Decree

A decree is an official governmental, royal, or other authoritative pronouncement having legal or extra-legal binding power. A distinction may be made between decrees of legislative or democratically elected bodies, and those of monarchs, dictators or revolutionaries. In ancient Rome the decrees were acts of the Senate, and only later was the term applied to imperial pronouncements. The modern use of decrees includes their assurance to abruptly supplant laws of long-standing and their abuse as instruments of dictatorial or oligarchic power.