written law
Legislation on paper
Written law is law formally enacted and recorded in official documents—statutes, codes, constitutions, and regulations.
It contrasts with unwritten law, which includes customs, judicial precedents, and principles not codified in authoritative texts.
The judge cited written law to support her ruling.
Most modern legal systems rely primarily on written law for clarity and consistency.
- decreeAuthoritative legal command
- actDeed or performance
- codeSymbolic communication system
- constitutionInherent physical or structural makeup
- charterFounding organizational document
edict · treaty · supreme court · legal system · clause · legal code · parchment · stone tablet · tablet · pen and ink · legislature · codification · gavel · scribe · judicial · binding · bill · amendment
- JudaismShabbat, kosher, Passover, Torah, Hanukkah
- legal historylegal history, Roman jurisprudence, codification, legal codes, criminal codes
- Mosaic lawMoses, Ten Commandments, tablets of stone, commandment, commandments
- Halakhahalakhah, halacha, mitzvot, commandments, din
- Judaicamenorah, Torah scroll, Talmud, Torah study, mezuzah
- Greek lawdike, archon, lawgivers, codification, jury
written lawunwritten law
Informal accepted rule
oral law · common law · traditional law · oral tradition · custom
written lawcase law
Judge-made legal doctrine
common law · precedent · natural law · judicial precedent · divine law
written lawcustom
Habitual group practice
unwritten rules · social norms · convention · tradition · informal rules
law, ruling, written, regulation, statute, regulations, ordinance, enactment, bylaw