Definition of law in English:

law

noun lɔːlɔ

1often the lawmass noun The system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.
shooting the birds is against the law
they were taken to court for breaking the law
as modifier law enforcement
Example sentencesExamples
- We will make a change to see that justice is served and no more lives will be stolen by law enforcement.
- Nevertheless, enforcing contempt orders against stubborn journalists has been self-defeating for law enforcers.
- Adequate fencing of pools will be achieved only if fencing is both required by law and regulations are enforced.
- In countries where military service is compulsory, failure to perform this duty is frequently punishable by law.
- Such litigation brings the law and our legal system into disrepute; and to my mind correctly so.
- Indeed it is in a sense not one which is laid down by law at all.
- But those horrible laws are still the law of the land because there is absolutely no leadership on the issue.
- The council is required by law to review conservation areas in their jurisdiction on a periodical basis.
- And another ballot was found to have violated state law requiring that candidates for nonpartisan office be listed alphabetically.
- This may be enforced by law, with a clause in the legislation to set up regulation of care providers.
- City councilors decided that those breaking the law will incur heavy penalties.
- On that basis, they appear to be in violation of the law and subject to legal consequences.
- Some people can get away with breaking the law and others face penalties.
- Each of the offices is empowered within the limits set out by law.
- The police are law enforcers, they abide by the laws they must enforce.
- I mean after all, the argument could be put that children are required by law to attend school.
- You must also by law declare certain pecuniary interests in the statutory register kept for this purpose.
- Employers or scheme operators who do not execute this duty immediately for their members are breaking the law.
- Constitutional law requires that jury pools must be a fair cross-section of the community and not systematically racially biased.
- Legally, the women on the Plantation were bound by English common law.
- Well if some communities are breaking the law, then throw the book at them.
- English domestic law imposes a constraint upon the applicability of the doctrine of legitimate expectation.
Synonyms
rules and regulations, system of laws, body of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, charter
jurisprudence
1. 1.1count noun An individual rule as part of a system of law.
  a new law was passed to make divorce easier and simpler
  Example sentencesExamples
  The law that had to be applied is the law of negligence, in essence, perhaps the laws of evidence.
  Jurisdiction to enforce laws relating to dumping follows the same pattern.
  It is entirely independent of the copyright laws, and their extension into the domain of art.
  He codified the law on public health and passed laws to prevent labour exploitation and recognise trades unions.
  It is natural that these concepts should underpin the codified laws on equality before the law and fair trials.
  Are defamation laws used to gag the discussion of matters of public interest?
  Is it time to review the laws on ownership of intellectual property and copyright?
  Although English copyright law applied to Scotland, it was not enforceable in Ireland until after the Union of 1800.
  He was above the law and could not be constrained either by the courts or by laws passed by Congress.
  Almost all are familiar with this country's laws against discrimination in the workplace.
  The rules have been around since the mediaeval laws about champerty and barratry.
  An initiative drive has begun to make authorities enforce our existing immigration laws.
  At the same time, however, we need to oppose the divisive asylum system and the immigration laws that underpin it.
  But sharing test information is illegal - it violates federal copyright laws.
  We hear the Greens urging everyone to pass all these laws, knowing that the law is unlikely to be enforced.
  The fourth principle is respect for confidentiality and the data protection laws.
  In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, a dozen states passed draconian anti-terrorism laws.
  The Commonwealth, admittedly, passed laws to repeal it, so that was the end of that.
  If we want the government to pass a particular law, we can urge the elected branches to vote for it.
  Many people have argued that criminal libel laws are unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court has never so held.
  Synonyms
  regulation, statute, enactment, act, bill, decree, edict, rule, ruling, resolution, promulgation, measure, motion, dictum, command, order, stipulation, commandment, directive, pronouncement, ratification, proclamation, dictate, diktat, fiat, covenant, demand, by-law
  North American ordinance
  in Tsarist Russia ukase
  in Spain &amp Spanish-speaking countries pronunciamento
2. 1.2 Systems of law as a subject of study or as the basis of the legal profession.
  he was still practising law
  as modifier a law firm
  law students
  Example sentencesExamples
  The ultimate goal would be to place the student with the law firm they intern with.
  However, this was delayed as he had enrolled at Thamassat University to study law on a part-time basis.
  There are a variety of legal databases available for law firms and universities to subscribe to.
  It is important for students of law to situate the legal doctrine of the EU in its historical and political context.
  In other words, EC law itself provides the basis for a legal action in the courts of each Member State.
  Criminal law is a subject of great complexity which students find both fascinating and frustrating.
  He resigned after four years to study law; he practised as a barrister for several years, without success.
  If the law firm fails to ensure clarity, the law firm pays the price.
  I would rather be a law professor than anything else, including a judge.
  He practices commercial and securities litigation at a large downtown law firm in Toronto.
