Also known as: local acts · local law · local statute
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A statute that relates to or operates in a particular locality rather than the entire state.
A statute that applies to particular persons or things rather than an entire class of persons or things.
A statute that relates to or operates in a particular locality rather than the entire state.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A statute that applies to particular persons or things rather than an entire class of persons or things.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
After her lease ends, tenant Luna Lang remains in the apartment without permission. The landlord files an action in the local court under a statute that authorizes summary proceedings only for properties within the city limits. The court applies the local act to award possession because the statute's geographic limit makes it a local act rather than a statewide rule.
Congress directs state sheriffs in every county to perform background checks for handgun purchases. A sheriff in a rural county refuses, citing a local act that assigns all law-enforcement duties exclusively to county personnel. The Supreme Court holds that the federal directive cannot commandeer the sheriff because the local act governs the officer's authority.
A local act applies only within a defined geographic area or to a limited group of persons or things, whereas a general statute applies statewide or to an entire class. The distinction determines which judicial remedies or substantive rules govern a dispute.
Supporting sources
Yes. The federal government may not command state or local officers to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program, even when the officers would otherwise act under their own local acts.
Lars Lindstrom and a buyer from another state dispute ownership of equipment located in State A. The court applies State A's local act that treats certain security interests as perfected upon filing in the county recorder's office. Because the local act governs the precise issue of perfection, the court uses it rather than foreign law.
Liberty Trust holds a mortgage on land in State A. After default, the debtor claims redemption rights under a local act of State A that mirrors State C's identical statute. The court aggregates contacts in the two states because their local acts are the same and treats the case as arising under a single set of rules.
Lena Lawson, domiciled in State A, executes a deed conveying land in State B. The court applies its own procedural rules but looks to State B's local act on capacity to transfer interests in land. The selective approach confirms that the local act of the situs governs the substantive validity of the conveyance.
Lucas Lee sells timber rights on land in State B. A dispute arises over whether the sale included standing timber. The forum court applies the local act of State B, including its choice-of-law rules, to reach the same result a State B court would reach on the actual facts.
A court applies the local law of the situs when the issue concerns interests in land. The reference includes the situs state's choice-of-law rules so that the forum reaches the same result a court of the situs would reach.
Yes. When two or more states maintain identical local law rules on the issue, the case is treated for choice-of-law purposes as if the contacts were grouped in a single state.
…one not of local, but of general, law and that "upon questions of general law the federal courts are free, in the absence of a local statute, to exercise their independent judgment as to what the law is; and it is well settled that the question of the responsibility of a railroad for injuries caused by its servants is one of…