The word ordinance is defined as a rule or law established in an organization or community for the regulation and control of the same, once it is approved or provided for by a higher authority. The highest authority, generally a legislation or some other governmental entity, establishes the degree of control that the ordinances can exercise, so it can then be affirmed that the ordinances are subordinate to the law. The ordinances can be established by corporate entities, a neighborhood association, and depending on the jurisdiction, the municipality.
Municipal ordinances are regulatory public laws in a given area. The Organic Law of Municipal Public Power, of Venezuela, defines in its article 54 the ordinances as: "the acts sanctioned by the Municipal Council to establish norms with the character of municipal law, of general application on specific matters of local interest" ; these types of ordinances are issued by the highest municipal authority, that is, the mayor and, in turn, are only valid within the territory that the municipality encompasses, remaining without any validity outside its limits.
There are also ordinances of a military nature, they are those issued directly by some entity or military authority, which is responsible for regulating the regime of its troops. Additionally, there are the so-called provincial ordinances. Unlike municipal ordinances, these are regional in nature and are promulgated by the head of the territorial government, that is, the state governor. Among the issues to be taken into account in relation to the ordinances, the proper maintenance of the town is included, such as: the identification and signaling of urban roads, cleaning, public or collective transport, among others.
Thus, through ordinances, there is a local order that is directly in charge of regulating these aspects and, in turn, applying sanctions and fines to those citizens who fail to comply with them. It is vitally important to point out that the ordinances, as they are laws issued, in most cases, by municipal or regional governments, must always be in full compliance with those articles that are stated in the Magna Carta of the nation. In other words, ordinances can never go beyond the Constitution or violate the rights of citizens or the state itself.
