Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations issued by government agencies. Statutes are sometimes referred to as legislation or "black letter law." As a source of law, statutes are considered primary authority (as opposed to secondary authority).

Ideally all statutes must be in harmony with the fundamental law of the land (constitutional).

This word is used in contradistinction to the common law. Statutes acquire their force from the time of their passage, however unless otherwise provided. Statutes are of several kinds; namely, Public or private. Declaratory or remedial. Temporary or perpetual. A temporary statute is one which is limited in its duration at the time of its enactment. It continues in force until the time of its limitation has expired, unless sooner repealed. A perpetual statute is one for the continuance of which there is no limited time, although it may not be expressly declared to be so. If, however, a statute which did not itself contain any limitation is to be governed by another which is temporary only, the former will also be temporary and dependent upon the existence of the latter.

Before a statute becomes law in some countries, it must be agreed upon by the highest executive in the government, and finally published as part of a code. In many countries, statutes are organized in topical arrangements (or "codified") within publications called codes, such as the United States Code. In many nations statutory law is distinguished from and subordinate to constitutional law.

Other articles related to "statute":

States Parties To The Rome Statute Of The International Criminal Court - Notes
... A Colombia made use of article 124 of the Rome Statute to exempt war crimes committed by its nationals or on its territory from the jurisdiction of the Court for a period of seven years ... came into force with the coming into force of the Rome Statute, for Colombia, on 1 November 2002 and expired on 31 October 2009 ... B The Rome Statute entered into force for the Faroe Islands on 1 October 2006 and for Greenland on 1 October 2004 ...
Morgan V. Hamlet - Judgment
... it appears that there is a special statute of limitations governing claims against estates of deceased persons, commonly called the "Statute of Nonclaim." It is as follows "All demands not exhibited to the ... And that all claims fall within the provisions of the statute that are capable of being asserted in a court of law or equity existing at the death of the deceased or coming into existence within two ... present the claim as prescribed in the statute is not to let it in against the heirs or devisees, but it is to bar is forever as against all persons ...
Croix De Guerre Des Théâtres D'opérations Extérieures - Statute
... The Croix de Guerre TOE is awarded to military personnel and civilians who have received an individual citation during war/combat operations on foreign soil ... More precisely, it was awarded for citations earned in the following operational foreign theaters The Levant in 1918 and 1919, in the East from 1918 to 1920 in Morocco in 1918 French Equatorial Africa (AEF) in 1919 French West Africa (FWA) from 1918 to 1921 Morocco (Rif War) of 1921-1926 Indochina in 1918-1922 and 1945–1954 for military missions in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Upper Silesia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia, Hungary and Romania Madagascar in 1947 Korea from 1950 to 1953 The Middle East (Egypt from 30 October 1956 to 31 December 1956 and the Gulf War of 17 January 1991 to 5 May 1992) Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosovo from 24 March 1999 to 21 June 1999) ...
Broadrick V. Oklahoma
... a United States Supreme Court decision upholding an Oklahoma statute which prohibited state employees from engaging in partisan political activities ... often cited to enunciate the test for a facial overbreadth challenge, that "the overbreadth of a statute must not only be real, but substantial as well, judged in relation to the statute's plainly legitimate ...

Famous quotes containing the word statute:

    Now a Jew, in the dictionary, is one who is descended from the ancient tribes of Judea, or one who is regarded as descended from that tribe. That’s what it says in the dictionary; but you and I know what a Jew is—One Who Killed Our Lord.... And although there should be a statute of limitations for that crime, it seems that those who neither have the actions nor the gait of Christians, pagan or not, will bust us out, unrelenting dues, for another deuce.
    Lenny Bruce (1925–1966)

    Amidst the downward tendency and proneness of things, when every voice is raised for a new road or another statute or a subscription of stock; for an improvement in dress, or in dentistry; for a new house or a larger business; for a political party, or the division of an estate;Mwill you not tolerate one or two solitary voices in the land, speaking for thoughts and principles not marketable or perishable?
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)