Statute
Definition of Statute
Note: See a more comprehensive approach to the Statute legal concept in the American Law Encyclopedia
Law enacted by the legislative branch of government. Statutes are enacted by legislatures under power authorized and means prescribed by federal and state constitutions. Resolutions adopted by legislative bodies are not considered statutes. Law adopted by government at the local level is typically called an ordinance rather than a statute. Statutes may be either public or private. A public or general statute establishes a policy that applies to everyone. A private or special statute, on the other hand, is directed at particular persons or classes. A private bill, for example, could deal with a citizenship matter or land title of a particular individual. When a legislative body enacts a private law, it is often required to make an almost judicial determination in order to resolve the private issue. Statutes may be either mandatory or directory in character. A mandatory statute requires a particular action while a directory statute leaves compliance optional. In other words, a directory statute offers mere direction, and there is no consequence for failure to take the direction.
See Also
Law (Judicial Function) Legal Positivism (Judicial Function) Statutory Construction (Judicial Function).
Definition of Statute
Meaning of statute, related to United States investment and financial law, in the American Legal Dictionary. See also related words and terms of statute below.
Resources
See Also
Further Reading
- Information about statute in: John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman, “Dictionary of finance and investment terms” (Hauppauge, New York, Barron's, 2014)
- Information about statute in: Jerry Martin Rosenberg, “Dictionary of investing” (New York, Wiley)
- Information about statute in: Campbell R. Harvey's Hypertextual Finance Glossary
Resources
Statute Related Resources
- Statute in the United States Legal Encyclopedia
- Judicial Function Keywords in the United States Legal Encyclopedia
- Judicial Function Keywords in the International Legal Dictionary
Notes
- “Statute”, The American Law Dictionary, 1991, California
Statute
In the Past
The written will of the legislature, solemnly expressed according to the forms prescribed in the constitution; an act of the legislature.
Developments
This word is used in contradistinction to the common law. Statutes acquire their force from the time of their passage unless or gived. 7 Wheat. R. 104: 1 Gall. R. 62.
Details
It is a general rule that when the provision of a statute is general, everything which is necessary to make such provision effectual is supplied by the common law; Co. Litt. 235; 2 Inst. 222; Bac. Ab. h. t. B; and when a power is given by statute, everything necessary for making it effectual is given by implication: quando le aliquid concedit, concedere videtur et id pe quod devenitur ad aliud. 12 Co. 130, 131 2 Inst. 306.
Other Aspects
Statutes are of several kinds; namely, Public or private. 1. Public statutes are those of which the judges will take notice without pleading; as, those which concern all officers in general; acts concerning trade (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) in general or any specific trade; acts concerning all people generally. 2. Private acts, are those of which the judges wiil not take notice without pleading; such as concern only a particular species or person; as, acts about any particular place or to several particular places or to one or several particular counties. Private statutes may be makeed public by being so declared by the legislature. Bac. Ab. h. t. F; 1 Bl. Com. 85. Declaratory or remedial. 1. A declaratory statute is one which is passed in order to put an end to a doubt as to what the common law is and which declares what it is and has ever been. 2. Remedial statutes are those which are made to delivery such defects and abridge such superfluities in the common law as may have been discovered. 1 Bl. Com. 86. These remedial statutes are themselves divided into enlarging statutes, by which the common law is made more comprehensive and extended than it was before; and into restraining statutes, by which it is narrowed down to that which is just and proper. The term remedial statute is also applied to those acts which give the party injured a remedy and in some respects those statutes are penal. Esp. Pen. Act. 1.
More Information
Temporary or perpetual. 1. 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. 2. A perpetual statute is one for the continuance of which there is no limited time, although it be not 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. Bac. Ab. h. t. D.
Other Issues
Affirmative or negative. 1. An affirmative statute is one which is enacted in affirmative terms; such a statute does not take away the common law. If, for example, a statute without negative words, declares that when certain requisites must have been complied with, deeds shall, have in evidence a certain effect, this does not prevent their being used in evidence, though the requisites have not been complied with, in the same way as they might have been before the statute was passed. 2 Cain. R. 169. 2. A negative statute is one expressed in negative terms and so controls the common law, that it has no force in opposition to the statute. Bro. Parl. pl. 72; Bac. Ab. h. t. G.
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Penal statutes are those which order or prohibit a thing under a certain penalty. Esp. Pen. Actions, 5 Bac. Ab. h. t. I, 9. Vide, generally, Bac. Ab. h. t.; Comyn's Digest (A digest of the laws of England, 1822) Parliament; Vin. Ab. h. t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t.; Chit. Pr. Index, h. t.; 1 Kent, Com. 447-459; Barrington on the Statutes, Boscaw. on Pen. Stat.; Esp. on Penal Actions and Statutes.
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Among the civilians, the term statute is generally applied to all sorts of laws and regulations; every provision of law which ordains, permits or prohibits anything is a statute without considering from what source it arises. Sometimes the word is used in contradistinction to the imperial Roman law, which, by way of eminence, civilians call the common law. They divide statutes into three classes, personal, real and mixed.
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Personal statutes are those which have mainly for their object the person and treat of property (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) only incidentally; such are those which regard birth, legitimacy, freedom, the fight of instituting suits, majority as to age, incapacity to contract (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia), to make a will, to plead in person and the like. A personal statute is universal in its operation and in force everywhere.
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Real statutes are those which have mainly for their object, property (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) and which do not speak of people, except about property; such are those which concern the disposition, which one may make of his property (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) either alive or by testament. A real statute, unlike a personal one, is confined in its operation to the country of its origin. Mixed statutes are those which concern at once both people and property. But in this sense almost all statutes are mixed, there being scarcely any law relative to people, which does not at the same time relate to things. Vide Merl. Repert. mot Statut; Poth. Cout. d'Orleans, ch. 1; 17 Martin's Rep. 569-589; Story's Confl. of Laws, 12, et seq.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t. [1]
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Notes and References
- Partialy, this information about statute is based on the Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier's Law Dictionary, including statute.
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