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 Statutes may be amended (changed) or repealed (eliminated) by the legislature or Congress or declared unconstitutional (and thus unenforceable) by a court.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 Delaware, as in other states, statutes are laws enacted by the state legislature. These laws, along with federal laws passed by the United States Congress, form a significant part of the legal framework governing various aspects of life and business within the state. Delaware courts interpret these statutes when resolving legal disputes, seeking to understand the clear and plain meaning of the law. If a statute is ambiguous, courts may look into legislative intent to ascertain what the lawmakers meant when they passed the law. Delaware has organized its statutes into codes, such as the Delaware Code, which includes titles like the Criminal Code, the Domestic Relations Code, and the Code of Civil Procedure, among others. These codes facilitate legal research and application. Statutes can be updated by the legislature, which may amend or repeal them, and they can also be reviewed by the judiciary, which has the power to declare them unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable.