The ''Colorado Revised Statutes'' (C.R.S.) are a
legal code of
Colorado, the
codified general and permanent
statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...
s of the
Colorado General Assembly.
Publication
The ''Colorado Revised Statutes'' are revised and published by the Revisor of Statutes of the
Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services under the supervision of the Committee on Legal Services as required by the Colorado Constitution.
The General Assembly has claimed
copyright protection of the C.R.S. under the aegis of the Committee on Legal Services since 1970. The assertion has been called "one of the most aggressive state government uses of copyright". Beginning in 1989,
West Publishing began its own distribution, challenging the copyright claim as an impermissible copyright of the public domain and as a violation of constitutional
freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
,
prior restraint prohibitions, and
due process
Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...
. West settled with the state after the law was changed in 1990 to allow access to the legislative database for a large fee. On March 4, 2016, the Committee on Legal Services suspended its practice of
copyright registration of the original publications and ancillary editorial work, and also suspended the fee for the statutory database containing the official text of the statutes.
In
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. the supreme court ruled that official annotated editions of state laws are public domain.
See also
*
Law of Colorado
* ''
United States Code
In the law of the United States, the Code of Laws of the United States of America (variously abbreviated to Code of Laws of the United States, United States Code, U.S. Code, U.S.C., or USC) is the official compilation and codification of the ...
''
Notes
References
*
*
External links
Colorado Revised Statutesfrom
LexisNexis
Colorado Revised Statutesfrom the
Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services
Colorado Revised Statutesfrom
Public.Resource.Org
Official Colorado Revised Statutes Book and eBookfrom
LexisNexis
{{Legal codes of the United States by U.S. state
Colorado law
United States state legal codes