Law New is a weekly newsletter that highlights recent legal and government developments. It is published jointly by the CUNY School of Law and Bloomberg Law. This newsletter is not intended to be a substitute for legal advice or representation. If you need help with a legal matter, please consult an attorney.
In a world where buzzwords reign supreme, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of what a term actually means. That’s especially true in the legal business, where practice areas are cleverly named and director and leader titles are frequently given to people who shift strategies or focus. Moreover, terms are often used without clear definitions in the context of a particular practice or organization, making it difficult to keep up with developments.
A bill is a proposal for a law that becomes a law by being passed through the legislative process. This system of creating and enforcing laws reflects democratic principles of representation and accountability by allowing citizens to voice their opinions about policy through their elected representatives. The process of creating a bill can take many forms, including suggestions by citizens and organizations.
Congress is the body that creates laws at the federal level. Learn how a bill is created and what the process looks like in each chamber of Congress.
Governor Kathy Hochul today signed legislation expanding protections in domestic violence cases. The law will allow family and household members of victims to seek orders of protection against their abusers in criminal and family court. It will also require that City agencies notify individuals when they experience a data breach involving their private identifying information.
New York state laws are contained in the Constitution, laws passed by the legislature and periodically codified in the New York Consolidated Laws, and decisions made by courts interpreting those statutes. Findlaw provides access to NY state laws and allows searches by keyword.
The scholarly literature on the theory of natural law is rich and varied. A central tenet of natural law theory is that the law is universal and timeless, and that it can be found in the natural world and in human nature. In the 1960s, Germain Grisez challenged this traditional view of natural law in his influential interpretive essay “The New Natural Law,” and his work has continued to develop since then. The CUNY Law Review has published a number of his articles on various topics in natural law theory.