The law of New York consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory and case law, and also includes local laws, ordinances, and regulations. The Consolidated Laws form the general statutory law.
Sources
The Constitution of New York is the foremost source of state law. The legislation of the New York State Legislature is published in the official Laws of New York and codified in the Consolidated Laws of New York. State agency rules and regulations are promulgated in the New York State Register and compiled in the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Because New York is a common law state, every opinion, memorandum, and motion sent by the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is published in the New York Reports and Appellate Division Reports, respectively, and selected opinions of the trial courts and Supreme Court appellate terms are published in the Miscellaneous Reports. Each local government may also adopt local laws, and counties, cities, and towns may promulgate ordinances.
Constitution
The foremost source of state law is the Constitution of New York. The Constitution of New York in turn is subordinate only to the Constitution of the United States, which is the supreme law of the land.
Statutory law
Pursuant to the state constitution, the New York State Legislature has enacted legislation, called chapter laws or slip laws when printed separately. The bills and concurrent resolutions proposing amendments to the state or federal constitutions of each legislative session are called session laws and published in the official Laws of New York.
The codification of the permanent laws of a general nature are contained in the Consolidated Laws of New York. New York uses a system called "continuous codification" whereby each session law clearly identifies the law and section of the Consolidated Laws affected by its passage. Unlike real codes, the Consolidated Laws are systematic but neither comprehensive nor preemptive, and reference to other laws and case law is often necessary. There also exist unconsolidated laws, such as the various court acts. Unconsolidiated laws are uncodified, typically due to their local nature, but are otherwise legally binding.
There are also numerous sources used for statutory interpretation (e.g., legislative intent).
Administrative law
Pursuant to certain broadly worded statutes, state agencies and courts have promulgated an enormous body of rules and regulations (delegated legislation). Regulations are promulgated with and published in the New York State Register and compiled in the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR). There are also numerous decisions, opinions, and rulings of state agencies. Altogether these are sometimes called administrative law.
Case law
Decisions of the New York Court of Appeals are binding authority on all other courts, and persuasive authority for itself in later cases. Decisions of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division department panels are binding on the lower courts, and are persuasive authority for the Court of Appeals, other Appellate Division departments. In the absence of a relevant Appellate Division decision from a trial court's own department, the trial court is bound by the applicable decisions of other departments. Decisions by the Supreme Court, Appellate Term must be followed by courts whose appeals lie to it. Published trial court decisions are persuasive authority for all other courts in the state.
The New York State Reporter of the New York State Law Reporting Bureau is the official reporter of decisions and is required to publish every opinion, memorandum, and motion sent to it by the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the New York Reports and Appellate Division Reports, respectively. The trial court and Supreme Court appellate term opinions are published selectively in the Miscellaneous Reports. The most recent decisions are found in the New York Reports 3d (cited as N.Y.3d), the Appellate Division Reports 3d (cited as A.D.3d) and the Miscellaneous Reports 3d (cited as Misc. 3d). Select opinions of the lower courts in the first and second departments are also published in the New York Law Journal. The New York State Courts Electronic Filing System (NYSCEF) is the electronic court filing (e-filing) system.
Local law
New York is divided into counties, cities, towns, and villages, which are all municipal corporations with their own government. New York City contains no county, town or village governments other than the government of New York City. The Constitution of New York enumerates the powers of local governments, such as the power to elect a legislative body and adopt local laws. Counties, cities, and towns may also promulgate ordinances in addition to laws. A local law has a status equivalent with a law enacted by the Legislature (subject to certain exceptions and restrictions), and is superior to the older forms of municipal legislation such as ordinances, resolutions, rules and regulations.
Each local government (such as counties) must designate a newspaper of notice to publish or describe its laws. The Secretary of State is responsible for publishing local laws online and as a supplement to the Laws of New York. Local laws are not effective until they have been filed with the Secretary of State in the form designated.
With respect to New York City, the codified local laws are contained in the New York City Administrative Code consisting of 29 titles, the regulations promulgated by city agencies are contained in the Rules of the City of New York consisting of 71 titles, and The City Record is the official journal (newspaper of notice) published each weekday (except legal holidays) containing legal notices produced by city agencies.
Treatises
There are also several sources of persuasive authority, which are not binding authority but are useful to lawyers and judges insofar as they help to clarify the current state of the law.
See also
Topics
- Alcohol laws of New York
- Capital punishment in New York
- Certificate of disposition
- New York divorce law
- New York energy law
- Felony murder rule (New York)
- Gun laws in New York
- Necessity defense (New York)
- Molineux hearing
- Motion to dismiss in the interest of justice
- LGBT rights in New York
- Rent control in New York
Legislation
- Rockefeller Drug Laws
- New York City Human Rights Law
- Libby Zion Law
- Soda Ban
Other
- Politics of New York
- Law enforcement in New York
- Crime in New York
- Law of the United States
References
External links
- Laws, court acts, and legislative chamber rules from the New York State Senate
- Laws of New York from the Legislative Bill Drafting Commission
- Consolidated Laws from FindLaw
- Consolidated Laws from Justia
- Consolidated Laws from Socratek
- New York Codes, Rules and Regulations from West
- New York State Register from the New York State Department of State
- New York State Register from West
- New York Slip Opinion Service from the New York State Law Reporting Bureau
- Court slip opinions from the New York State Office of Court Administration
- New York Official Reports Service from West
- New York State Courts Electronic Filing System from the New York State Office of Court Administration
- New York City Administrative Code and Rules of the City of New York from New York Legal Publishing Corporation
- New York City Administrative Code from FindLaw
- Rules of the City of New York from the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications
- Local Laws Database from the New York State Department of State
- Local law codes from Public.Resource.Org
- CityAdmin, a collection of NYC administrative decisions from the Center for New York City Law
