The law of Florida consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory

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 vari ...

, as well as case law and local law. The '' Florida Statutes'' form the general statutory law of Florida.

Sources

The

Constitution of Florida The Constitution of the State of Florida is the document that establishes and describes the powers, duties, structure, and function of the government of the U.S. state of Florida, and establishes the basic law of the state. The current Constitu ...

is the foremost source of state law. Legislation is enacted by the

Florida Legislature The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Con ...

, published in the ''

Laws of Florida The Laws of Florida are the session laws of the Florida Legislature, a verbatim publication of the general and special laws enacted by the Florida Legislature in a given year and published each year following the regular session of the legislature. ...

'', and codified in the '' Florida Statutes''. State agencies publish regulations (sometimes called administrative law) in the ''

Florida Administrative Register The ''Florida Administrative Register'' (FAR) is the daily publication containing proposed rules and notices of state agencies of Florida. See also * '' Florida Administrative Code'' * Law of Florida * ''Federal Register The ''Federal Regis ...

'' (FAR), which are in turn codified in the ''

Florida Administrative Code The Florida Administrative Code (FAC) is the official compilation of the rules and regulations of Florida regulatory agencies. See also * Florida Administrative Register * Law of Florida References External links Florida Administrative Cod ...

'' (FAC). Florida's legal system is based on common law, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court, District Courts of Appeal, and Circuit Courts, which are published in the ''Florida Cases'', ''

Southern Reporter The ''Southern Reporter'', the ''Southern Reporter Second'', and the ''Southern Reporter Third'' are United States regional case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for the West Publishing Company. ...

'', ''Florida Law Weekly'', and ''Florida Law Weekly Supplement''. Counties and municipalities may also promulgate local ordinances. There are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law.

Constitution

The Florida Constitution (the state constitution) defines how the statutes must be passed into law, and defines the limits of authority and basic law that acts of the legislature must comply with.

Legislation

Pursuant to the state constitution, the

has enacted legislation, called "chapter laws" or generically as "

slip law In the United States, a slip law is an individual Act of Congress which is either a public law (Pub.L.) or a private law (Pvt.L.). They are part of a three-part model for publication of federal statutes consisting of slip laws, session laws, and ...

s" when printed separately. These are in turn compiled into the ''

'' and are called " session laws". The '' Florida Statutes'' are the codified statutory laws of the state. The Florida Constitution defines how the statutes must be passed into law, and defines the limits of authority and basic law that the Florida Statutes must be complied with. Laws are approved by the

and signed into law by the Governor of Florida. Certain types of laws are prohibited by the state constitution.

Regulations

Pursuant to certain statutes, state agencies have promulgated bodies of regulations (sometimes called

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"), a ...

). The regulations are codified in the ''

'' (FAC). The ''

'' (FAR) is the daily publication containing proposed rules and notices of state agencies. There are also numerous decisions, opinions and rulings of state agencies.

Common law and case law

Florida's legal system is based on common law, which is interpreted by

case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a le ...

through the decisions of the Supreme Court of Florida,

Florida District Courts of Appeal The district courts of appeal (DCAs) are the intermediate appellate courts of the Florida state court system. There are currently five DCAs: *The First District Court of Appeal is headquartered in Tallahassee *The Second District Court of A ...

, and

Florida circuit courts The Florida circuit courts are state courts, and are trial courts of original jurisdiction for most controversies. In Florida, the circuit courts are one of four types of courts created by the Florida Constitution (the other three being The Flor ...

. There is no official reporter. Opinions of the Supreme Court and District Courts of Appeal are published in the ''Florida Cases'' (a Florida-specific version of the ''

'') and ''Florida Law Weekly''. Appellate and trial court opinions of the

and County Courts are published in the ''Florida Law Weekly Supplement''. The ''Florida Reports'' published opinions of the court from 1846–1948. Florida courts practice

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 incompa ...

, which means certain laws and regulations can be struck down (ruled unconstitutional) by the Florida state courts. The Florida Constitution, in Article V, Section 2(a), vests the power to adopt rules for the "practice and procedure in all courts" in the Florida Supreme Court, which has adopted the

Florida Rules of Civil Procedure The Florida Constitution, in Article V, Section 2(a), vests the power to adopt rules for the "practice and procedure in all courts" in the Florida Supreme Court. The Florida Supreme Court adopted the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure in March 1954. T ...

. Although Title VI of the Florida Statutes is labeled "Civil Practice and Procedure", the statutes it contains are limited to only issues of substantive law.

Local ordinances

Florida's counties and municipalities may also promulgate local ordinances. Municipal ordinances take precedence over conflicting non-charter county ordinances, whereas ordinances of charter counties may prevail in specific circumstances defined in the charters.

Other

In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law. ''Florida Jurisprudence'' is a major legal encyclopedia.

Unique features

Sovereign immunity laws ensure that action cannot be brought against the Florida government for more than $200,000, with an exception for

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other par ...

cases. Specifically, section 768.28, Florida Statutes, is a limited waiver of the state's sovereign immunity. It provides that neither the state nor its agencies or subdivisions is liable to pay a tort claim or a judgment by any one person over $100,000 or any claim or judgment over $200,000, when totaled with all other claims paid by the state or its agencies or subdivisions arising out of the same incident. The Supreme Court recognized the exception for breach of contract cases.''Pan-Am Tobacco v. Department of Corrections'', 471 So.2d 4 (Fla. 1984). The Court noted that the statutory waiver of sovereign immunity is related to torts and there is no analogous waiver in contract, but that the Legislature, by law, had authorized state entities to enter into contracts, so "the legislature has clearly intended that such contracts be valid and binding on both parties."

References

External links

Florida Statutes
from the

Sunshine Statutes
(Florida Statutes) from the Florida Society of News Editors and First Amendment Foundation
Florida Administrative Code
from the

Florida Department of State The Secretary of State of Florida is an executive officer of the state government of the U.S. state of Florida, established since the original 1838 state constitution. Like the corresponding officials in other states, the original charge of th ...

Laws of Florida
from the Florida Department of State
Florida Administrative Register
from the Florida Department of State
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: {{DEFAULTSORT:Florida Law State law in the United States Government of Florida

Sources

Constitution

Legislation

Regulations

Common law and case law

Local ordinances

Other

Unique features

See also

Topics

Other

References

Further reading

External links