With reference to the compliance required statutes are said to be (a) mandatory, when they direct an act to be done with the conse quence that if it is not done all acts or pro ceedings taken under the statute are invalid. Thus statutes formulating the procedure for organizing corporations, or authorizing civil ar rest, are mandatory, since they must be strictly complied with, or all acts done under them have no validity.
(b) Directory, when failure to comply with the statute does not affect the validity of acts done under it or entail the imposition of any penalty for failure to comply with the statute. Thus many statutes specifying the time and manner of filing official reports are directory only. There is no penalty for failure to comply with the statute, and compliance with it can be compelled only by mandamus (q.v.).
(c) Prohibitory, when they forbid the doing of any act either with or without penalty for failure to comply with the statute.
(d) Permissive, when they allow acts to be done not before permitted, or give to them some additional legal effect, although such acts are not required to be done, ns the various statutes permitting the disposition of property by will.
A statute may contain four distinct parts— the title, the preamble, the enacting clause, and the purview. The title is a short form of description of the statute, as for example, An Act Prohibiting Sabbath-Breaking.' In some States the title is of great importance, because of constitutional provisions requiring statutes to have titles descriptive of the subject matter of the statute. In the absence of such provision, it is now the usual practice to omit the title.
The preamble is an introductory and explana tory statement setting forth the reason and pur pose of the statute. It is of service only as an aid in interpreting the purview of the statute which follows. All the early English statutes included the preamble, but it is now seldom used.
The enacting clause is a brief direction that the statute he enacted by the legislative body; as. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled." The purview is that portion of the statute following the enacting clause, and is the only part of the statute which has the effect of law. It may contain various subdivisions or clauses known as provisos, exceptions, the saving clause, the repealing clause, terms which are self-ex planatory.
At common law a statute was deemed to take effect as upon the first day of the session in which it was enacted. This was modified by Statute 33, Geo. III., c. 13, which provided that all statutes should become operative from the date of their receiving the royal assent. It is now generally the rule in the United States that statutes shall become opera tive from the date of their receiving the assent of the Executive, unless a different date is vise specified in the statute itself.
Courts will take judicial notice of all public statutes operative within their jurisdiction, and it is therefore not necessary generally to plead a public statute upon which a litigant founds an action or defense. Some rule of public policy may. however, require a public statute to be pleaded in special cases, as the Statute of Limi tations (q.v.) and Statute of Frauds (q.v.). Private statutes, however, are required to be pleaded. and the statutes of foreign States and countries. being regarded as matters of fact, are required to be pleaded and proved like other matters of fact.
For discussion of the amendment and repeal of statutes, consult those topics respectively; and for a discussion of the interpretation of stat utes, see INTERPRETATION: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW; LAW; etc.
Consult the authorities referred to under