Session laws are the collection of
statutes enacted by a
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make 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 p ...
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
The ''United States Statutes at Large'', commonly referred to as the ''Statutes at Large'' and abbreviated Stat., are an official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. Each act and resolut ...
are an example of session laws which are published biennially, because the United States Congress meets for two years per session. Session laws are typically published annually or biennially, depending on the length of the session of the legislature, which in turn typically depends on the frequency with which general elections of the legislature are held.
Laws that are enacted during a session may modify existing statutes of the jurisdiction, or may need to be added to the collection of statutes. If the agency responsible for printing updated statutes has not yet published a new collection of statutes containing the amendments or additions passed during a recent legislative session, people who need to refer to the changes may refer directly to the session laws. Furthermore, some laws may be passed during a legislative session that are not intended to apply to the general population, e.g. a successful
appropriation bill or a
private act
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...
. Such laws might never be added to the statutes of the jurisdiction, and might only be contained in the session laws.
[''See, e.g.'', Mark C. Patronsky, ''Laws Not Printed in the Statutes'' (Wisconsin Legislative Council Staff Information Memorandum, August 28, 1973), p. 2 (discussing Wisconsin session laws not published in the state statutes).]
See also
*
Slip law
References
Legal research
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