to be more detailed and technical than the statutes they implement. Where a statute might require restaurants to meet health standards, the regulations spell out the specific standards, inspection frequency, and penalties. The Legislative Council hosts the unannotated Code of State Regulations on the same website; as of early 2026, the online version is current through State Register Volume 50, Issue 3.⁵ New and amended regulations are published in the monthly South Carolina State Register.⁶

Local Ordinances

South Carolina operates under home rule. Under Article VIII of the state constitution and related statutes, counties and municipalities can enact ordinances for the health, safety, and general welfare of their communities, as long as those ordinances do not conflict with the state constitution or general state law.⁷ When they do conflict, the state statute wins. The state has also preempted local authority in specific areas, including firearms regulation, where state law prohibits any county or municipality from regulating the ownership, possession, carrying, or transfer of firearms or ammunition. If you are researching a local issue, check both the Code of Laws and your city or county ordinances. A local ordinance may add requirements on top of state law but cannot contradict it.

Recently Passed Acts

New laws don’t appear in the Code the moment they take effect. The Legislative Council reviews each Act, decides where it fits, and integrates it into the appropriate Title and Chapter. During the gap between passage and codification, the Act itself is the controlling text. You can view pending and recently enacted legislation on the General Assembly’s legislation page.⁸

How Current Is What You’re Reading

The online Code is updated after the Legislative Council finishes codifying each session’s new laws. As of 2026, the website states it is current through the 2025 legislative session.¹ The print version follows a similar yearly cycle, with supplements capturing changes between full updates. If you are relying on the Code for something that matters, check the date the online version was last updated, then look at recent Acts from the current session that may not yet be codified.

Citing the Code in a Legal Document

The standard abbreviation is “S.C. Code Ann.” followed by the section symbol and number, then the year of the volume in parentheses. A typical citation reads: S.C. Code Ann. § 63-3-630 (2010). When the law appears in a supplement rather than the main volume, the citation includes “Supp.” and the supplement year. If the law spans both, include both years, as in S.C. Code Ann. § 63-3-530(A) (2010 & Supp. 2020). The year refers to when the volume or supplement was published, not when the statute was originally enacted.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 16 – Crimes and Offenses
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 63 – South Carolina Children’s Code
4
University of South Carolina School of Law. South Carolina State Laws – Circuit Riders: Basic Legal Research
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of State Regulations
6
South Carolina Legislature. State Register and Regulations
7
South Carolina Association of Counties. Home Rule Handbook 2024 Edition
8
South Carolina Legislature. Legislation