  What should be mandatory reading for any lawyer or law firm considering starting a blog?
  In fact, it was his father who advised him to study law and take up the legal profession.
  Fourth, most Korean law school professors are not lawyers themselves.
  In the duration of the course law students read many subjects and cover volumes of materials.
  They are not criminologists or law professors who are studying theoretical issues.
  The disciplined practise or study of law does require you state concrete propositions with precision.
  He graduated from law school in 1985 and articled at the defendant law firm.
  Next month she will head for Cardiff to study law and criminology.
  They had two Washington law firms write legal letters demanding that the ads not be run.
  I note that the retained law firm does not take legal aid certificates.
  Synonyms
  the legal profession, the bar, barristers and solicitors collectively
3. 1.3 Statute law and the common law.
  Compare with equity
  Example sentencesExamples
  Common law and statutory rights continue to exist alongside the Convention.
  The legislature has picked up these words and turned them into statutory law.
  The Texas statute is sumptuary law that has no value in jurisprudence or society.
  Yet often what trial courts apply is common law - law that was made by other judges.
  Common law lawyers tend to talk about things assuming everyone knows what they mean.
  As long you do not get too far away from the statute which is the law that you have to apply.
  Fortescue next explains that a bastard cannot inherit because, under Common law, a bastard child has no father and is nameless.
  Common law provides a way for property rights to evolve from the bottom up.
  You then need to look to State statute or common law for the content of the law and for the remedy.
  I know of another example of non-enforced statutes of law that always shock people when I tell them about it.
  Common law works by precedent; where there is no specific precedent, it works by analogy.
  This simply translated into statutory form the law as it was previously understood to be.
  A very small part of the Common or Statute Law of England is law there by this maxim.
  One cannot seriously suggest, we would submit, that the common law is the area of law for the entire high seas.
  Synonyms
  rules and regulations, system of laws, body of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, charter
4. 1.4 Something regarded as having binding force or effect.
  he had supreme control—what he said was law
  Example sentencesExamples
  I guess anything and everything he says is law around here…
  So yes, it's your story, and your word is law when it comes to deciding if your vote or the readers votes are the deciding ones
  When I was a kid, what my parents told me was law.
5. 1.5the lawinformal The police.
  he'd never been in trouble with the law in his life
  Example sentencesExamples
  It doesn't take long before he's in trouble with the law but the police are prepared to do a deal with him.
  In a previous run-in with the law, police had gunned down Edward several years ago.
  Synonyms
  the police, the officers of the law, the forces of law and order, law-enforcement officers, police officers, policemen, policewomen, the police force, the constabulary
  informal the cops, the fuzz, the boys in blue, the long arm of the law
  British informal the (Old) Bill, the bobbies, the busies, the bizzies, the coppers, the rozzers, the force, plod, PC Plod
  North American informal the heat
  informal, derogatory the pigs, the filth, Babylon
2A rule defining correct procedure or behaviour in a sport.
the laws of the game
Example sentencesExamples
- Before long the sports law will be amended to bring about fair play and equality in the voting system.
- It was up to the referee to judge whether they stayed within the laws of the game and punish them if they didn't.
- Now out of form strikers and captains who cynically exploit the laws of the game are immune from being dropped.
- The law states that a handball is awarded only when a player ‘deliberately’ handles the ball when it is in play.
- Players should be obliged to be fully conversant with the laws of the game.
- The laws of the game should be simple to understand, a test this latest incarnation sadly fails.
- His walk-off was totally without warning and against both the spirit and the laws of the game.
- He helped athletes to cheat, using drugs that broke sport's doping laws.
- Glover agreed that too many people who play the game do not know or understand the laws of the game.
- This is not to mention an ability to play on or perhaps just over the edge of the off-side law, nor putting in the odd illegal late tackle.
- The laws of supply and demand are as rigid as the offside law.
- Refs and many other officials are present to make sure all football is kept within the laws of the game.
- Regardless of whether or not is is true it does point to one of the unwritten laws of football: local derbies are a bit special.
- A strong figure is needed to administer the laws of the game for ninety minutes.
- The referee had made his mark on the match, it was now up to both sides to play the game within his interpretation of the laws.
- Every day it seems we hear about some kind of incident with an athlete that runs afoul of the law.
- Sport is a human activity and we have people, because of the laws of the game, who are able to adjudicate the game.
- Foul language is a problem for the law makers in every sport.
- The relaxation of the offside law, for example, means players having to cover more ground at a greater pace.
- At the other end of the scale we have the option of removing the offside law altogether.
Synonyms
rule, regulation, principle, convention, direction, instruction, guideline, practice
3A statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present.
the second law of thermodynamics
Example sentencesExamples
- It is governed by scientific laws, and is or can be an object of discovery.
- It's a law of thermodynamics, and no one has ever witnessed a sustained violation of it.
- These assumed action at a distance and deduced the mathematical laws for induction of electric currents.
