A state Nurse Practice Act is an example of which source of law?

Laws in the United States derive from four primary sources: constitutional law, statutory law, administrative law, and judicial (common) law. A state Nurse Practice Act is a statute — a law enacted by a state legislature through the formal legislative process. Statutes are written laws passed by a legislative body (federal Congress or a state legislature) and signed into law by the executive. Constitutional law derives from the U.S. Constitution or state constitutions and typically addresses fundamental rights and governmental structure. Administrative law consists of rules and regulations created by governmental agencies to implement statutes — for example, the state Board of Nursing creates administrative rules under the authority granted by the Nurse Practice Act, but the Act itself is a statute. Judicial law (common law) is created through court decisions and legal precedent. Because the Nurse Practice Act is passed by the state legislature as a formal legislative enactment, it is correctly classified as statutory law. Students sometimes confuse the Nurse Practice Act with administrative law, but the Act itself is the statute; the Board of Nursing's regulations are the administrative rules derived from it.