Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It originally aired on NBC and, in syndication, on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24, 2010. At the time of its cancellation, Law & Order was the longest-running crime drama on American primetime television. After The Simpsons, both Law & Order and Gunsmoke tied for the second longest-running scripted primetime series with ongoing characters.

Set and filmed in New York City, the series follows a two-part approach: The first half hour is the investigation of a crime (usually murder) and apprehension of a suspect by New York City Police Department homicide detectives; the second half is the prosecution of the defendant by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Plots are often based on real cases that recently made headlines, although the motivation for the crime and the perpetrator may be different.

Law & Order is a police procedural and legal drama series that premiered on NBC on September 13, 1990. Set in New York City, where episodes were also filmed, the series ran for twenty seasons before it was cancelled on May 14, 2010, and aired its final episode ten days later on May 24. After its cancellation, AMC Network considered reviving Law & Order for a twenty-first season; however, in July 2010, Dick Wolf indicated that attempts had failed and he declared that the series had now "moved to the history books".

A total of 456 original episodes and one TV movie of Law & Order aired before cancellation.