In public policy, a sunset provision or sunset clause is a measure within a statute, regulation or other law that provides for the law to cease to be effective after a specified date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend it. Unlike most laws that remain in force indefinitely unless they are amended or repealed, sunset provisions have a specified expiration date. This is not applicable in legal systems where the concept of desuetude applies. Origin The roots of sunset provisions are laid in Roman law of the mandate but the first philosophical reference is traced in the laws of Plato. At the time of the Roman Republic, the empowerment of the Roman Senate to collect special taxes and to activate troops was limited in time and extent. Those empowerments ended before the expiration of an electoral office, such as the Proconsul. The rule Ad tempus concessa post tempus censetur denegata is translated as "what is admitted for a period will be refused after the period". The same rules were applied in the Roman emergency legislation. The fundamental principle appeared in several areas of legislation and later codified in the Codex Iustinianus (10, 61, 1). The principle was broken when Julius Caesar became dictator for life. Examples Sunset provisions have been used extensively throughout legal history The idea of general sunset provisions was discussed extensively in the late 1970s. United States Colonial and early state legislatures Sunset provisions were a frequent legislative tool used by the colonial and early state legislatures but would decrease in popularity as the legislatures institutionalized. Federal level In American federal law parlance, legislation that renews an expired mandate is a reauthorization act or extension act. Extensive political wrangling often precedes reauthorizations of controversial laws or agencies. High-profile examples in American law include: U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 8, which defines 18 specific power of congress, includes one with a sunset provision, which is for "Armies," but not the Navy: The Congress shall have the power… To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; … Sedition Act of 1798 Part of the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Sedition Act was a political tool used by John Adams and the Federalist Party to suppress opposition. The authors ensured the act would terminate at the end of