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Invalidating vs. Repealing

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Descartes
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19 Dec 2009, 7:03 pm

What's the difference between invalidating a law and repealing a law?



NeantHumain
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19 Dec 2009, 9:13 pm

The judiciary invalidates laws on constitutional grounds (or the supremacy of federal law over state and local law in most cases). A legislature can repeal a law it earlier enacted.



Descartes
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19 Dec 2009, 10:09 pm

So if a law has been invalidated, that means it can no longer be enforced?



southwestforests
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19 Dec 2009, 10:13 pm

Yep.


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Deinonychus
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19 Dec 2009, 10:49 pm

Just going by the etymology, I would imagine that an invalidated law should not have been made in the first place and is no longer law once this is proved, whilst a repealed law was legitimately made, but a decision was made to no longer make it law.



CloudWalker
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20 Dec 2009, 2:55 pm

I think the major difference is that for a repealed law, between the time it's passed and the time it's repealed, it is enforceable. Whereas once a law is found invalid, it can never be enforced and all cases dependent on it is essentially overthrown.