Legal Definitions - revised statutes

Revised statutes refer to an official, systematic compilation of a jurisdiction's general and permanent laws that have been updated, reorganized, and often officially re-enacted. This process involves consolidating individual laws, removing obsolete provisions, incorporating amendments, and arranging them by subject matter into a coherent and accessible code. The goal is to present the current state of the law in a clear, organized, and authoritative manner, making it easier for legal professionals and the public to understand and apply.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of revised statutes:

• Imagine a state government decides to modernize all its laws related to public health and safety. Over many years, various acts have been passed concerning food safety, building codes, and disease control, leading to some inconsistencies and outdated provisions. The legislature undertakes a comprehensive project to review, amend, and consolidate all these separate laws into a single, organized body. Once this process is complete and the new compilation is officially adopted, it would be published as the state's Revised Public Health and Safety Statutes. This collection would then serve as the definitive source for all current public health and safety regulations in that state.

• A legal researcher is working on a case involving a specific aspect of contract law in a particular jurisdiction. Instead of searching through every individual law passed by the legislature since the state's founding, they would consult the jurisdiction's Revised Statutes. This official compilation would contain the most current and systematically organized version of all contract laws, including any amendments or repeals that have occurred over time. The researcher can quickly find the relevant section, confident that they are reviewing the authoritative and up-to-date legal text.

• Consider a federal government that has accumulated numerous laws over decades pertaining to national parks and wildlife conservation. These laws might be scattered across various legislative acts passed at different times. To create a more user-friendly and coherent legal framework, the government might undertake a project to codify these laws. The resulting publication, which systematically organizes all current federal laws on national parks and wildlife into distinct chapters and sections, would be known as the Revised Federal Statutes on Conservation. This makes it easier for park rangers, environmental groups, and the public to understand their rights and responsibilities regarding these protected areas.