Session laws are the collection of

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 enacted by a

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make 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 p ...

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 The ''United States Statutes at Large'', commonly referred to as the ''Statutes at Large'' and abbreviated Stat., are an official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. Each act and resolutio ...

are an example of session laws which are published biennially, because the United States Congress meets for two years per session. Session laws are typically published annually or biennially, depending on the length of the session of the legislature, which in turn typically depends on the frequency with which general elections of the legislature are held. Laws that are enacted during a session may modify existing statutes of the jurisdiction, or may need to be added to the collection of statutes. If the agency responsible for printing updated statutes has not yet published a new collection of statutes containing the amendments or additions passed during a recent legislative session, people who need to refer to the changes may refer directly to the session laws. Furthermore, some laws may be passed during a legislative session that are not intended to apply to the general population, e.g. a successful

appropriation bill An appropriation, also known as supply bill or spending bill, is a proposed law that authorizes the expenditure of government funds. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending. In some democracies, approval of the legislature is ne ...

or a

private act Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...

. Such laws might never be added to the statutes of the jurisdiction, and might only be contained in the session laws.''See, e.g.'', Mark C. Patronsky, ''Laws Not Printed in the Statutes'' (Wisconsin Legislative Council Staff Information Memorandum, August 28, 1973), p. 2 (discussing Wisconsin session laws not published in the state statutes).

References

Legal research {{law-stub

See also

References