About On the Books

Every American town runs on a municipal code — the local law that decides how tall your fence can be, when your neighbor's generator has to go quiet, whether you can keep chickens, and what happens if you don't shovel your sidewalk. Those codes are public, but they're written for lawyers and scattered across dozens of publishing systems.

On the Books puts them in one place, in plain English. Pick from 9,629 towns across all 50 states, ask a question the way you'd ask a person, and get an answer that cites the actual chapter and section of your town's official published code — with a link, so you can read the law itself.

Where the law text comes from

Every town's material is drawn from its official published municipal code — the same text the town itself publishes through its code publisher. Each town's page shows how current its code text is. Answers always cite the specific chapter and section they rely on; if we can't find it in the code, we say so rather than guess.

What On the Books is not

It is not legal advice, and it is not a lawyer. It's a reference desk: a fast, honest way to find out what's on the books. Codes change, towns amend, and enforcement is its own story — for anything that matters, verify the cited section at the official source, and talk to your town clerk or an attorney.

The Town Hall Pass

Your first question in any town is free. A Town Hall Pass — $5 a year — unlocks unlimited questions in every town in the library. There's no account to create: checkout runs through Stripe, and your pass lives in your browser. One flat price, because finding out what the law says shouldn't cost more than a sandwich.