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Statutory Law is the term used to define written laws, usually enacted by a legislative body. Statutory laws vary from regulatory or administrative laws that are passed by executive agencies, and common law, or the law created by prior court decisions.

Unlike common law, which is subject to interpretation in its application by the court, statutory laws are generally strictly construed by courts. Strict construction means that courts are generally not able to read between the liens of a statute in order to liberalize its application. Rather, they will be bound by its express terms.

As legislative enactments, statutory laws follow the usual process of legislation. A bill is proposed in the legislature and voted upon. If approved, it passes to the executive branch (either a governor at the state level or the president at the federal level). If the executive signs the bill it passes into law as a statute. If the executive fails or refuses to sign the bill, it can be vetoed and sent back to the legislature. In most instances, if the legislature again passes the bill by a set margin it becomes a statute.

Statutes are also recorded, or codified, in writing and published. Statutory law usually becomes effective on a set date written into the bill. Statutes can be overturned by a later legislative enactment or if found unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction.

For more information on statutory laws, please review the materials listed below.

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The ABA Section of State and Local Government Law is the premier association for lawyers involved in urban, state, and local government law and policy.

Statutory law can be found in two types of publications: compilations of statutes or codified laws.7 Both the compilations and the codes have the same wording, but their formats are different. A federal law is given the number of the U.S. Congress that passed it and a second number that represents the chronological order of its passage. ?Pub. L. 88-352? indicates the 352nd law passed by the 88th Congress. After passage, a law is codified, or published according to its subject category. Public Law 88-352 can also be found in the United States Code, (see Law Library External Sites) where the citation is 42 U.S.C. ? 2000e et seq. Remember, though, that not all laws are codified.

A statute is a written law passed by a legislature on the state or federal level. Statutes set forth general propositions of law that courts apply to specific situations. A statute may forbid a certain act, direct a certain act, make a declaration, or set forth governmental mechanisms to aid society. A statute begins as a bill proposed or sponsored by a legislator. If the bill survives the legislative committee process and is approved by both houses of the legislature, the bill becomes law when it is signed by the executive officer (the president on the federal level or the governor on the state level). When a bill becomes law, the various provisions in the bill are called statutes. The term statute signifies the elevation of a bill from legislative proposal to law. State and federal statutes are compiled in statutory codes that group the statutes by subject. These codes are published in book form and are available at law libraries.

The United States Code is the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is divided by broad subjects into 50 titles and published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. Since 1926, the United States Code has been published every six years.