Act of Statute

Examples of Act of Statute in the following topics:

• Women and the Law

  • The Married Women's Property Act of 1839 was an act of statute in the state of Mississippi that significantly altered the law regarding property rights granted to married women, allowing them to own and control their own property.
  • This was the first of a series of Married Women's Property Acts issued in the United States.
  • The Married Women's Property Act of 1848 was a statute in New York State.
  • The Married Women's Property Act set a precedent for women's property rights that is thought to have influenced legislators' decision to maintain gender-neutral language in the Homestead Act of 1862, allowing any individual to file an application for a federal land grant.
  • One of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's many accomplishments for women's rights was the Married Women's Property Act of 1839.

• The State Constitutions

  • Typically, state constitutions address a wide array of issues deemed by the states to be of sufficient importance to be included in the constitution rather than in an ordinary statute.
  • The organized territories of the United States also have constitutions of their own if they have an organized government through an Organic Act passed by the federal Congress.
  • The District of Columbia Home Rule Act establishes the Council of the District of Columbia, which governs the entire district and has certain devolved powers similar to those of major cities.
  • The Territory of Guam does not have its own constitution, but operates under the Guam Organic Act of 1950 and other federal statutes.
  • The United States Virgin Islands, an unincorporated organized territory, does not have its own constitution; instead it operates under various federal statutes.

• Launching the New Deal

  • Although during the 1932 presidential  campaign Roosevelt had no clear idea what his New Deal agenda would entail, he took over the office ready to act.
  • The Emergency Banking Act followed the Proclamation and enabled the government to close weak banks and reopen more stable banks.
  • The National Labor Relations Act (1933; known also as the Wagner Act), which established the National Labor Relations Board (1935).
  • The Act remains a groundbreaking statute in the United States labor law.
  • The Housing Act (1937) provided funds for low-coast public housing for the poorest families.

• Higher Education

  • The Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act of 1862 provided for the establishment of public colleges for "liberal and practical education".
  • The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862 that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges.
  • Under the act, each eligible state received a total of 30,000 acres (120 km2) of federal land, either within or contiguous with its boundaries, for each member of congress the state had as of the census of 1860.
  • Under provision six of the Act, "No State while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the government of the United States shall be entitled to the benefit of this act. " This was a reference to the recent secession of several Southern states and the currently raging American Civil War.
  • Though the 1890 Act granted cash instead of land, it granted colleges under that act the same legal standing as the 1862 Act colleges; hence, the term "land-grant college" properly applies to both groups.

• Regulation

  • Congress enacted a law regulating railroads in 1887 (the Interstate Commerce Act), and one preventing large firms from controlling a single industry in 1890 (the Sherman Antitrust Act).
  • The Sherman Antitrust Act is a landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law passed by Congress in 1890.
  • President Theodore Roosevelt sued 45 companies under the Sherman Act, while William Howard Taft sued 75.
  • In 1911 the Supreme Court agreed that in recent years (1900–1904) Standard had violated the Sherman Act.
  • The United States Employees' Compensation Act is a federal law enacted on September 7, 1916.

• Higher Education

  • The Morrill Land-Grant College Act was a U.S. statute signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862, that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges.
  • Under the act, each eligible state received a total of 30,000 acres of federal land, either within or contiguous to its boundaries, for each member of Congress held by the state.
  • In reference to the recent secession of several Southern states and the currently raging American Civil War, the Act stipulated that, "No State while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the government of the United States shall be entitled to the benefit of this act."
  • The 1862 Morrill Act allocated a total of 17.4 million acres of land, which, when sold, yielded a collective endowment of $7.55 million.
  • Kansas State University was the first college funded by land grants under the Morrill Act of 1862.

• Johnson's Battle with Congress

  • With the Radicals in control, Congress passed four statutes, known as "Reconstruction Acts," on March 2, 1867.
  • The full title of the initial legislation was "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the Rebel States. " For the former Confederate States to be readmitted to the Union, they had to fulfill all requirements of the Acts.
  • The first Reconstruction Act placed ten Confederate states under military control, grouping them into five military districts:
  • After Ex Parte McCardle came before the Supreme Court in 1867, Congress feared that the Court might strike the Reconstruction Acts down as unconstitutional.
  • In order to prevent this, Congress repealed the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867, revoking the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over the case.

• "The People"

  • Stated in negative terms, the Preamble has been interpreted as meaning that the Constitution was not the act of sovereign and independent states.
  • The Constitution claims to be an act of "We the People".
  • For example, if a law was enacted that violated the Constitution, not just anybody could challenge the statute's constitutionality in court; instead, only an individual who was negatively affected by the unconstitutional statute could bring such a challenge to a court of law.
  • For example, a person claiming certain benefits that are created by a statute cannot then challenge, on constitutional grounds, the administrative mechanism that awards them.
  • In the same vein, courts will not answer hypothetical questions about the constitutionality of a statute.

• The Triumph of Congressional Reconstruction

  • With the Radicals in control, Congress passed four statutes known as Reconstruction Acts on March 2, 1867.
  • For the former Confederate States to be readmitted to the Union, they had to fulfill the requirements of these Acts.
  • The first Reconstruction Act placed ten Confederate states under military control, grouping them into five military districts which would serve as the acting government for the region:
  • The Reconstruction Acts denied the right to vote for men who had sworn to uphold the Constitution and then rebelled against the Federal Government.
  • History of California. 1897. v.4, p.405. ] Caricature of gubernatorial candidate George C.

• The Eugenics Movement

  • Leonard Darwin, son of Charles, presided over the meeting of about 400 delegates from numerous countries – including British luminaries such as the Chief Justice Lord Balfour, and the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill – and served as an indication of the growing popularity of the Eugenics movement.
  • These statutes were not abolished until the mid-20th century, with approximately 60,000 Americans legally sterilized.
  • This led to passage of the federal Immigration Act of 1924, which reduced the number of immigrants from abroad to 15 percent from previous years.
  • Laughlin wrote the Virginia model statute that was the basis for the Nazi Ernst Rudin's Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring.
  • A half-cousin of Charles Darwin, Francis Galton founded field of Eugenics and promoted the improvement of the human gene pool through selective breeding.