united-states legal-terms
Need overarching term for laws and regulations
<p>Because of space limitations, I need a concise way to say</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>laws and regulations</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Would "statutes" work?</p>

<p>(If you need more context, I am citing both IDEA and New York State Commissioner Regulations Part 200.)</p>

<p>It's not clear why you have such a need, but I understand the underlying terminological issue. Legislative bodies pass laws, that is, there are bills approved by the legislative body. You can abstract out of the language of a bill certain text that is "the statute", and usually you can determine what that stuff is by looking at the consolidated "code" – though not in New York. Some of that which is enacted by a legislative body is language allowing administrative authorities to construct "regulations" (broadly construed). At the federal level, there is a quirky usage difference between "rule" and "regulation" having to do with whether the thing is about how the agency operates, vs. what people (e.g. businesses) must not do. Usually, we just call them all "regulations", though the agencies will talk about "the final rule" – basically the same thing. There is a third thing that pertains to "law", and that is legal precedent – principles established by appeals courts.</p>

<p><em>All</em> of that stuff is "law". If you need to distinguish types, you can refer to "statutory law", "case law" or "regulations" (perhaps "regulatory law" but that might confuse the reader). However, there is a popular understanding that only statutory law is "law". So whether you effectively communicate with just the word "law" depends on the level of legal and political sophistication of your audience.</p>
