Legislation (or "statutory law") is law which has been promulgated (or "enacted") by a legislature or other governing body. Statutory law or statute law is written Law (as opposed to oral or Customary law) set down by a Legislature or other governing Promulgation or enactment is the act of formally proclaiming or declaring new statutory or Administrative law when it receives final approval Promulgation or enactment is the act of formally proclaiming or declaring new statutory or Administrative law when it receives final approval A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation 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. For other uses see Bill. A bill is a proposed new law introduced within a Legislature that has not been ratified, adopted

In some jurisdictions legislation must not be confirmed by the executive branch of government before it enters into force as law. In Political science and Constitutional law, the executive is the branch of government responsible for the day-to-day management of the State. For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government.

Under the Westminster system, an item of legislation is known as an Act of Parliament after enactment. The Westminster system is a democratic Parliamentary system of Government modelled after the British government (the Parliament of the United An Act of Parliament is a Law enacted as Primary legislation by a national or sub-national Parliament.

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. Coming into force (also called enforcement or enactment) is a term that refers to the process by which Legislation, or part of legislation and

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). A legislator (or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws especially someone who is a member of a Legislature. In Law, the judiciary or judicial system is the system of Courts which administer Justice in the name of the sovereign or State Statutory interpretation is the process of interpreting and applying Legislation.

Alternate means of law-making

The act of making legislation is sometimes known as legislating. Under the doctrine of separation of powers, the law-making function is primarily the responsibility of the legislature. Separation of powers, a term ascribed to French Enlightenment Political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, is a model for the Governance However, there are situations where legislation is enacted by other means (most commonly when constitutional law is enacted). Constitutional law is the study of foundational or basic Laws of nation states and other political organizations These other forms of law-making include referendums and constitutional conventions. A referendum (plural referendums or referenda) ballot question, or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita 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.

The interpretation of law by the executive branch or the judiciary has been contended by some to be law-making, particularly when the judicial branch must address laws that appear to conflict (such as constitutional and statutory law). In Law, the judiciary or judicial system is the system of Courts which administer Justice in the name of the sovereign or State Statutory law or statute law is written Law (as opposed to oral or Customary law) set down by a Legislature or other governing The extent to which the courts may be seen to "legislate" in this manner informs the ongoing contemporary debate concerning judicial activism (which may be contrasted with judicial restraint). Judicial activism is a pejorative term for the misuse of judicial power and is a neologism for the older classical term " board judicial review. Judicial restraint is a theory of Judicial interpretation that encourages Judges to limit the exercise of their own power Judicial law-making is not generally referred to as "legislation", however, except ironically. Also, some country's laws will empower the executive branch or other government agency to issue regulations or decrees which can carry the force of law, although this is also generally not considered legislation, per se. This article is for the legal term For regulation of genes see Regulation of gene expression. A decree is an order made by a Head of state or government and having the force of Law. Legislation can also be created at provincial and local levels of government (which have their own legislatures), where separation of powers may be less formal and complete. Legislation is a source of law which consist in the declaration of rule of the competent authority.

Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorize, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict.

Legislative history

The record of events and public statements of legislators that explain the reasons for the law and its expected meaning are called "legislative history". Legislative history includes any of various materials generated in the course of creating Legislation, such as committee reports analysis by legislative counsel committee hearings Often, this will include formal speeches or writings made by the bill's sponors and chief critics. Courts often refer to legislative history in interpreting legislation, in order to discern "legislative intent" -- or what legislators meant for the law to mean. In Law, the legislative intent of the Legislature in enacting Legislation may sometimes be considered by the Judiciary when interpreting the However, there is a prevalent minority view among some judges that laws should be interpreted solely according to their text, and without regard to legislative intent. This debate is complicated by the fact that legislators will sometimes craft the text of a law to be intentionally obscure or vague as part of a political compromise, and that in a large legislative body, most of those who vote in favor of a bill will not have read the bill's full legislative history, or, indeed, the bill itself. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions

See also

• Democracy
• Liberum veto
• Secondary (or delegated) legislation
• Veto

Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Liberum veto ( Latin: I freely forbid) was a parliamentary device in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that allowed any deputy to Delegated legislation (also referred to as secondary legislation or subordinate legislation) is Law made by an executive authority under powers given to A veto, Latin for "I forbid" is used to Denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a certain piece of Legislation.

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