What is "primary law?"
The terms "primary law" and "primary authority" in U.S. usage refer to the categories of legal texts (statutes and codes, cases, regulations, and treaties) created by legislative bodies, courts, and agencies that taken together are the legal authorities that constitute "the law."
They are distinguished from "secondary authorities," resources such as treatises, articles, and annotations that comment on the law or help a researcher find or interpret the law, and which may influence a legal outcome, but do not control the outcome.
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