mesonomicadj.
/ˌmɛsə(ʊ)ˈnɒmɪk/, U.S. /ˌmɛzoʊˈnɑmɪk/; see also meso- comb. form. Law.
In A. Kocourek's terminology: designating a power, right, duty, etc., the free exercise of which, though not directly or positively constrained by legal prescription or proscription, may have effects or consequences which are constrained by law (see quot. 19302). Opposed to zygnomic.
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society > law > legal concepts > [adjective] > directly or indirectly affecting individual
zygnomic1926
mesonomic1927
1927 A. Kocourek Jural Relations v. 69 Compared with zygnomic relations, mesonomic relations are inferior in legal potency. A zygnomic relation directly constrains the servus of the relation with the support of the law, but a mesonomic relation either does not constrain the servus directly or lacks the support of the law.
1930 A. Kocourek Introd. Sci. of Law iv. 294 Put broadly, the function of mesonomic relations is to initiate or destroy zygnomic relations.
1930 A. Kocourek Introd. Sci. of Law iv. 294 Mesonomic relations have many different forms and functions... The power to commit a tort is mesonomic. The duty to pay damages for the tort is zygnomic. The power to pay damages for the tort is zygnomic.
1964 J. Stone Legal Syst. & Lawyers' Reasonings iv. 148 Kocourek's mesonomic-zygnomic distinction is no doubt a valuable one, even if we shrink back at the neologisms.
1964 J. Stone Legal Syst. & Lawyers' Reasonings iv. 149 For citizens' counsellors, as well as for citizens.., it is predominantly in the range of alternative courses left open by privileges and powers, the mesonomic relations, that attention and concern mainly moves.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1927