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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. Beyond recognition of the right to self-determination, the Council’s text formulated an array of tailor-made collective rights, such as the right to maintain and develop their distinct political, economic, social and cultural identities and characteristics as well as their legal systems and to participate fully, "if they so choose," in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State. They were guaranteed the right not to be subjected to genocide or ethnocide, i.e., action aimed at or affecting their integrity as distinct peoples, their cultural values and identities, including the dispossession of land, forced relocation, assimilation or integration, the imposition of foreign lifestyles and propaganda. The stated rights guaranteed to indigenous peoples as groups, not only as individual persons, include the right to observe, teach and practice tribal spiritual and religious traditions; the right to maintain and protect manifestations of their cultures, archaeological-historical sites and artifacts; the right to restitution of spiritual property taken without their free and informed consent, including the right to repatriate Indian human remains; and the right to protection of sacred places and burial sites. Further listed are the rights to maintain and use tribal languages, to transmit their oral histories and traditions, to education in their language and to control over their own educational systems. They are afforded the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems, and to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development. Their treaties with States should be recognized, observed and enforced. Last, but not least, the Declaration supports the right of indigenous people to own, develop, control, and use the lands and territories which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used, including the right to restitution of lands confiscated, occupied or otherwise taken without their free and informed consent, with the option of providing just and fair compensation wherever such return is not possible. The document, in particular, goes beyond ILO Convention No. 169 in its statements on self-determination, land and resource rights, as well as political autonomy.
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 legislation is known as an Act of Parliament after enactment.
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).
Alternate means of law-making
The act of making legislation 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.
See also
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- This page was last modified on 20 November 2008, at 12:53.
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