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Positive law is a legal term having more than one meaning. In a general legal sense, positive law is man-made law, that is, law established by governmental authority, especially that which has been codified into a written form (statutory law). The term is often used in contrast with natural law and legal realism. Statutory law is written law (as opposed to oral or customary law) set down by a legislature or other governing authority such as the executive branch of government in response to a perceived need to clarify the functioning of government, improve civil order, answer a public need, to codify existing...
Natural law or the law of nature (Latin lex naturalis) is a law whose content is set by nature, and that therefore has validity everywhere. ...
Legal realism is a family of theories about the nature of law developed in the first half of the 20th century in the United States (American Legal Realism) and Scandinavia (Scandinavian Legal Realism). ...
Various philosophers have put forward theories contrasting the value of positive law relative to natural law. The normative theory of law put forth by the Brno school gave pre-eminence to positive law because of its rational nature. Classical liberal and libertarian philosophers usually favor natural law over positive law. Natural law or the law of nature (Latin lex naturalis) is a law whose content is set by nature, and that therefore has validity everywhere. ...
Liberalism is a political current embracing several historical and present-day ideologies that claim defense of individual liberty as the purpose of government. ...
See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ...
Positive law to Rousseau was freedom from internal obstacles or laws that limit vice. Rousseau is a French surname. ...
Positive law and the United States Code In the United States the national statutes are passed by the United States Congress. Some statutes are also "codified" (separately organized and published by subject matter) while others are not. While both codified and uncodified statutes are, in the broad sense, "positive law" (as the term is used above), the term "positive law" also has a separate, more restricted meaning when used to refer to codified statutes (see Codification). Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups (as of November 7, 2006 elections) Democratic Party Republican...
In law, codification is the process of collecting and restating the law of a jurisdiction in certain areas, usually by subject, forming the legal code. ...
Section 204 of title 1 of the United States Code provides (in part, emphasis added): The United States Code (U.S.C.) is a compilation and codification of the general and permanent federal law of the United States. ...
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- In all courts, tribunals, and public offices of the United States, at home or abroad, the matter set forth in the edition of the Code of Laws of the United States current at any time shall, together with the then current supplement, if any, establish prima facie the laws of the United States, general and permanent in their nature, in force on the day preceding the commencement of the session following the last session the legislation of which is included: Provided, however, That whenever titles of such Code shall have been enacted into positive law the text thereof shall be legal evidence of the laws therein contained, in all the courts of the United States, the several States, and the Territories and insular possessions of the United States.
See 1 U.S.C. § 204. Title 1 of the United States Code outlines the general provisions of the United States Code. ...
According to the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives:
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- Certain titles of the [United States] Code have been enacted into positive law, and pursuant to section 204 of title 1 of the Code, the text of those titles is legal evidence of the law contained in those titles. The other titles of the Code are prima facie evidence of the laws contained in those titles. The following titles of the Code have been enacted into positive law: 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23, 28, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 46, and 49. [1]
In the case of titles that are positive law (in the restricted sense), the text of the title itself, as published in the United States Code by the United States Government Printing Office, is conclusive evidence of the exact wording and punctuation of the statute. In litigation over a provision of the United States Code, this means that to determine the actual wording of the statute the court generally will not look beyond the text as printed in the Code itself. The logotype of the United States Government Printing Office In the United States, the Government Printing Office (GPO) prints and provides access to documents produced by and for all three branches of the federal government, including the Supreme Court, the Congress, and all executive branch agencies like the FCC and...
The titles of the United States Code that are not positive law in this restricted sense are sometimes referred to as "non-positive law" (i.e., not "negative law"). The status of a particular provision in a title that is "non-positive" law has no bearing on the "legality" of that provision except to the extent that (due to a typographical error or other variance) the text of the Code does not exactly match the Act of Congress as published in the United States Statutes at Large (also published by the United States Government Printing Office) that is the source of the provision. In the case of a variance, the text in the United States Statutes at Large is the controlling law. The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large, is the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress. ...
To make matters somewhat more confusing, certain titles of the United States Code such as title 26 (the Internal Revenue Code), while denoted as "non-positive" law (in the restricted sense), actually represent the currently amended version of "positive" law (in the broader sense of a "duly enacted statute"). That is, title 26 of the United States Code, denominated as the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986," as amended, is apparently identical to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 as amended. The Internal Revenue Code of 1954 was enacted as positive law (on August 16, 1954), and was also codified as "title 26" of the United States Code. The Internal Revenue Code (or IRC) (more formally, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended) is the main body of domestic statutory tax law of the United States organized topically, including laws covering the income tax (see Income tax in the United States), payroll taxes, gift taxes, estate taxes...
The United States Internal Revenue Code of 1954 temporarily extended the 5 percentage point increase in corporate tax rates through March 31, 1955, increased depreciation deductions by providing additional depreciation schedules, and created a 4 percent dividend tax credit for individuals. ...
The designation of a particular title of the Code as "positive" or "non-positive" law usually has little practical significance, as there are very few substantive variances between the texts of statutes as published in the United States Code and the texts of the same statutes in the United States Statutes at Large.
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