Hypernym for laws and rules
I need to find the proper abstract noun that can describe rules that are either issued at ministry level in some government and laws that are issued at the nation/presidential level.
After making some research on dictionaries and Wikipedia I found that:
- Law is only at the country level not at ministry level (My understanding)
- Rule can better be used for lower authorities (My understanding)
- Pronouncement does not necessarily imply rules
- Edict "often associated with monarchism, but it can be under any official authority."
- Decree "usually issued by a head of state"
- Proclamation "usually issued in the name of the head of state"
I checked also ordinance, dictum, ruling with no luck to get a clear idea
I need a term that can be generally accepted for use in most countries in official use (like in courts)
If it is hard to find a term that can generally fit, let's consider Egypt.
Solution 1:
In the United Kingdom, this is all legislation.
Acts of Parliament and some other instruments such as Church of England Measures are called primary legislation.
Regulations issued by a minister are secondary legislation. They have force because some piece of primary legislation allows those regulations to be made.
legislation noun
[mass noun]
- Laws, considered collectively.
‘housing legislation’[Oxford]
Solution 2:
At the US federal level, this is all law.
Constitutional amendments approved by the legislature and the states are constitutional law.¹
Treaties approved by the executive and the legislature are part of international law.²
Ordinary federal legislation approved by the executive and the legislature, or else the legislature alone, is federal law.³
Regulations created by executive-branch agencies on authority granted by the legislature, and the rules governing that process, and letters of interpretation issued by the agencies, are administrative law.⁴