What is a Law?

What is a law? Well, picture your family sitting down to play a board game. You need to know the rules in order to play, right? The same thing goes for your day-to-day life -- you need to know the rules or laws. Every country has their own set of laws and each is unique to that country. For example, in the United States, the law says we drive on the right-hand side of the road. In England, on the other hand, their law states they drive on the left. You could really do some damage if you didn't know that law and started driving on the wrong side of the road!

Now that we know what a law is, who makes the laws? Well, laws can be made by the national government or by individual state governments. National laws are those laws that everyone in the country must follow. Laws made by individual states are only good in that state. On this site, we will talk about how laws are made on the national level.

Who Makes Laws?

National laws are made in Congress, which is part of the legislative branch and is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress can make laws on all kinds of matters, such as setting speed limits on highways or regulating how much radon may be found in drinking water. During each Congress, which lasts two years, senators and representatives introduce about 10,000 bills. During that time, about 650 bills are passed by Congress and then signed into law by the president.

Reprinted from Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids