Law, n.
n. [O. Eng. lay, lagh, A-S. lagu, lag, lah, from the root of lie, lay, A-S. licgan, lecgan; O. Sax., Icel., & Sw. lag, O. Dan. logh, N. Dan. lov, Fries. lag, lôg, louwe, O. D. lauwe, louwe. A law is that which is laid, set, or fixed, like statute, constitution, from Lat. statuere.]
Sense 1. A rule of order or conduct established by authority; an edict of a ruler or a government; a fixed regulation; an expressed command; a decree; an order.
Law is beneficence acting by rule. Burke.
Sense 2. The appointed rules of a community or state, for the control of its inhabitants, whether unwritten, as the common law of England, or enacted by formal statute; as, against or according to law.
And sovereign Law, that state's collected will, O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. Sir W. Jones.
Sense 3. (Nature.) The regular method or sequence by which certain phenomena or effects follow certain conditions or causes, as the law of gravitation, a geological law, the laws of physical descent, of trade, &c.; the uniform methods or relations according to which material and mental forces act in producing effects, or are manifested in phenomena; a norm or rule for the working of a force; hence, any force, tendency, propension, or instinct, whether natural or acquired; as, the law of self-preservation, &c.
☞ “It is the custom wherever they can trace regularity of any kind, to call the general proposition, which expresses the nature of that regularity, a law; as when in mathematics we speak of the law of decrease of the successive terms of a converging series. But the expression law of nature is generally employed by scientific men with a sort of tacit reference to the original sense of the word law, namely, the expression of the will of a superior, — the superior, in this instance, being the Ruler of the universe.” J. S. Mill.
Sense 4. (Morality.) The will of God, as the supreme moral ruler, concerning the character and conduct of all responsible beings; the rule of action as obligatory on the conscience or moral nature; the rules of external conduct which arise from the relations of men to each other in society, and the mutual rights which are founded on these relations.
Sense 5. Established usage; a rule, principle, or maxim of science or art; as, the laws of versification.
Sense 6. (Math.) The rule according to which any thing, as the change of value of a variable, or the value of the terms of a series, proceeds; mode or order of sequence.
Sense 7. The Jewish or Mosaic code, and that part of Scripture where it is written, in distinction from the gospel; hence, also, the entire Old Testament.
Sense 8. The reference of a dispute to judicial decision; litigation; as, to go to law.
Sense 9. The whole body of legal enactments, and writings pertaining to them; legal science; jurisprudence; as, to study law; to practice law.
Bode's law (Astron.), an approximative empirical expression of the distances of the planets from the sun, as follows:—
Mer. Ven. Earth. Mars. Aste. Jup. Sat. Uran. Nep. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 0 3 6 12 24 48 96 192 384 4 7 10 16 28 52 100 196 388 3.9 7.3 10 15.2 27.4 52 95.4 192 300
where each distance (line third) is the sum of 4 and a multiple of 3 by successive powers of 2, the true distances being given in the lower line. — By-law, a law of a city, town, or other association. See By. — Canon law, the body of ecclesiastical Roman law. — Civil law, the ancient Roman law, with the modifications thereof which have been made in the different countries into which that law has been introduced. New Am. Cyc. Wharton. — Common law, a rule of action which derives its authority from long usage or established custom, which has been immemorially received and recognized by judicial tribunals. As this law can be traced to no positive statutes, its rules or principles are to be found only in the records of courts, and in the reports of judicial decisions. See Common. — Criminal law, that branch of municipal law which relates to crimes. — Kepler's laws (Astron.), three important laws or expressions of the order of the planetary motions, discovered by John Kepler. They are these: (a.) The orbit of every planetary body is an ellipse, in one of whose foci the sun is situated. (b.) The radius vector of each planet sweeps in equal times over equal areas. (c.) The squares of the times of revolution of two planets are in the ratio of the cubes of their mean distances. — Ecclesiastical law, a rule of action prescribed for the government of a church. — Law French, the Norman dialect, or Old French, which was used in judicial proceedings from the days of William the Conqueror to the thirty-sixth year of Edward III. “To smatter Latin with an English mouth, is as ill an hearing as law French.” Milton. — Law language, the language used in legal writings and forms. — Law-Latin, the corrupt Latin used in the law and in legal documents, &c. Blackstone. — Martial law. See Martial. — Law-merchant, or commercial law, a system of rules by which trade and commerce are regulated. It is deduced from the custom of merchants, and regulated by judicial decisions, as also by enactments of legislatures. — Law of nations, a code of rules regulating the mutual intercourse of nations or states. These rules depend on natural law, or the principles of justice which spring from the social state; or they are founded on customs, compacts, treaties, leagues, and agreements between independent communities. “By the law of nations we are to understand that code of public instruction which defines the rights and prescribes the duties of nations in their intercourse with each other.” Kent. — Law of nature, those fit and just rules of conduct which the Creator has prescribed to man, as a dependent and social being, and which are to be ascertained from the deductions of right reason. Kent. Erskine. — Law of the land, due process of law; the general, public, or common law of the land. — Laws of honor. See Honor. — Marine law, or maritime law, the law of the sea; sea law; a branch of the commercial law, relating to the affairs of the sea, such as seamen, ships, shipping, navigation, and the like. Bouvier. — Marriotte's law (Physics), an expression of the fact, that in an elastic fluid subjected to compression, and kept at constant temperature, the product of the pressure and volume is a constant quantity, or the volume is inversely proportioned to the pressure. — Military law, a branch of the general municipal law, consisting of rules ordained for the government of the military force of a state or government, equally in peace and war, and administered in courts martial. New Amer. Cyc. Kent. Warren's Blackstone. — Moral law, a law which prescribes to men their social duties; in other words, their duties to God and each other. The moral law is summarily contained in the decalogue, written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai. Ex. xx. — Mosaic or ceremonial law (Script.), the institutions of Moses, or the code of laws prescribed to the Jews, as distinguished from the gospel. — Municipal or positive law, a rule prescribed by the supreme power of a state, declaring some right, enforcing some duty, or prohibiting some act; a statute; a collection of rules, to which men living in civil society are subjected in such a manner that they may, in case of need, be constrained to observe them by the application of force. Lord Mackenzie. “A law” imports an act of the legislature, or a decree, edict, ordinance, or command of an absolute monarch. “Law” and “the law” are often used in the same sense to imply a body or system of rules of conduct or action, including the decisions of courts as well as legislative acts. — Statute law, a law or rule of action prescribed or enacted by the legislative power, and promulgated and recorded in writing; a written statute, ordinance, edict, or decree. — Wager of law, the giving of security by a defendant that on a certain day he would make his law, law having here its ancient sense of oath; the proceeding by which a defendant acquitted himself of a claim, on his own oath, and the oaths of his compurgators. Blackstone. Burrill.
Synonyms—Justice; equity. — Law, Statute, Common Law, Regulation, Edict, Decree. Law is generic, and, when used with reference to, or in connection with, the other words here considered, denotes whatever is commanded by one who has a right to require obedience. A statute is a particular law drawn out in form, and distinctly enacted and proclaimed. Common law is a rule of action founded on long usage and the decisions of courts of justice. A regulation is a limited and often temporary law, intended to secure some particular end or object. An edict is a command or law issued by a sovereign, and is peculiar to a despotic government. A decree is a permanent order either of a court or of the executive government. See Justice.