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Citing Government/Legal Information

Provides publication definitions & selected locations for publications..

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General Definitions (Black's Law Dictionary)

United States

California

Legal Abbreviations

General Definitions

All of these definitions are from Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

Agencies:

agency (17c) 1. A relationship that arises when one person (a principal) manifests assent to another (an agent) that the agent will act on the principal's behalf, subject to the principal's control, and the agent manifests assent or otherwise consents to do so. • An agent's actions have legal consequences for the principal when the agent acts within the scope of the agent's actual authority or with apparent authority, or the principal later ratifies the agent's action.
Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

Legislation:
legislation (17c) 1. The process of making or enacting a positive law in written form, according to some type of formal procedure, by a branch of government constituted to perform this process. — Also termed lawmaking; statute-making. 2. The law so enacted; collectively, the formal utterances of the legislative organs of government. 3. The whole body of enacted laws.

Court Decision:
decision n. (16c) 1.  A judicial or agency determination after consideration of the facts and the law; esp., a ruling, order, or judgment pronounced by a court when considering or disposing of a case. 
Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)

Treaty:
treaty (15c) 1. An agreement formally signed, ratified, or adhered to between two countries or sovereigns; an international agreement concluded between two or more states in written form and governed by international law. 

California

Legislature:

Bill: “A draft of a proposed law introduced by a Member of the Legislature (Assembly Bill 4000-AB 4000, Senate Bill 1-SB 1)."

Act: “A bill passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor.”  

Chapters: “After a bill has been signed by the Governor, the Secretary of State assigns the bill a Chapter Number, for example, "Chapter 123, Statutes of 1998," which subsequently may be used to refer to the measure.”

California Code: “Law organized by subject matter. The code sections to be amended by a bill are referred to in the title of the bill.”

California Statutes: “The compilation of all enacted bills, chaptered by the Secretary of State in the order in which they become law.”

Hearing: “A committee meeting convened for the purpose of considering and acting upon or gathering information on a specific subject.”

Legal Abbreviations

Last Updated: Apr 15, 2024 12:50 PM