legislative acts
Congress's formal outputs
Legislative acts are laws formally enacted by a legislature—statutes, bills that have passed, resolutions with binding force.
The term emphasizes the formal, procedural nature of lawmaking: The court struck down the legislative act as unconstitutional.
Distinguished from executive orders or judicial rulings, legislative acts represent the will of an elected body codified into law.
- statutesFormally enacted laws
- ordinancesLocal government rules
- decreesOfficial orders with force
- executive orderBinding directive from leadership
- resolutionsFormal decisions or pledges
parliament · treaties · amendments · drafting · bills · public hearing · statutory law · enactments · filibuster · floor vote · roll call · senate · appropriations · riders · regulation · bicameral · ratifying · codification
- government recordspublic records, legal records, presidential records, state laws, federal contracts
- legislationbills, acts, laws, statutes, bill
- official recordsbirth certificate, government documents, birth certificates, death certificate, death certificates
- state lawstate statutes, state laws, state constitutions, constitutional law, state code
- EU lawTreaty of Rome, acquis communautaire, directives, transposition, direct effect
- EU ParliamentEuropean Parliament, MEPs, MEP, plenary, committees
legislative actsexecutive orders
Presidential directives with legal force
presidential decrees · executive actions · royal decrees · military orders · judicial decisions
legislative actspolicy recommendations
Suggested courses of action
memoranda · white papers · best practices · recommendations · draft legislation