- As always my Zeroth law is that the best policy is no policy.
- Electrons and atoms are not like tiny snooker balls bouncing around in accordance with Newton's laws.
- In physics, this is the law of thermodynamics: that heat will always flow from hot to cold.
- In 1893 Wien stated his displacement law of blackbody radiation spectra at different temperatures.
- Venus and Mars follow Newton's laws, but electrons are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics.
- Scientific laws were to be seen as agents in the implementation of this purpose in the cosmos in general and on earth in particular.
- The third law is included in most thermodynamics texts, but is not recognised by all as a law of thermodynamics.
- Neither has the second law of thermodynamics nor the universal law of gravitation.
- In it, Newton revealed his laws of motion, and the law of universal gravitation.
- The zeroth law of thermodynamics is commonly expressed as heat flowing from hot to cold objects.
- No, you are dealing with certain laws, scientific laws in relation to human tissues.
- It did not state the law of universal gravitation nor Newton's three laws of motion.
- Biologists do not claim that life is exempt from any of the laws of thermodynamics.
- Finally, the interrelations of event-chains is what scientific causal laws describe.
- What if you could distil your own sharpest observation into a scientific law that would bear your name?
- Entropy, because it is the measure of the second law, is always associated with energy.
- The barrier we are hitting is basically the barrier set by the laws of atomic physics.
Synonyms
fact, verity, certainty, certitude
1. 3.1 A generalization based on a fact or event perceived to be recurrent.
  the first law of American corporate life is that dead wood floats
  Example sentencesExamples
  One of very few universally valid laws of history is the law of unintended consequences.
  The patterns I have been discussing in this section are of course generalizations, not iron laws.
  What football needs is simply sound management based on the basic laws of the market economy.
  The other day when I was writing about the fate of mobile applications, I mentioned one of the laws of technology strategy.
  Struggle is the law of existence and suffering is a condition for progress.
  Change is the law of life.
4mass noun The body of divine commandments as expressed in the Bible or other religious texts.
Example sentencesExamples
- Are Christians to take all the Old Testament law as applying to them?
- The Old Testament is not just a book of history, law and prophecy.
- He distinguished between law and ethics in the Bible and highlighted the value of biblical law as a paradigm.
- In some Christian traditions, a very sharp distinction is made between law and gospel.
- It recognizes the Ten Commandments as eternal law and the Old Testament as Holy Writ.
- Traditionalists tend to be the vast majority of Muslims when it comes to the classical Islamic law.
- Muslim leaders in Kenya are threatening armed conflict if the new Kenyan constitution does not enshrine Islamic law.
- Even when danger is not imminent, religious law may be violated to prevent the risk of future danger.
- All our life we live knowing that God's justice demands satisfaction for our transgression of God's law.
- The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi called for an eye for an eye long before the Israelite law did.
- Nowhere in Scripture is the Old Testament law divided into moral/civil and ceremonial.
- The Pharisees shared this commitment to the Law and saw law keeping as a primary religious duty.
- As a bishop, she is pledged to uphold church law and file charges against pastors who openly defy it.
- Yet it takes only one sin for us to stand condemned according to God's holy law.
- In morals Simon was probably Antinomian, an enemy of Old Testament law.
- They claim that I maximize the failings of states governed by strict Islamic law.
- The church itself often speaks too strongly out of reason and law and not enough out of spirituality.
Synonyms
principle, rule, precept, directive, direction, injunction, instruction, commandment, prescription, standard, criterion, belief, creed, credo, ethic, maxim, formula, tenet, doctrine, canon
Judaism mitzvah
1. 4.1 The Pentateuch as distinct from the other parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Prophets and the Writings).
  Example sentencesExamples
  The priest and the Levite who pass by unconcerned are the Old Testament law and prophets.
  We know that still this Law calls us to rest from work and to worship God.
  They would rather kill Jesus than violate the Law - a Law originally intended to help the people of Israel remain inside the covenant with God.
  The Torah, then, was not merely a Law written in a perishable book, or part of a covenant with the people of Israel.
  Moses commanded us a Law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
2. 4.2 The precepts of the Pentateuch.
  Example sentencesExamples
  Instead he follows Jewish law for the Jews to punish them in case of crimes like theft, murders and rape or adultery.
  During this visit, the believers from Jerusalem began to insist that the Gentile Christians in Antioch adopt all the prescriptions of the Law of Moses.
  Jewish law requires every Jew to give up his life rather than desecrate the Name of Hashem in public.
  While it is true I am not seeking to please God by obeying the precepts of the Law of Moses, I still am not living in sin.
  The day of worship was changed from the Sabbath under the Law of Moses in the time following Jesus' death and resurrection.
  In the Old Testament, the law of Moses was given to the people on tablets of stone.
  According to the Law of Moses, faithful Jews were expected to keep the Sabbath sacred as a day of rest.
  The Talmud and Jewish law describe the mutual obligations of husband and wife.
  For example, at one time the ceremonial Law of Moses required that the Jews not wear clothing of mixed threads.
  As it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.
  He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.
  The masses want an eye for an eye, the Law of Moses, implemented post-haste.

