Statutes are laws passed by state legislatures (state laws) and by the United States Congress (federal laws). Statutes are one of the primary sources of law in the United States (sometimes referred to as statutory law) and cover a wide variety of legal topics. Courts often rely on statutes to resolve legal disputes (lawsuits) by applying the relevant statutes to the particular set of factual circumstances underlying the dispute.

Courts generally seek the clear and plain meaning of a statute, and if the court finds a statute ambiguous or “ambiguous on its face” (looking only at the words as written) the court may attempt to determine what the legislature intended in enacting the statute—known as legislative intent.

Related statutes are sometimes compiled in groups and referred to as codes—such as the penal code, the family code, or the code of civil procedure. Statutes may be amended (changed) or repealed (eliminated) by the legislature or Congress or declared unconstitutional (and thus unenforceable) by a court.

In Georgia, as in other states, statutes are laws enacted by the state legislature and by the United States Congress. These statutes encompass a broad range of legal areas and serve as a fundamental source of law, alongside case law and administrative regulations. When resolving legal disputes, Georgia courts interpret these statutes by seeking their clear and plain meaning. If a statute is ambiguous, courts may look into legislative intent to understand what the Georgia General Assembly aimed to achieve when passing the law. Statutes in Georgia are organized into codes based on related subject matter, such as the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.), which includes titles like the penal code for criminal law, the family code for matters such as divorce and child custody, and the code of civil procedure for rules governing civil court proceedings. The Georgia legislature has the authority to amend or repeal statutes, and the judiciary can strike down statutes as unconstitutional, rendering them unenforceable. Federal laws passed by Congress also apply in Georgia and can be found in the United States Code (U.S.C.).