Analysis and Comparison of Statutory Law, Essay Example

For centuries, governments have functioned under different laws and regulations that make up the framework of how justice works in that given region governed by a certain government. The laws often play a crucial role in the decisive moments that make a nation succeed or fall into anarchy and end in its ultimate extermination. For this reason, the laws that a country opts to use are of major importance and that is why only few are given the authority to decide how these laws will change. Statutory law is one of these crucial fundaments within every governing body. As defined by the essortment website on criminal laws, “Statutory law is the framework for our society and how we keep justice maintained. It is good knowledge and understanding to have of our culture and how it functions,” (essortment). Within this context, we can truly appreciate the great value that statutory law has. These statutes that make up the statutory laws ultimately serve as the ground work for all other laws due to the fact that they are passed directly by federal Congress. Moreover, statutory law governs some areas in which case law has no impact and includes local ordinances. Corporate laws and wills, and administrations are both governed by statutes. In seeking to understand the true concept of statutory laws we must compare it to common law and case law in order to obtain a complete understanding of the areas of governance for the two.

Both common law and statutory laws are followed by most nations but there are evident differences between the two. Common law evolves with decisions by judges in courts while new statutes are issued by various government agencies. The operational level for common law is procedural, while that of statutory law is substantive. The nature of common law is instructive while that of statutory law is substantive. Common law bases any judgments made heavily on the past while statutory law bases itself on statutes. Finally, the origin of common law is precedents or judiciary branch, while that of statutory law is the Government or legislature.

References

Diffen. (n.d.). Common Law vs Statutory Law – Difference and Comparison | Diffen. Retrieved from http://www.diffen.com/difference/Common_Law_vs_Statutory_Law

Essortment. (n.d.). What Is The Statutory Law?. Retrieved from http://www.essortment.com/statutory-law-30252.html