Want to Read the Law? It'll Cost You. | New Republic: But why should you have to pay to read laws that you must obey?
You shouldn't, of course. Neither state nor federal law is copyrightable. Nevertheless, standards development organizations—from the American Society of Sanitary Engineers to the National Wood Window and Door Association—insist otherwise, having poured resources into developing long, technical regulations because the government didn’t have the expertise to do so.1 Now, state and federal laws simply reference these industry codes, and allow non-profits to charge for hefty books.