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 Statutes may be amended (changed) or repealed (eliminated) by the legislature or Congress or declared unconstitutional (and thus unenforceable) by a court.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 Kentucky, as in all states, statutes are laws enacted by the state legislature, which in Kentucky is the General Assembly, consisting of the Kentucky House of Representatives and the Kentucky Senate. These statutes address a wide range of legal areas, from criminal law to business regulations, and serve as a primary source of legal authority alongside federal laws passed by the United States Congress. Kentucky courts interpret these statutes when resolving legal disputes, striving to ascertain the clear and plain meaning of the legislative text. If a statute is deemed ambiguous, courts may examine legislative history and other interpretive tools to discern legislative intent. Kentucky's statutes are organized into codes based on subject matter, such as the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS), which include codes like the penal code for criminal laws and the code of civil procedure for rules governing civil lawsuits. Statutes can be updated or nullified by the legislature, and they can also be struck down by the judiciary if found to be unconstitutional.