Legislation
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Legislation (or "statutory law") is law which has been promulgated (or "enacted") by a legislature or other governing body. The term may refer to a single law, or the collective body of enacted law, while "statute" is also used to refer to a single law. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, which is typically also known as "legislation" while it remains under active consideration. Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorize, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict.
In some jurisdictions legislation must be confirmed by the executive branch of government before it enters into force as law.
Under the Westminster system, an item of primary legislation is known as an Act of Parliament after enactment: using the powers in the Act, NSW and Northern Territory secondary legislation may be introduced through Regulations or Orders.
Legislation is usually proposed by a member of the legislature (e.g. a member of Congress or Parliament), or by the executive, whereupon it is debated by members of the legislature and is often amended before passage. Most large legislatures enact only a small fraction of the bills proposed in a given session. Whether a given bill will be proposed and enter into force is generally a matter of the legislative priorities of government.
Those who have the formal power to create legislation are known as legislators, while the judicial branch of government may have the formal power to interpret legislation (see statutory interpretation). Legislation can also be seen as an ultimate way to fight criminals
[edit] Alternate means of law-making
The act of law making is sometimes known as legislating. Under the doctrine of separation of powers, the law--making function is primarily the responsibility of the legislature. However, there are situations where legislation is enacted by other means (most commonly when constitutional law is enacted). These other forms of law-making include referendums and constitutional conventions. The term "legislation" is sometimes used to describe these situations, but other times, the term is used to distinguish acts of the legislature from these other lawmaking forms, which have been scaled down.
