Law of Colorado
The law of Colorado consists of several levels, including constitutional, statutory, regulatory, local, and case law. The Colorado Revised Statutes form the general statutory law.
Sources
The
Constitution
The foremost source of state law is the
Legislation
Pursuant to the state constitution, the
Regulations
Pursuant to certain broadly worded statutes, state agencies have promulgated an enormous body of regulations, published in the Colorado Register and codified in the Code of Colorado Regulations (CCR), which carry the force of law to the extent they do not conflict with any statutes or the state or federal Constitutions.
Case law
Colorado's legal system is based on a political party common law. Like all U.S. states except Louisiana, Colorado has a reception statute providing for the "reception" of English law. All statutes, regulations, and ordinances are subject to judicial review. Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Colorado have developed a large body of case law through the decisions of the Colorado Supreme Court and the Colorado Court of Appeals.
There is no official reporter. The Colorado Reporter (a Colorado-specific version of the Pacific Reporter) is an unofficial reporter for appellate decisions from 1883.[2][3] Decisions of the Colorado Supreme Court were published in the official Colorado Reports from 1864 to 1980, and decisions of the Court of Appeals were published in the official Colorado Court of Appeals Reports from 1891 to 1980.[2][3]
Local ordinances
Colorado is divided into 64 counties, as well as some 271 active incorporated municipalities, including 196 towns, 73 cities, and two consolidated city and county governments.
See also
Topics
- Drug policy of Colorado
- Capital punishment in Colorado
- Felony murder rule (Colorado)
- Gun laws in Colorado
Other
- Politics of Colorado
- Law enforcement in Colorado
- Crime in Colorado
- Law of the United States
References
- Hamilton, Andrea L. (August 2008). "Conducting Colorado Legislative History Research" (PDF). The Colorado Lawyer. 37 (8): 113–115. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-04.
- Brown, Douglas G.; Pike, Charles W. (June 1997). "The Colorado Revised Statutes: A Glimpse at the State's Obligation—Past, Present, and Future". The Colorado Lawyer. 26 (6): 97–102. Archived from the original on 2015-09-12.
External links
- Colorado Revised Statutes from LexisNexis
- Colorado Revised Statutes from the Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services
- Colorado Revised Statutes from Public.Resource.Org
- Code of Colorado Regulations from the Colorado Secretary of State
- Session Laws of Colorado from the Office of Legislative Legal Services
- Colorado Session Laws Digital Collection from the University of Colorado Law School
- Colorado Register from the Colorado Secretary of State
- Supreme Court and Court of Appeals opinions from the Colorado Bar Association
- Supreme Court opinions from the Colorado State Court Administrator
- Court of Appeals opinions from the Colorado State Court Administrator
- Denver Revised Municipal Code from Municode
- Local ordinance codes from Public.Resource.Org
- Case law: "Colorado", Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School, Harvard Law Library