A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge,^[1] royal figure, or other relevant authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislative laws, or customary laws of a government.

In Belgium, a decree is a law of a community or regional parliament, e.g. the Flemish Parliament.

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A decree (Latin: decretum) in the usage of the canon law of the Catholic Church has various meanings. Any papal bull, brief, or motu proprio is a decree inasmuch as these documents are legislative acts of the pope. In this sense, the term is quite ancient. The Roman Congregations were formerly empowered to issue decrees in matters which come under their particular jurisdiction but were forbidden from continuing to do so under Pope Benedict XV in 1917.^[2] Each ecclesiastical province and also each diocese may issue decrees in their periodical synods within their sphere of authority.

While in a general sense all documents promulgated by an ecumenical council can be called decrees, in a specific sense some of these documents, as at the Second Vatican Council, were called more precisely constitutions or declarations.^[3]

Canon 29 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law defines general decrees:

General decrees, by which a competent legislator makes common provisions for a community capable of receiving a law, are true laws and are regulated by the provisions of the canons on laws.^[4]

The Holy See uses decrees from the pope such as papal bull, papal brief or motu proprio as legislative acts.^[5]

The word décret, literally "decree", is an old legal usage in France and is used to refer to executive orders issued by the French President or Prime Minister. Any such order must not violate the French Constitution or Civil Code, and a party has the right to request an order be annulled in the French Council of State. Orders must be ratified by Parliament before they can be modified into legislative Acts. Special orders known as décret-loi, literally "decree-act" or "decree-law",^[6][7] usually considered an illegal practice under the 3rd and 4th Republic, were finally abolished and replaced by the regulations under the 1958 Constitution.

Except for the reserve powers of the President (as stated in Art. 16 of the 1958 Constitution, exercised only once so far), the executive can issue decrees in areas that the Constitution grants as the responsibility of Parliament only if a law authorizes it to do so. In other cases, orders are illegal and, should anyone sue for the order's annulment, it would be voided by the Council of State. There exists a procedure for the Prime Minister to issue ordinances in such areas, but this procedure requires Parliament's express consent (see Art 38 of the 1958 Constitution).

Orders issued by the Prime Minister take two forms:

• Orders (décrets simples);
• Orders-in-council (décrets en Conseil d'État), when a statute mandates the advisory consultation of the Council of State.

Sometimes, people refer to décrets en Conseil d'État improperly as décrets du Conseil d'État. This would imply that it is the Council of State that makes the decree, whereas the power of decreeing is restricted to the president or prime minister; the role of the administrative sections of the council is purely advisory.

Decrees may be classified into:

• Regulations, which may be:
  • Application decrees (décrets d'application), each of which must be specifically authorized by one or more statutes to determine some implementation conditions of this or these statutes; these constitute secondary legislation and are roughly equivalent to British statutory instruments;
  • Autonomous regulations (règlements autonomes), which may be taken only in areas where the Constitution does not impose statute law (passed by the Legislature); these constitute primary legislation;
• Particular measures, such as the nomination of high-level civil servants.

Only the prime minister may issue regulatory or application decrees. Presidential decrees are generally nominations or exceptional measures where the law mandates a presidential decree, such as the dissolution of the French National Assembly, the calling of new legislative elections, and the grant of the title Marshal of France.

Decrees are published in the Journal Officiel de la République Française (French Gazette).

According to clause 77 of the Italian Constitution,

The Government may not, without an enabling act from the Houses [of Parliament], issue decrees having the force of ordinary law.

When in extraordinary cases of necessity and urgency the Government adopts provisional measures having the force of law, it must on the same day present said measures for confirmation to the Houses which, even if dissolved, shall be extraordinally summoned for this purpose and shall convene within five days.

The decrees lose effect from their inception if they are not confirmed within sixty days from their publication. The Houses may however regulate by law legal relationships arising out of unconfirmed decrees.

The effectiveness for sixty days produces the effects immediately, giving rights or expectations whose legal basis was precarious, especially when the conversion law never intervened.^[8]

In Portugal there are several types of decree (Portuguese: decreto) issued by the various bodies of sovereignty or by the bodies of local government of autonomous regions.

As of 2022^[update], there are the following types of decree:

1. Decree-law (Portuguese: decreto-lei): is a legislative act issued by the Government of Portugal under its legislative powers defined by Article 198 of the Portuguese Constitution;
2. Regional legislative decree (Portuguese: decreto legislativo regional): is a regional law, issued by the legislative assembly of an autonomous region, within its powers defined by articles 227 and 233 of the Constitution;
3. Decree of the President of the Republic (Portuguese: decreto do Presidente da República): is a decree issued by the President of Portugal, for the ratification of international treaties, the appointment or dismissal of members of the Government or to exercise other presidential powers defined in the Constitution;
4. Decree (Portuguese: decreto): is an act issued by the Government of Portugal to approve an international agreement whose approval is not within the competence of the Assembly of the Republic or has not been submitted to it or within the Government administrative jurisdiction laid down in Article 199 of the Constitution in relation to a statute that requires this decree;
5. Regulatory decree (Portuguese: decreto regulamentar): is an act issued by the Government of Portugal, under its administrative jurisdiction laid down in Article 199 of the Constitution, to make the necessary regulations for the proper execution of the laws and to take all actions and decisions necessary to promote economic and social development and to meet the community needs;
6. Regional regulatory decree (Portuguese: decreto regulamentar regional): is an act issued by the legislature or the government of an autonomous region, regulating the proper implementation of regional legislative decrees;
7. A decree from the representative of the Republic (Portuguese: decreto do representante da República): is the decree of appointment or removal of members of the government of an autonomous region, issued by the representative of the Republic for that region.

