Stăt'ūte, n.

(stăt'yut), n. [Fr. statut, It. statuto, Sp. estatuto, L. Lat. statutum, from statutus, p. p. of statuere, to set, station, ordain, from stare, statum, to stand.] 1. An act of the legislature of a state or country, declaring, commanding, or prohibiting something; a positive law; the written will of the legislature expressed with all the requisite forms of legislation;—used in distinction from common law. See COMMON LAW. Bouvier. ☞ Statute is commonly applied to the acts of a legislative body consisting of representatives. In monarchies, the laws of the sovereign are called edicts, decrees, ordinances, rescripts, &c.

2. (pl.) (Foreign & Civil Law.) The whole municipal law of a particular state, from whatever source arising. Story. Kent.
3. The act of a corporation, or of its founder, intended as a permanent rule or law; as, the statutes of a university.
4. An assemblage of farming servants (held possibly by statute) early in May, at various places in the country, where employers attend to hire servants for the ensuing year. Each class of servants wears some token of his business; as the groom has a few straws in his hat, the wagoner a piece of whip-cord, the shepherd a lock of wool, &c.;—chiefly in the plural. [Eng.] Halliwell.

Statute-cap, a kind of woolen cap;—so called because enjoined to be worn by a statute dated in 1571, in behalf of the trade of cappers. [Obs.] Halliwell.—Statute-labor, a definite amount of labor required for the public service in making roads, streets, bridges, and the like, in certain English colonies. Simmonds.—Statute of limitations (Law), a statute assigning a certain time, after which rights can not be enforced by action. Syn.—Law; act; regulation; edict; decree. See LAW.