An organic law is a

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

or any other organization's body of rules. A

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

is a particular form of organic law.

By country

France

Under Article 46 of the

Constitution of France The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic , and it replaced the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of 1946 with the exception of the preamble per a 1971 d ...

, organic laws (in French, ''lois organiques''; in English sometimes translated as Institutional Acts) are a short, fixed list of statutes (in 2005, there were about 30 of them) specified in the Constitution. They overrule ordinary statutes. They must be properly enacted by the

Parliament of France The French Parliament (, ) is the bicameral parliament of the French Fifth Republic, consisting of the Senate (), and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris: the Senate meets in the ...

following a special procedure and must be approved for constitutionality by the

Constitutional Council of France The Constitutional Council (, ) is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958 to ensure that constitutional principles and rules are upheld. It is housed in the ...

before they can be

promulgated Promulgation is the formal proclamation or the declaration that a new statutory or administrative law is enacted after its final approval. In some jurisdictions, this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect. After a new law i ...

. Organic laws allow flexibility if needed. An important category of organic laws includes the budgets of the

French state Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against G ...

and French

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

. Other organic laws give the practical procedures for various

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

s. Organic laws reduce the need for amendments to the constitution.

Hong Kong

The

Basic Law of Hong Kong The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). With nine chapters, 160 article ...

is a national law of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

that serves as the organic law for the

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a Special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the List of ...

(HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 articles and three annexes, the Basic Law was composed to implement Annex I of the 1994

Sino-British Joint Declaration The Sino-British Joint Declaration was a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and People's Republic of China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance o ...

. The Basic Law was enacted under the

Constitution of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted the Common Progr ...

when it was adopted by the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

on 4 April 1990 and came into effect on 1 July 1997 when Hong Kong was transferred from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to China. It replaced Hong Kong's colonial constitution of the

Letters Patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...

and the Royal Instructions. The Basic Law lays out the basic policies of China on Hong Kong until 2047, including the "

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Deng Xiaoping developed the one country, two systems ...

" principle, the sources of

, the relationship between Hong Kong and the

Central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

(State Council), the fundamental rights and duties of Hong Kong residents and the branches of local government.

Spain

Under the current

Spanish Constitution of 1978 The Spanish Constitution () is the supreme law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted after its approval in 1978 in a constitutional referendum; it represents the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. The current version was a ...

, an Organic Law has an intermediate status between that of an ordinary law and of the constitution itself. It must be passed by an absolute majority of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

. The Spanish Constitution specifies that some areas of law must be regulated by this procedure, such as the laws developing fundamental rights and freedoms recognized in the first section of Chapter Two of Title I of the Constitution, as well as the laws that approve the Statutes of Autonomy of the

autonomous communities of Spain The autonomous communities () are the first-level political divisions of Spain, administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Constitution of Spain, Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonom ...

, among others. Prior to the 1978 constitution, the concept did not exist in Spain, but it is inspired by the similar concept in the 1958 French Constitution.

United States

The organic laws of the United States of America can be found in Volume One of the United States Code which contains the general and permanent laws of the United States. The following texts are classified in the

U.S. Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

as organic laws: the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

, the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...

, the

Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...

, and the

US Constitution 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, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constitut ...

.2007 Publication of the U.S. Code including the organic laws

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *https://edstudents.angelfire.com/papers/ORGANIC_LAW.pdf
Drafting Budget System Laws – IMF Technical Guidance Note, Ian Lienert and Israel Fainboim, IMF, 2007

External links

MexicoColombia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Organic Law Constitutional law Government documents Philosophy of law Law of France