According to article 110 of the constitution, the Supreme Leader delineates the general policies of the Islamic Republic.

After the Russian Revolution, a government proclamation of wide meaning was called a "decree" (декрет dekret); a more specific proclamation was called an указ ukaz. Both terms are usually translated as 'decree'.

According to the Russian Federation's 1993 constitution, an ukaz is a presidential decree. Such an ukaz has the force of law, but may not alter the Russian constitution or the regulations of existing laws, and may be superseded by laws passed by the Federal Assembly.

The Government of Russia can also issue decrees formally called Decisions (Постановления Postanovleniya or Orders (Распоряжения Rasporyazheniya) and may not contradict the constitution/laws or presidential decrees.

Royal decrees, along with the Sharia, are the sources of law in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In Spain, decrees come in several forms:

• Royal decree
• Royal Decree-Law
• Royal Legislative Decree

The decree law (Turkish: Kanun Hükmünde Kararname, KHK) in Turkey is a type of legislative instrument issued by the government, based on the authority granted either by a specific enabling act from the legislative body or directly from the Constitution. These decrees have the force of law in a material sense and acquire formal and organic legal power upon the approval of the parliament. According to Article 87 of the 1982 Constitution of Turkey, granting the Council of Ministers the authority to issue decree laws on specific matters is included in the duties and powers of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.^[9]

Article 91 of the Constitution also regulates the issuance of decree laws. It states:

"The Grand National Assembly of Turkey may delegate the power to issue decree laws to the Council of Ministers. However, with the exception of martial law and states of emergency, the fundamental rights, individual rights and duties, and political rights and duties listed in the first and second sections of the second part of the Constitution cannot be regulated by decree laws."

Decree laws in Turkey are categorized into two types: ordinary and extraordinary. Ordinary decree laws are issued by the Council of Ministers and require an enabling act from the Grand National Assembly. They cannot regulate fundamental rights, individual rights and duties, or political rights and duties. Extraordinary decree laws, on the other hand, are issued by the Council of Ministers under the presidency of the President. They do not require an enabling act from the Grand National Assembly and can regulate any area, provided they fulfill obligations arising from international law. Decree laws are subject to both political scrutiny by the parliament and judicial review by the Constitutional Court.^[10]

Following the approval of the 2017 constitutional amendment referendum in Turkey and the 2018 general elections, which led to the election of the President by popular vote, Article 91 of the Constitution was repealed. With this change, decree laws were replaced by Presidential Decrees (Turkish: Cumhurbaşkanlığı Kararnameleri, CBK) in the new system.^[11]

In the United Kingdom, Orders-in-Council are either primary legislation deriving their authority from the royal prerogative, promulgated by the Privy Council in the name of the Monarch; or secondary legislation, promulgated by a minister of the Crown using the authority granted by an act of Parliament or other primary legislation. Both are subject to judicial review, the former with some exceptions.^[12]

In US legal usage, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, a decree was an order of a court of equity determining the rights of the parties to a suit, according to equity and good conscience. Since the 1938 procedural merger of law and equity in the federal courts under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the term judgment (the parallel term in the common law) has generally replaced decree. This is now true also in most state courts.^[13] The term decree is broadly treated as synonymous with judgment.^[14]

A decree is often a final determination, but there are also interlocutory decrees. A final decree fully and finally disposes of the whole litigation, determining all questions raised by the case, and it leaves nothing that requires further judicial action; it is also appealable. An interlocutory decree is a provisional or preliminary decree that is not final and does not fully determine the suit, so that some further proceedings are required before entry of a final decree.^[15] It is usually not appealable, although preliminary injunctions by federal courts are appealable even though interlocutory.^[16]

Executive orders, which are instructions from the President to the executive branch of government, are decrees in the general sense in that they have the force of law, although they cannot override statute law or the Constitution and are subject to judicial review. Governors of individual states may also issue state executive orders.

• Consent decree
• Edict
• Fatwa
• Firman
• Official Communications of the Chinese Empire
  • Memorial to the throne
• Proclamation
• Rule by decree
• Rescript
• Soviet Decree
• Ukase

• Executive decree authority, John M. Carey and Matthew Soberg Shugart, Eds., Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-521-59722-6

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• 1946 Constitution of the 4th Republic
• 1958 Constitution of the 5th Republic