Why are statutes created

The debate at the Third Reading is confined to the contents of the Bill. Any reasoned amendment which raises matters not included in the Bill must be ruled out of order. The Bill is then put to vote. Under our Constitution, all Bills passed by Parliament except for money Bills, urgent Bills and Bills affecting defence, security, public safety, peace or good order in Singapore must be sent to the Presidential Council for Minority Rights PCMR to ensure that they do not discriminate against any racial or religious community.

A Bill becomes law i. The date the Act comes into force is usually determined by the Minister in charge of the Act and notified by a commencement Notification published in the Gazette. Our Roles. The Legislative Process 1. How is a Bill introduced and considered in Parliament? When issues come up in court surrounding statutory law, lawyers must argue how to interpret them, and they may sometimes challenge the definition of the law itself.

While all statutes are statutory laws, there are a variety that serve different purposes. These are separated into two main categories — public and private. Public statutes typically apply uniformly across the general public, say in the case of traffic laws. On the other hand, private statutes often only concern individuals or specific groups of people, such as immigration matters. Statutes can be further defined, usually by what the statute affects, how long it will be in place, or the type of wording it uses.

Other categories of statutes include:. It is essential to understand the different types of law before deciding which to specialize in. For example, statutory law is not to be mixed up with common law or administrative law. These three types of law differ significantly.

Unlike statutory law, the judicial branch creates common law through decisions made over time, but it is never written down or passed through legislation. Specifically, common law is crafted over time from judicial decisions made in similar court cases. As court cases are decided, they set a precedent for similar cases in the future. Precedent is often the basis of common law.

In addition, administrative law regulates government agencies, controlling how they run and what powers they have. While statutory law is different from common law and administrative law, both can become statutory law if they are officially written down and passed by a legislative body, such as a declaratory statute.

Common law develops over time thanks to the rulings of presiding judges, and it is used in two specific instances:. Judges have some discretion here. Over time, statutory laws may become outdated or obsolete in respect to the way society has changed.

For instance, a hundred years ago, a man could have been arrested for having sexual relations with another man. Today we rightly acknowledge that this law is discriminatory and unjust.

Changing statutory laws is a long and involved process; it moves very slowly. As a result, judges often need to exercise discretion regarding cases that are more open to interpretation. Executive agencies create administrative law to oversee agencies of the government. Different departments, bureaus, and agencies create, direct, supervise, and enforce their own special legislative policies. Therefore, administrative laws are the policies they create and enforce, such as hunting regulations established by the National Park Service or food regulations made by the Food and Drug Administration.

Administrative laws also perform a crucial function in our society. They guide government agencies and ensure that the proper checks and balances are put in place. Take the National Park Service, for example. On the other hand, the agency itself also needs to be governed. This system is designed to ensure that citizens are treated in a fair and equable manner.

When creating statutory law, a legislative body first proposes a bill. The bill is then voted on by the entire legislative body.

If it does not pass, it can be amended and then voted on again. If it passes, it is sent to the executive branch of the government, which could consist of the President of the United States or the governor of a specific state. The executive branch then has the option to pass the law or to veto it. If it is vetoed, it is returned to the legislative body to try to pass it again. If the executive branch passes the law, the law becomes a statute and is codified. Statutory law can be created by any branch of government at a federal, state, or local level.

When a law passes at a federal level, it will apply to the whole country. Similarly, if a law passes at the state level, it is only valid in that state.

And if it passes at a local level, it is only valid in that city or town. At the same time, a federally passed law does not necessarily override existing state law. Up until very recently, sports gambling was prohibited under federal law in the United States under the Professional and Amateur Sports Act of The only exempt states were those with existing legislation in place that allowed gambling.

These four states were: Delaware, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon. Naturally, statutory lawyers work primarily with statutory law. Thereafter, the new decision becomes precedent and will bind future courts.

In Brown v. Board of Education , the landmark case concerning racial segregation in U. At the heart of the case was the contention that the separate school systems for blacks and whites were inherently unequal and thus violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. After the case was reheard in , Chief Justice Warren was able to persuade all of the justices to support a unanimous decision declaring segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.

Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Although it would be many years before all U. Under common law, the precedent it established was that separate educational facilities for different races are inherently unequal. Answer the question s below to see how well you understand the topics covered above. This short quiz does not count toward your grade in the class, and you can retake it an unlimited number of times.