self-rulingadj.

1645 D. North Forest of Varieties ii. 149 Oh God..we attribute to our selves a presumptious selfe-ruling power, we have not motion but from thee.

1689 R. Baxter Eng. Nonconformity lxii. 285 The malignant Spirit..turned man from the Reigning Love of God, to the Love of Self, Self-pleasing, Self-ruling, and Self-trusting.

1774 Thoughts on Act making Effective Provision Governm. Quebec 12 The self ruling principle of human nature, would be the constant guide of their actions.

1841 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 321 Every fact..goes to show the progress or regress of this self-ruling people, the rise and decline of democratic principle.

1860 Atlas 21 Apr. 311/3 The Count commences his task by defining the nature of an autonomy, or self-ruling State.

1949 Washington Post 17 July 4 b/6 It is possible, on viewing the record of these self-ruling hierarchies [sc. private colleges, churches, newspapers] to believe that we should pay a high price if we injected Government interference.

1971 Rand Daily Mail 5 Mar. 1 South Africa's 1.7-million Tswanas will become a self-ruling people with their own Parliament before the end of the year.

2015 P. Timmerman in P. G. Brown & P. Timmerman Ecol. Econ. for Anthropocene i. 41 This grassroots approach..of expanding concentric circles, beginning with the self-ruling individual, then the self-ruling village, then the self-ruling nation.