Statutory and Case Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Statutory and Case Law - Essay Example The word statute typically refers to a law, e.g., The Patriot Act, passed by a state legislature or the U.S. Congress that commands, prohibits, or declares something. It is sometimes called legislation. State and federal court cases often involve statutory interpretation, and enactment of a statute may well reverse an established case law precedent. Nevertheless, it is easy to overlook the importance of statutes in law school because most law school discussions focus on case law. The tools and techniques used to research statutes are similar to those used to research federal and state constitutions, treaties, administrative rules, executive orders, uniform laws, local charters and ordinances, and court rules. Statutory research may thus mean finding and analyzing any of these documents. All statutes are the product of congressional hearings thus the process is explained herewith. Congress consists of 535 men and women (100 Senators and 435 Representatives), each performing a delicate balancing act between the needs and demands of their constituents, their political parties, their contributors, their staffs, the Administration, and even each other. These often conflicting demands can simultaneously pull members of Congress in dozens of different directions on any one issue. It is against this backdrop that legislative process, or the passage of a bill into law, occurs in the two Chambers of Congress. These laws are called statutes. Congress is collegial, not hierarchical, and power and influence in administration decision making tend to flow in all directions. Although the How a Bill Becomes Law chart is useful in understanding the general legislative process, it is not a defined roadmap. Since no two bills ever follow exactly the same path to enactment, you always have to rethink the chart with every bill you research, keeping in mind the parliamentary and political maneuvering that can occur anywhere in the process. The life of each Congress is two years and each Congress has been numbered since the first Congress in 1789. The 104th Congress, for example, convened in January 1995 and ran until October 1996; the 105th Congress began in January 1997. Since World War II, the two-year Congress has been divided into two sessions (first and second), each lasting one year. Prior to the 77th Congress (1941-42), there occasionally were three or four session Congresses; some of these sessions were for a very short duration, sometimes lasting only a month or less. The numbering of Congressional publications is sequential within each publication type, beginning with the number "1" in every Congress. This means that each Congress will have a bill numbered H.R. 1, thus knowing the number of the Congress is important. Bills not acted upon when the two-year Congress adjourns sine die are considered to have expired. To be considered in the next Congress, these bills must be reintroduced and numbered in the new Congress' sequential order of bills. Hence, H.R. 1 from the 104th Congress can be very different from a bill numbered H.R. 1 from the 100th Congress. Knowing the Congress number is imperative for identifying the proper H.R. 1. The following describes the process by which statutes are created: Bill or Measure General legislation is designated by "H.R." in the House of Representatives and "S." in the Senate. Public bills deal