Statute
a law proceeding from the government of a State; the written will of the legislature solemnly expressed according to the forms necessary to constitute it the law of the State. A statute which contravenes a provision of the constitution of a State by whose legislature it was enacted, or of the United States Constitution, is void. Statutes are either public or private (in the latter case affecting an individual or a company); but the term is usually restricted to public acts of a general and permanent character. Statutes are said to be declaratory of the law as it stood before their passing; remedial, to correct defects in the common law; and penal, imposing prohibitions and penalties. The term statute is commonly applied to the acts of a legislative body consisting of representatives. In monarchies not having representative bodies, the laws of the sovereign are called edicts, decrees, ordinances, rescripts, etc.