An act might change the law in several different “places.” Maybe there’s a criminal statute, a modification to a sentencing law, and a new addition to a statute of limitations. If you look at the -“act, you see all these changes in one block of text, in sort of a different-like format.
But when you look at the code you realize the statute of limitations is hundreds of pages away from the criminal statute, which are in different titles or articles or what-have-you. What happened?
Well, someone painstakingly started with the first act passed by the legislature and applied every additional and change set forth in each act, keeping a numbering system intact, until they got to the law today. Their work is copyrighted, even if the acts themselves weren’t.
I would not take every word of this comment as gospel in every state, but nevertheless I hope it promotes either understanding or further discussion.
(To be clear I believe parent understands all my thoughts already and am not trying to convince that author).