Phrases

at (or in) law

According to or concerned with the laws of a country.
an agreement enforceable at law
a barrister-at-law
Example sentencesExamples
- That is so and, indeed, somewhat the distinction might be rights at law and rights in equity because at law the widow always has the ability to enforce the contract.
- Therefore I do not accept that the Tribunal erred in law on this aspect of the case.
- A person solely entitled to the full beneficial ownership of money or property, both at law and in equity, does not enjoy an equitable interest in that property.
- The claimant has to show that the tribunal erred in law in refusing leave.
- They prompt the question whether improper conduct has occurred which may be actionable at law.
- This meant that the land would descend only to the lineal issue of the person specified and not to any other persons who would otherwise have been regarded as possible heirs at law.
- Such attacks normally took one of two forms, either that of prosecutions and fines at law for misfeasance, or the more drastic resort of attainder and forfeiture.
- That issue was whether those assumed and admitted facts were ‘sufficient, at law, to give rise to an independent tortious duty of care’.
- In sum, looking at the course of conduct, I find that there was a waiver at law of the landlord's right to forfeiture.
- Does the Defendant have any ground at law for preventing the Claimant from obtaining possession?

be a law unto oneself

Behave in a manner that is not conventional or predictable.
she was a law unto herself and did what she wanted to do
Example sentencesExamples
- She said: ‘They're a law unto themselves and they thought it was amusing I had to give in.’
- It encourages others to become a law unto themselves, and it becomes a precedent for the government to do that again and again and again.
- They are all 17, their A-level exams this summer loom like a nasty, scholastic Matterhorn, but in this half-term break they are a law unto themselves.
- In the decades since World War II, as military leaders and monarchs smothered democratic life, the security agencies have become a law unto themselves.
- ‘But unless these kids are tightly controlled and organised, they will become a law unto themselves,’ said a media source who asked not to be named.
- It is the mentality of members of the current government to think they are a law unto themselves and that they have the right to, without redress, build this and take that!
- Our bus and autorickshaw drivers are a law unto themselves.
- How is it that such ‘brave’ people cannot handle the auto rickshaw drivers who have become a law unto themselves?
- Instances of suppression, third degree methods and atrocities committed against the innocent have left them with no other conclusion than that the police are a law unto themselves.
- Developers are a law unto themselves, above the normal laws of community, ruling not only local government, but state and federal governments - a very dangerous situation for us all.

