The

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 ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory and case law. The ''

Michigan Compiled Laws The law of Michigan consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory and case law. The ''Michigan Compiled Laws'' form the general statutory law. Sources The Constitution of Michigan is the foremost source of state la ...

'' form the general statutory law.

Sources

The

Constitution of Michigan The Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government. There have been four constitutions approved by the people of Michigan. The fi ...

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

Michigan Legislature The Michigan Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of the Senate (the upper chamber) and the House of Representatives (the lower chamber). Article IV of the Michigan Con ...

, published in the '' Acts of the Legislature'', and codified in the ''

''. State agency regulations (sometimes called administrative law) are published in the '' Michigan Register'' and codified in the '' Michigan Administrative Code''. Michigan's legal system is based on

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

, which is interpreted by case law through the decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, which are published in the '' Michigan Reports'' and ''

Michigan Appeals Reports Michigan ( ) is a peninsular state in the Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, Indiana and Illinois to the southwest, Ohio t ...

'', respectively.

Constitution

The foremost source of state law is the

. The Michigan Constitution in turn is subordinate to the

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

, 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 ...

. These legislative acts are published in the official '' Public and Local Acts of the Legislature of the State of Michigan'' and are called "

session laws Session laws are the collection of statutes enacted by a legislature 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 is an example of session la ...

". They in turn have been codified in the ''

''. Both are published by the Michigan Legislative Service Bureau (LSB). Pursuant to Article IV, Section 36, of the Michigan Constitution, the compilations and codifications are not binding.

Regulations

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. Fo ...

s, also known as

administrative law Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...

. The regulations are published in the '' Michigan Register'' (MR) and codified in the '' Michigan Administrative Code'' (MAC or AC). The ''Michigan Administrative Code'' was last printed in 1979. The ''Annual Administrative Code Supplement'' (AACS) is the annual supplement to the ''Michigan Administrative Code'' containing the rules published in the ''Michigan Register'' for that year. All three works are published by the Michigan Office of Regulatory Reinvention within the

Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), originally the Department of Commerce among other names, is a principal department in the Michigan executive branch that oversees employment, professional licensing, constr ...

. From 1980 to 1997, the AACS was published by the LSB.

Case law

The legal system of Michigan is based on the

. Like all U.S. states except

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, Michigan has a

reception statute A reception statute is a statutory law adopted as a former British colony becomes independent by which the new nation adopts, or receives, the English common law (and in some cases the statute law) before its independence to the extent not explicit ...

providing for the "reception" of

English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...

. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...

. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Michigan have developed a large body of

case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a 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

Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the s ...

and

Michigan Court of Appeals The Michigan Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court of the state of Michigan. It was created by the Michigan Constitution of 1963, and commenced operations in 1965. Its opinions are reporter (law), reported both in an officia ...

. The decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are published in the '' Michigan Reports'' and ''

'', respectively. Both are also reported in the unofficial ''Michigan Reporter'' (a Michigan-specific version of the ''

North Western Reporter The ''North Western Reporter'' and ''North Western Reporter, Second Series'' are United States regional Reporter (law), case law reporters. It is part of the National Reporter System created by John B. West for West Publishing Company, which is no ...

'').

Local ordinances

Compiled Laws

The Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL) are the official codification of statutes for the state of

. An unannotated edition of the MCL is published by the state of Michigan in print and online.Michigan Legislature
/ref> Unofficial, annotated versions are published by both

West West 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 Romance langu ...

and

LexisNexis LexisNexis is an American data analytics company headquartered in New York, New York. Its products are various databases that are accessed through online portals, including portals for computer-assisted legal research (CALR), newspaper searc ...

. The West publication is ''Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated'' (MCLA); the LexisNexis version is the ''Michigan Compiled Laws Service'' (MCLS). Until the year 2000, an alternate codification known as the ''Michigan Statutes Annotated'' (MSA), which differed from the MCL in both its organization and numbering system, was also in use. Until the discontinuation of the MSA by LexisNexis, Michigan Court Rules required citation to both the MCL and MSA in all court filings.

References

External links

Michigan Compiled Laws
from the Michigan Legislative Service Bureau
Michigan Administrative Code
from the

Public Acts
of the Michigan Legislature from the Michigan Legislative Service Bureau

from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
Court cases, opinions and orders
from the Michigan State Court Administrative Office
Wayne County Code
from

Municode Municipal Code Corporation (Municode) was a codification (law), codifier of legal documents for local governments in the United States. The company, founded in 1951 by George Langford was located in Tallahassee, Florida. History George Langford ...

Detroit City Code
from Municode
Local ordinance codes
from

Public.Resource.Org Public.Resource.Org (PRO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to publishing and sharing public domain materials in the United States and internationally. It was founded by Carl Malamud and is based in Sebastopol, California. Public. ...

* Case law: {{Authority control