The law of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law and local law. The '' Illinois Compiled Statutes'' (ILCS) form the general statutory law.

Sources

The

Constitution of Illinois The Constitution of the State of Illinois is the governing document of the state of Illinois. There have been four Illinois Constitutions; the fourth and current version was adopted in 1970. The current constitution is referred to as the "Consti ...

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

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...

, published in the '' Laws of Illinois'', and codified in the '' Illinois Compiled Statutes'' (ILCS). State agencies publish regulations (sometimes called administrative law) in the '' Illinois Register'', which are in turn codified in the '' Illinois Administrative Code''. Illinois'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 omniprese ...

, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Appellate Courts, which are published on the website of the Supreme Court. Counties, townships, cities, and villages 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'' () a ...

s. There are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law.

Constitution

The

is the foundation of the government of Illinois and vests the legislative power of the state in the

. The Illinois Constitution in turn is subordinate only to 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 nati ...

, which is the supreme law of the land.

Legislation

Pursuant to the state constitution, the

has enacted

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

. These legislative acts are published in the official '' Laws of Illinois'' and are called " session laws". The '' Illinois Compiled Statutes'' (ILCS) are the codified

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 ...

s of a general and permanent nature. The

Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818 ...

(LRB) makes additions, deletions, and changes to ILCS. There is no official version of the ILCS. There are several unofficial versions:

Illinois State Bar Association The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) is among largest voluntary state bar associations in the United States. Approximately 28,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA me ...

's/

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

's ''Illinois Compiled Statutes'', West's ''Smith–Hurd Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated'', and

LexisNexis LexisNexis is a part of the RELX corporation that sells data analytics products and various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper search, and consumer info ...

's ''Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated''.

Administrative law

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. ...

s. The regulations are codified in the '' Illinois Administrative Code''. The '' Illinois Register'' is the weekly publication containing proposed and adopted rules. There also exist administrative law decisions. Both the ''Illinois Administrative Code'' and ''Illinois Register'' are maintained by the

Illinois Secretary of State The Secretary of State of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 secretaries of states in the United States. The Illinois Secretary of State keeps the state records, laws, lib ...

. The ''Illinois Administrative Code'' was last printed in 1996. The General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules also publishes online versions. The ''Flinn Report'' is a weekly newsletter published by the Joint Committee meant to inform and educate Illinois citizens about current rulemaking activity.

Case law

Illinois's legal system is based on

, which is interpreted by

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 ...

through the decisions of the

Supreme Court of Illinois The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ...

and the

Illinois Appellate Court The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois Circuit Courts. Three Illinois Appellate Court judges hear each case and the concurrence of two is necessary to render a decision. The ...

. The official

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

for opinions of the Supreme Court and the Appellate Court are published on the website of the Illinois Supreme Court using a public domain case citation. There are also unofficial sources such as West's ''Illinois Decisions'' (an Illinois-specific version of the '' North Eastern Reporter'') with opinions since 1886. Illinois Appellate Court decisions from before 1935 are not binding. Illinois Circuit Court decisions are not published, but jury verdicts and settlements are published in the monthly ''Illinois Jury Verdict Reporter'', with regular updates from the ''Chicago Daily Law Bulletin'', and the weekly ''Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter''. Decisions of the Illinois Court of Claims are published in the ''Court of Claims Reports''. The ''Illinois Digest'' is an indexed compilation of summaries of opinions, or digest. The opinions of the Supreme Court and Appellate Court had been published in the '' Illinois Reports'' and '' Illinois Appellate Court Reports'', respectively, from 1831-2011; according to the University of Chicago Library, since 1819 and 1877, respectively. Illinois Circuit Court decisions were published from 1907–1909.

Local ordinances

Cook County IL Code of Ordinances title page

Illinois counties, townships, cities, and villages may promulgate

s. The

Government of Chicago The government of the City of Chicago, Illinois, United States is divided into executive and legislative branches. The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The may ...

operates as a special charter municipality. The ''Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicago'' is the official publication of the acts of the Chicago City Council, and the ''

Municipal Code of Chicago The ''Municipal Code of Chicago'' is the codification of local ordinances of a general and permanent nature of the City of Chicago. The Code contains original and new ordinances, adopted by the Chicago City Council, organized into eighteen titl ...

'' is the codification of its

s of a general and permanent nature. ''Shepard's Illinois Citations'' includes judicial interpretations of local ordinances.

Other

In addition, there are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law. ''Illinois Jurisprudence'' and ''Illinois Law and Practice'' are two major legal

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

s. The Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE) also publishes guides for

continuing legal education Continuing legal education (CLE), also known as mandatory or minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) or, in some jurisdictions outside the United States, as continuing professional development, consists of professional education for attorneys ...

Unique features

Illinois was one of the last remaining states to recognize the

alienation of affections Alienation of affections is a common law tort, abolished in many jurisdictions. Where it still exists, an action is brought by a spouse against a third party alleged to be responsible for damaging the marriage, most often resulting in divorce. The ...

tort. However, recognition of the tort was statutorily abrogated at the beginning of 2016, pursuant to the Alienation of Affections Abolition Act.740 ILCS 5/0.01
/ref>

References

External links

Illinois Compiled Statutes
from the

Illinois Administrative Code
from the

Joint Committee on Administrative Rules
Public Acts
of the Illinois General Assembly
Laws of Illinois
from

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

Illinois Register
from the

Cook County Code
from Municode
Municipal Code of Chicago
from American Legal Publishing
Chicago Decoded
(unofficial Chicago Municipal Code) from the OpenGov Foundation
Local ordinance codes
from Public.Resource.Org
Flinn Reports
from the Illinois General Assembly Joint Committee on Administrative Rules * Case law: {{DEFAULTSORT:Illinois Law State law in the United States Government of Illinois

Sources

Constitution

Legislation

Administrative law

Case law

Local ordinances

Other

Unique features

See also

Topics

Other

References

External links