go to law

Resort to legal action in order to settle a matter.
the process of going to law is not as simple as one may imagine
Example sentencesExamples
- It is clear pitches are being badly prepared, but the authorities are afraid to impose the swingeing penalty of a 25-point ban since they know the penalised county would go to law.
- If there is a dispute when a cohabitation contract is terminated then both parties have to go to law - just as when a married couple are divorced.
- He went to law whenever he believed he was being cheated.
- But however serious those four examples are, it is better impossible to resolve it than to go to law; you would agree?
- Scrapping no-win no-fee deals where solicitors take up cases which previously would have been settled without going to law.
- And it is even more disconcerting if two officers of the council, having gone to law and losing, now pass on the bill for this affair to the rate-payers.
- Her decision not to go to law at the time is understandable, given how rape trials can be for the victim a prolonged continuation of the original trauma.
- And if you feel you've been denied that quality of life by reason of the state's shortcomings, you go to law.
- Neighbours go to law, and even shoot each other, over the most trivial boundary disputes.
- I asked the insurance company not to pay it, but they did because it was cheaper to settle it that way rather than going to law.

law and order

A situation characterized by respect for and obedience to the rules of a society.
his forces were preparing to withdraw from the province after restoring law and order
Example sentencesExamples
- He said that if he decides to stand he will campaign on ‘a return to law and order and decency’.
- The estate is patrolled by ex-soldiers who are helping to restore law and order.
- There was no law and order, even when the soldiers came and made a barricade with barbed wire outside the station.
- To restore and preserve law and order, there will be 10,000 extra police on the streets.
- He intends to campaign on issues such as law and order and the number of economic migrants trying to get into Britain.
- It would have to give people security, humanitarian aid, peace, and some form of law and order.
- For those with no respect or regard for law and order, such rules and laws are irrelevant.
- One of the first precepts of any civilised society is respect for law and order.
- The state has assigned the task of maintenance of proper law and order in the country to the police.
- One wouldn't want to allow something as frightful as ordinary people having a say in law and order, would one?
Synonyms
law and order, lawfulness, order, peacefulness, peaceableness, harmony, harmoniousness, accord, concord, amity, amicableness, goodwill, friendship, cordiality, non-aggression, non-violence

lay down the law

Issue instructions to other people in an authoritative or dogmatic way.
I am not attempting to lay down the law, but simply wish to voice my opinion
Example sentencesExamples
- If even the greatest writers are not bound by the rules and we have no academy to lay down the law, who is to decide what is acceptable and what is not?
- Democrats should see regulating the labor market to keep the big fish from eating the little fish as a modern parallel to laying down the law on Wall Street after 1929.
- In the wake of the elections, media owners have wasted no time in laying down the law to the incoming government, demanding lower business costs and taxes.
- She'll lay down the law on headline issues and take your calls.
- Tonight, TV's No.1 judge lays down the law on family squabbles.
- Whether or not the Minister and the Government has the right to lay down the law for a sporting body like this is another question and very much open to debate.
- He said: ‘It made us realise that listening to each other and negotiation is better than confrontation and laying down the law.’
- He has gone for ground rules rather than laying down the law.
- Whatever difficulties or problems arise in terms of schooling in the future are best dealt with not by people laying down the law but by people listening to each other's needs.
- While the details of the proceedings were not made public, there is no doubt that Bolton attempted to lay down the law.
Synonyms
order someone about, order someone around, tell someone what to do, boss someone about, boss someone around, ride roughshod over someone, be dogmatic, be domineering

