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 ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

consists of several levels of legal rules, including

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

, statutory, regulatory,

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 l ...

, and local laws. The ''

Code of Virginia The Code of Virginia is the statutory law of the U.S. state of Virginia, and consists of the codified legislation of the Virginia General Assembly. The 1950 Code of Virginia is the revision currently in force. The previous official versions were ...

'' contains the codified legislation that define the general statutory laws for the Commonwealth.

Sources of law in Virginia

The

Constitution of Virginia The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the document that defines and limits the powers of the state government and the basic rights of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Like all other state constitutions, it is supreme ...

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

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

, published in the '' Acts of Assembly'', and codified in the ''

''. State agency regulations (sometimes called administrative law) are published in the '' Virginia Register of Regulations'' and codified in the ''

Virginia Administrative Code Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...

''. Virginia'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 omnipresen ...

, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

, and Circuit Courts, which may be published in the '' Virginia Reports'', '' Virginia Court of Appeals Reports'', and ''

Virginia Circuit Court Opinions Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

'', respectively. Counties and municipalities may also promulgate

local ordinance A local ordinance is a law issued by a local government. such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, or the like. China In Hong Kong, all laws enacted by the territory's Legislative Council remain to be known as ''Ordinances'' () af ...

Constitutions

The foremost source of state law is the

. It provides the process for enacting all state legislation, as well as defining the powers of the state government and the basic rights of the people of Virginia. The Virginia Constitution has had six major revisions, as well as many amendments. The current version of the Constitution took effect in 1971, after having been recommended by a "Commission on Constitutional Revision", then approved by the General Assembly, the Governor, and the voters of Virginia. As with all states, the Virginia Constitution and any other state laws may be superseded by 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 ...

and

U.S. federal laws 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 (law), ...

, to the extent those laws conflict with Virginia laws.

Legislation

Pursuant to the state constitution, the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

has the power to enact

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...

. A bill that has been passed by a majority in both the Virginia House and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

is then sent to the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

for endorsement. If the bill is either signed by the Governor or left unsigned for thirty days, it will become an official law of the commonwealth. The Governor may also send the bill back with recommended changes or veto it outright. In either of these cases, the legislation would go back to the General Assembly for further action. An attempt to override the Governor's veto requires approval by a two-thirds vote in both houses of the General Assembly. 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 '' Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia''. They are in turn codified in the ''

''.

Regulations

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. For ...

s, also known as

administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...

. The '' Virginia Register of Regulations'' is the official publication of state government regulations, petitions for rulemaking, emergency regulations, Governor's executive orders, state lottery regulations and director's orders, and State Corporation Commission orders and regulations. The ''

'' is the compilation of permanent regulations that have the force of law. The ''Virginia Register of Regulations'' is published by the

Virginia Code Commission Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

Case law

The legal system of Virginia is based on the

. 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 ...

, Virginia 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 English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

. 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 incompat ...

. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Virginia have developed a large body of

through the decisions of the

, and circuit courts. The decisions of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and circuit courts are published in the '' Virginia Reports'', '' Virginia Court of Appeals Reports'', and ''

'', respectively. Most circuit court decisions are not published. The decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are also published in the unofficial ''

South Eastern Reporter The ''South Eastern Reporter'' and ''South Eastern Reporter Second'' 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 part of Thomson West. ...

''. Opinions are first published online as a slip opinion, a pamphlet that contains only one decision. Slip opinions are then compiled in soft-bound volumes called advance sheets, and assigned citations (volume and page number) for the official reporters. Advance sheets are then compiled and printed in the hard-bound volumes of the reporters.

Local ordinances

The ''Code of Virginia'' provides that the maximum penalty for the violation of a local ordinance is the penalty provided by general law for a class 1 misdemeanor.

References

External links

Virginia law
from the Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems
Constitution of Virginia
from the Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems
Code of Virginia
from the Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems
Virginia Administrative Code
from the Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems
Acts of Assembly chapters
from the Virginia Division of Legislative Automated Systems
Virginia Register of Regulations
from the

Virginia Division of Legislative Services Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are s ...

Court opinions
from the

Supreme Court of Virginia The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...

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: {{Authority control