What are the civil laws passed by state legislatures called?

Answer 1

I am a lawyer in Massachusetts. I assume your answer deals with USA state law.

The short answer is, "Statutes, codes, resolves, laws, session laws, or acts, depending."

The actual answer will vary depending on what state you are talking about, and who you think is doing the naming, and by what point in the publishing process you look.

For instance, a Massachusetts law immediately after it is passed is called a "Session Law" and will be be designated as "Public Law No. x," and be listed in a publication called "Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts." Its content may be specific, i.e., allowing a particular sick leave fund to be set up for a particular state employee, or it may be more general, i.e., allowing all victims of sexual abuse to bring claims even though the abuse took place more than 20 years ago.

If it is a general law like the latter, it will go into a "statutory compilation" or "code" called the "Massachusetts General Laws,", known as M.G.L. (or MGLA after West's Annotated version).

There is no distinction in the publishing location or nomenclature of criminal versus generally applicable civil laws. They both appear in the MGL after being published as a Public Law.

Answer 2

Codes