Legislation

Legislation

Legislation (or "statutory law") is law which has been promulgated (or "enacted") by a legislature or other governing body. The term may refer to a single law, or the collective body of enacted law, while "statute" is also used to refer to a single law. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, which is typically also known as "legislation" while it remains under active consideration. Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorize, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict.

In some jurisdictions legislation must not be confirmed by the executive branch of government before it enters into force as law.

Under the Westminster system, an item of legislation is known as an Act of Parliament after enactment.

Legislation is usually proposed by a member of the legislature (e.g. a member of Congress or Parliament), or by the executive, whereupon it is debated by members of the legislature and is often amended before passage. Most large legislatures enact only a small fraction of the bills proposed in a given session. Whether a given bill will be proposed and enter into force is generally a matter of the legislative priorities of government.

Those who have the formal power to "create" legislation are known as legislators, while the judicial branch of government may have the formal power to "interpret" legislation (see statutory interpretation).

Alternate means of law-making

The act of making legislation is sometimes known as legislating. Under the doctrine of class="wikitable" border="1"
separation of powers
, the law-making function is primarily the responsibility of the legislature. However, there are situations where legislation is enacted by other means (most commonly when constitutional law is enacted). These other forms of law-making include referendums and constitutional conventions. The term "legislation" is sometimes used to describe these situations, but other times, the term is used to distinguish acts of the legislature from these other lawmaking forms.

ee also

*Democracy
*Liberum veto
*Secondary (or delegated) legislation
*Vetothis page is rubbish

External links

* [http://thomas.loc.gov/ legislative information from the Library of Congress]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • législation — [ leʒislasjɔ̃ ] n. f. • 1361, rare av. 1721; bas lat. legislatio 1 ♦ Vx Droit, pouvoir de faire les lois. « le droit de législation » (Rousseau). 2 ♦ Ensemble des normes juridiques dans un pays ou dans un domaine déterminé. ⇒ 3. droit, 1. loi. La …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • legislation — le‧gis‧la‧tion [ˌledʒˈsleɪʆn] noun [uncountable] LAW 1. a law or set of laws: • Under the new legislation, employers will be required to offer up to 12 weeks of paid sick leave per year. • He introduced legislation to increase the minimum wage …   Financial and business terms

  • legislation — leg·is·la·tion /ˌle jəs lā shən/ n 1: the making or giving of laws; specif: the exercise of the power and function of making rules that have the force of authority by virtue of their promulgation by an official organ of the state 2: the… …   Law dictionary

  • Legislation — Leg is*la tion ( l[=a] sh[u^]n), n. [Cf. F. l[ e]gislation, L. legis latio. See {Legislator}.] The act of legislating; preparation and enactment of laws; the laws enacted. [1913 Webster] Pythagoras joined legislation to his philosophy. Lyttelton …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • legislation — 1650s, from Fr. législation, from L.L. legislationem (nom. legislatio), properly two words, legis latio, proposing (lit. bearing ) of a law; see LEGISLATOR (Cf. legislator) …   Etymology dictionary

  • legislation — legislation, legislature Both words date from the 17c. Legislation is the process of making laws, and the legislature is the body (or group of bodies) that makes them …   Modern English usage

  • Legislation — (lat.), Gesetzgebung; legislatīv, gesetzgebend; Legislative, Gesetzgebende Versammlung, Gesetzgebende Gewalt; Legislātor, Gesetzgeber; legislatōrisch, gesetzgeberisch, zur Gesetzgebung gehörig; Legislatūr, Gesetzgebung, auch Gesetzgebende… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Legislation — Legislation, Legislatur, lat. dtsch., Gesetzgebung; Legislator, Gesetzgeber …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • legislation — [n] law of a government act, bill, charter, codification, constitution, enactment, lawmaking, measure, prescription, regulation, ruling, statute; concept 318 …   New thesaurus

  • legislation — ► NOUN ▪ laws collectively. ORIGIN Latin, proposing of a law , from lex law …   English terms dictionary

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