asetusluku

Asetusluku is a term used in Finnish legal language to refer to a chapter or section within a regulation (asetus). An asetus is a government regulation or decree issued under the authority of statute, and to organize the text many asetukset are divided into chapters or sections. These divisions are commonly called lukuja (the plural of luku), with each luku addressing a specific topic. An asetusluku may contain multiple pykälä (paragraphs) or other subdivisions that detail the rules, definitions, and exceptions relevant to that chapter’s subject matter.

The term is primarilyFound in formal legal drafting, legislative commentary, and scholarly discussion of regulations. It helps readers navigate complex regulatory texts by providing topic-oriented anchors for reference and analysis. In practice, a citation might refer to an asetusluku to indicate the topic area covered by that chapter, while precise legal references often point to a specific pykälä within the luku for exact text.

Relation to other legal terms: while an asetusluku denotes a chapter within a regulation, the broader term luku is a general notion of a chapter or section used across statutory and regulatory texts. Within both laws (laki) and regulations (asetus), pykälä is the term for an individual provision or paragraph. The exact numbering and terminology can vary between regulations, but the concept of organizational divisions—chapters (luku) and paragraphs (pykälä)—is common in Finnish legal drafting.

See also: asetus, laki, pykälä, luku.