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Resolution (law)

written declaration adopted by a deliberative body

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 14, 2025
Entity authorityQ2751586
Source-derived summary

In law, a resolution is a motion, often in writing, which has been adopted by a deliberative body (such as a corporations' board and or the house of a legislature). An alternate term for a resolution is a resolve.

In corporations

In corporations, a written resolution is especially useful in the case of the board of directors of a corporation, which usually needs to give its consent to real estate purchases or sales by the corporation. Such a resolution, when certified by the corporation's secretary, gives assurance to the other side of the transaction that the sale was properly authorized. Other examples include resolutions approving the opening of bank accounts or authorizing the issuance of shares in the corporation.

Legislative bodies

In many legislative bodies, the term resolution is used to describe a motion which has been approved.

In the United States, resolution means a proposal made in writing, while motion means a proposal made verbally.

Houses of a legislature often adopt non-binding resolutions.

However, a legislature also uses resolutions to exercise one of its binding powers that isn't a lawmaking power. For example, the United States Congress declares war or proposes constitutional amendments by adopting a joint resolution.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Resolution (law)” as written declaration adopted by a deliberative body. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current 199-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Resolution, written and declaration can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as written declaration adopted by a deliberative body. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2751586. The Library of Congress control number is sh85113156. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Resolution (law)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.