Statute
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/* Biblical terminology */ added term "reason for" red heifer
[[Image:GDL Statute.jpg|thumb|300px|Statute of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], written in [[Polish language|Polish]]]]
A '''statute''' is a formal written enactment of a [[legislative]] authority that governs a [[country]], [[state]], [[city]], or [[county]]. <ref name=Blacks>{{cite book
| last = Black
| first = Henry Campbell
| title = Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition
| publisher = [[West Publishing]]
| date = 1990
| location =
| pages =1410
| isbn =0-314-76271-x }}</ref> Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy.<ref name=Blacks/> The word is often used to distinguish [[law]] made by [[legislature|legislative]] bodies from the [[Legal opinions|judicial decisions]] of the [[common law]] and the [[regulations]] issued by [[Government agencies]].<ref name=Blacks/> 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]]).
Before a statute becomes [[law]] in some countries, it must be agreed upon by the highest [[executive branch|executive]] in the [[government]], and finally published as part of a [[Code (law)|code]]. In many countries, statutes are organized in topical arrangements (or [[codification|"codified"]]) within publications called [[Code (law)|codes]], such as the [[United States Code]]. In the United States, [[statutory law]] is distinguished from and subordinate to [[constitutional law]].
==Alternative meanings==
===International law===
The term '''statute''' is sometimes also used to refer to an International [[treaty]] that establishes an [[institution]], such as the Statute of the [[European Central Bank]], a protocol to the [[Treaty of Maastricht]]. This includes international courts as well, such as the Statute of the [[International Court of Justice]] and the Rome Statute of the [[International Criminal Court]]. Statute is also another word for law. The term was adapted from England in about the 18th century.
===Biblical terminology===
In biblical terminology, a Statute (Hebrew ''chok'') refers to a law given without a reason. The classic example is the Statute regarding the [[Red Heifer]], the reason for which, legend has it, defied even the wisdom of [[King Solomon]].
The opposite of a chok is a ''mishpat'', a law given for a specified reason, e.g. the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]] laws, which were given because "God created the world in six days, but on the seventh day He rested". ([[Genesis]] 2:2-3)
===Autonomy Statute===
In the [[Autonomous Communities of Spain]] the Autonomy Statute is a legal document similar in all but name to a state constitution in a federal state. The name was chosen because federalism was a taboo subject when the [[Spanish Constitution of 1978|constitution of 1978]] was approved.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==See also==
*[[Legislation]]
*[[Legislature]]
*[[Organic statute]]
*[[Statutory law]]
{{law}}
[[Category:Statutory law]]
[[Category:Legal research]]
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