The
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory and case law, as well as local ordinances. The ''
Revised Code of Washington The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the compilation of all permanent laws currently in force in the U.S. state of Washington. Temporary laws such as appropriations acts are excluded. It is published by the Washington State Statute Law Committ ...
'' forms the general statutory law.
Sources
The
Constitution of Washington
The Constitution of the State of Washington is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Washington. The constitution was adopted as part of Washington Territory's path to statehood in 1889. An e ...
is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the
Washington State Legislature, published in the ''
Laws of Washington'', and codified in the ''
Revised Code of Washington The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the compilation of all permanent laws currently in force in the U.S. state of Washington. Temporary laws such as appropriations acts are excluded. It is published by the Washington State Statute Law Committ ...
''. State agency regulations (sometimes called administrative law) are published in the ''
Washington State Register'' and codified in the ''
Washington Administrative Code
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
''. Washington's legal system is based on
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...
, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, which are published in the ''
Washington Reports'' and ''
Washington Appellate Reports'', respectively. Counties, cities, and towns may also promulgate
local ordinances.
Constitution
The foremost source of state law is the
Constitution of Washington
The Constitution of the State of Washington is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Washington. The constitution was adopted as part of Washington Territory's path to statehood in 1889. An e ...
. The Washington Constitution in turn is subordinate to the
Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
, which is the supreme law of the land.
Legislation
Pursuant to the state constitution, the
Washington State Legislature has enacted
legislation
Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...
. Its
session laws
Session laws are the collection of statutes enacted by a legislature during a single session of that legislature, often published following the end of the session as a bound volume. The United States Statutes at Large are an example of session l ...
are published in the ''
Laws of Washington'', which in turn have been
codified, compiled, and/or consolidated in the ''
Revised Code of Washington The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the compilation of all permanent laws currently in force in the U.S. state of Washington. Temporary laws such as appropriations acts are excluded. It is published by the Washington State Statute Law Committ ...
'' (RCW). Both are published by the
Washington State Statute Law Committee and the
Washington State Code Reviser which it employs and supervises.
Regulations
![Washington_State_Register](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Washington_State_Register.png)
Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated
regulation
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...
s, also known as
administrative law
Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), ad ...
. The ''
Washington State Register'' (WSR) is a biweekly publication that includes notices of proposed and expedited rules, emergency and permanently adopted rules, public meetings, requests for public input, notices of rules review, executive orders of the Governor, court rules, summary of attorney general opinions, juvenile disposition standards, and the state maximum interest rate.
The ''
Washington Administrative Code
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
'' (WAC) codifies or compiles the regulations and arranges them by subject or agency, and is updated twice a month.
[ There are also many agencies with quasi-judicial authority to hold hearings and make decisions.][ The ''Washington State Register'' is published by the Statute Law Committee, and the ''Washington Administrative Code'' is compiled and published under the authority of its Code Reviser.][
]
Case law
The legal system of Washington is based on the common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...
. Like all U.S. states except Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, Washington has a reception statute
A reception statute is a statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent by which the new nation adopts, or receives, the English common law before its independence to the extent not explicitly rejected by the legislative body ...
providing for the "reception" of English law. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...
. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Washington have developed a large body of case law through the decisions of the Washington Supreme Court
The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. Justices must retir ...
and Washington Court of Appeals
The Washington Court of Appeals is the intermediate level appellate court for the state of Washington. The court is divided into three divisions. Division I is based in Seattle, Division II is based in Tacoma, and Division III is based in Spok ...
.
The decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are published in the '' Washington Reports'' and '' Washington Appellate Reports'', respectively. Both are published by LexisNexis
LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer info ...
, while slip opinions are published on the Internet. The Reporter of Decisions is the constitutional officer of the Supreme Court that prepares the decisions and opinions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for publication in the official court reports.[ Cases from Washington appellate courts are also reported in the unofficial '']Pacific Reporter The ''Pacific Reporter'', ''Pacific Reporter Second'', and ''Pacific Reporter Third'' () are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, which is now par ...
''.[ From 1854 to 1889, opinions of the territorial Supreme Court were published in the three volumes of the ''Washington Territory Reports''.][
]
Local ordinances
The legislative bodies of counties, cities, and towns may adopt ordinances, resolutions, rules, regulations, motions, and orders, violations of which are punishable by a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, or for a gross misdemeanor one year in jail and a $5,000 fine. Alternatively, a legislative body may make an offense a civil infraction, but no city or county may establish a civil penalty for an act that constitutes a crime under state law, nor may it establish a different criminal punishment than that provided by state law for the same act.[ The power of the public to initiate ordinances by petition and to have enacted ordinances referred to the voters are only available in first class cities, code cities, cities or towns organized under the commission plan of government, and home rule counties.]
All cities and towns are required to publish every ordinance in their official newspaper, although in lieu of publishing an entire ordinance a city or town may publish a summary.[ Counties must provide advance notice of proposed police or sanitary regulations prior to adoption by the legislative body, and the notice may either set out a copy of the regulation or summarize its content.][
]
See also
Topics
* Capital punishment in Washington state
Capital punishment in the state of Washington was abolished on October 11, 2018 when the state Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional as applied. On September 10, 2010, Cal Coburn Brown became the last person to be executed in Washington Sta ...
* Felony murder rule (Washington)
* Gun laws in Washington Gun laws in Washington may refer to gun laws in either of two jurisdictions in the United States:
* Gun laws in Washington state
* Gun laws in Washington, D.C.
See also
* Washington (disambiguation)
* , enacted by Congress in Washington, ...
* LGBT rights in Washington (state)
Legislation
* List of Washington initiatives to the legislature
* List of Washington initiatives to the people
The U.S. state of Washington has had a system of direct voting since gaining statehood in 1889. Citizens and the state legislature both have the ability to place new legislation, or legislation recently passed by the state legislature, on th ...
Other
* Politics of Washington (state)
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
* Law enforcement in Washington
* Crime in Washington (state)
Crime rates in the state of Washington grew rapidly to large levels from 1960 to 1980, however slowed in growth from 1980 onward. Although the cause of this drop in crime growth from the 1980s cannot be directly determined, it was believed to have ...
* Law of the United States
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as v ...
References
*
External links
Washington State Constitution
from the Washington State Legislative Service Center
Revised Code of Washington
from the Washington State Legislative Service Center
Revised Code of Washington
archive from the Washington State Legislative Service Center
Washington Administrative Code
from the Washington State Legislative Service Center
Washington Administrative Code
archive from the Washington State Legislative Service Center
Session laws
from the Washington State Code Reviser
Washington State Register
from the Washington State Code Reviser
Washington Supreme Court and Court of Appeals opinions
from the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts
Washington state court decisions
from the Municipal Research and Services Center
The Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) is a non-profit organization based in Seattle with a mission of "supporting effective local government in Washington through trusted consultation, research, training, and collaboration". Founded in ...
Washington county codes
from the Municipal Research and Services Center
Washington city codes
from the Municipal Research and Services Center
Washington special purpose district and administrative codes
from the Municipal Research and Services Center
Local ordinance codes
from Public.Resource.Org
Public.Resource.Org (PRO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to publishing and sharing public domain materials in the United States and internationally. It was founded by Carl Malamud and is based in Sebastopol, California.
Public.Re ...
* Case law:
{{Laws of the United States by U.S. state
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...