The term "statute" is used by international jurists and civilians mostly on the continent of Europe to denote the whole body of the municipal law of the State. In this sense statutes are either real, personal or mixed. A real statute is that part of the law which deals directly with property, whether movable or im movable. A personal statute has for its object a person, and deals with questions of status, such as marriage, legitimacy or infancy. A mixed statute affects both property and person, or, accordtng to some authorities, it deals with Acts and obligations. Personal statutes are of universal validity; real statutes have no extra territorial authority. The determination of the class under which a particular law ought to fall is one of great difficulty, and one in which there is often a conflict of legal opinion.
Statute in American law is generally confined to an act of the legislature, though the term is occasionally used to apply to municipal ordinances and the rules and regulations of administra tive agencies passed in the exercise of delegated legislative func tions. The concurrence of the executive is demanded for the efficacy of the legislative act. The executive is accorded a veto over legislative action which can, however, be overridden by con currence of a sufficient majority in the houses of the legislature.
Any consideration of statute-making in the United States must bear in mind the Federal character of the nation. Not only does each of the 48 States possess statute-making powers for that State, but the national Government within the ambit of its delegated powers may pass statutes effective throughout the nation. The device of judicial review over legislation is the scheme by which conflict between the various statutes is resolved. As the supreme law of the land stand the Constitution, treaties and laws of the United States, and State statutes passed in contravention of them are unenforceable. Not only are State and the lower Federal courts obliged to refuse to enforce a State statute contravening Federal constitutional or statutory law, but by providing for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the validity of State statutes
can be brought for judgment to that ultimate tribunal. The Supreme Court thus occupies the position of arbiter in the eternal conflict between States and nation. State statutes must also com ply with the provisions of the State Constitution but the final arbiter of their compliance is the State supreme court and not the U.S. Supreme Court. (See CONSTITUTION AND CONSTITU TIONAL LAW.) State statutes in violation of the State or Federal Constitution are void, but State statutes contravening Federal statutes are suspended during the operation of the latter.
The fact that there are 49 different statute-making bodies in the United States makes for an immense mass of legislation. Despite the fact that most State legislatures have only biennial sessions, their legislative activity produces a vast number of statutes. The first thorough attempt to keep in touch with their activity by the mechanism of an index to State legislation was originated in 1928 by the Library of Congress. Periodic revisions of their statutes are made by each State but upon plans that lack any uniformity. No revision of the statutes of the Federal Government was made until 1874. A second revision was accomplished in 1925.
Statutes commonly take effect from the date that they receive the executive assent. In some States constitutional provisions prescribe that they shall not be effective until after the expiration of a certain time after their passage, unless the legislature shall designate that the matter is one of such public urgency as to require their immediate operation. The result of these restrictions has been simply to induce the legislature to append an urgency clause to each statute irrespective of its subject-matter and thus override the constitutional restriction. Two other common con stitutional provisions relative to statute-making in the State legislatures deserve notice. To avert the process of "log-rolling" or the inclusion of particular legislation in a general statute, the Constitutions provide that no statute shall deal with more than one subject, to be plainly and specifically expressed in the title to the act.