take the law into one's own hands

Punish someone for an offence according to one's own ideas of justice, especially in an illegal or violent way.
people have been urged to keep calm and not take the law into their own hands
Example sentencesExamples
- It seems that as part of this intifada, people on both sides are taking the law into their own hands and committing acts of violence against the other community.
- There have been numerous cases of abuse and illegal detentions; people are not supposed to be taking the law into their own hands.
- A motorist plagued by yobs interfering with his parked car took the law into his own hands - with a broom handle.
- If anyone, it was they who could have persuaded the justice-seekers to remain calm and not to take the law into their own hands.
- They urged police to crack down on racist yobs before youths took the law into their own hands.
- Otherwise, people will take the law into their own hands to fight for justice.
- It would sanction excessive conduct which allowed headstrong, violent people to take the law into their own hands in a way which no civilized society could permit.
- Far better if they fear that they will themselves be punished for their trouble, and instead take the law into their own hands.
- Instead he was let down by the State and he did the one thing that was left for him to do - he took the law into his own hands.
- It is not up to the common person to take the law into their own hands and dish out what they deem to be justice.

take someone to law

Initiate legal proceedings against someone.
he's got to pay for it, or I'll take him to law
Example sentencesExamples
- In 1796 Thackeray, together with several other patent ‘pirates'’ were taken to law by Boulton and Watt and, for a while, this engine was stopped.
- We'd be thrown out of any court in the land if we took them to law.
- That and the written terms may be their defence if you take them to law over it.
- The Board took them to law and won the first round in the English courts, but the owner challenged that finding in the European Court of Justice.
Synonyms
litigation, legal action, legal proceedings, lawsuit, justice

there's no law against it

informal Said to assert that one is doing nothing wrong, especially in response to an actual or implied criticism.
I can laugh, can't I? There's no law against it
Example sentencesExamples
- Calling electors - of course, there's no law against it.
- We can still be friends Andi, there's no law against it.
- I can't say it's criminal, because there's no law against it, but it's certainly immoral.
- I mean, it's perfectly legal, there's no law against it.
- Even though there's no law against it, you may be interrogated the next time you snap a picture of the Empire State Building.

Origin

Old English lagu, from Old Norse lag 'something laid down or fixed', of Germanic origin and related to lay¹.

The words legacy (Late Middle English), legal (Late Middle English), legitimate (Late Middle English), and loyal (early 16th century) all descend from Latin lex ‘law’, the source also of law. The phrase law and order is found from the late 16th century. It was Charles Dickens who first said the law is an ass, or rather his character Mr Bumble did in Oliver Twist: ‘“If the law supposes that,” said Mr Bumble…“the law is a ass…a idiot.”’ See also jungle

Rhymes

abhor, adore, afore, anymore, ashore, awe, bandore, Bangalore, before, boar, Boer, bore, caw, chore, claw, cocksure, comprador, cor, core, corps, craw, Delors, deplore, door, draw, drawer, evermore, explore, flaw, floor, for, forbore, fore, foresaw, forevermore, forswore, four, fourscore, furthermore, Gábor, galore, gnaw, gore, grantor, guarantor, guffaw, hard-core, Haugh, haw, hoar, ignore, implore, Indore, interwar, jaw, Johor, Lahore, lessor, lor, lore, macaw, man-o'-war, maw, mirador, mor, more, mortgagor, Mysore, nevermore, nor, oar, obligor, offshore, onshore, open-jaw, or, ore, outdoor, outwore, paw, poor, pore, pour, rapport, raw, roar, saw, scaur, score, senhor, señor, shaw, ship-to-shore, shop-floor, shore, signor, Singapore, snore, soar, softcore, sore, spore, store, straw, swore, Tagore, tau, taw, thaw, Thor, threescore, tor, tore, torr, trapdoor, tug-of-war, two-by-four, underfloor, underscore, war, warrantor, Waugh, whore, withdraw, wore, yaw, yore, your

Definition of law in US English:

law

nounlɔlô

1often the lawThe system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.
they were taken to court for breaking the law
as modifier law enforcement
a license is required by law
Example sentencesExamples
- In countries where military service is compulsory, failure to perform this duty is frequently punishable by law.
- English domestic law imposes a constraint upon the applicability of the doctrine of legitimate expectation.
- City councilors decided that those breaking the law will incur heavy penalties.
- Constitutional law requires that jury pools must be a fair cross-section of the community and not systematically racially biased.
- Adequate fencing of pools will be achieved only if fencing is both required by law and regulations are enforced.
- The police are law enforcers, they abide by the laws they must enforce.
- Each of the offices is empowered within the limits set out by law.
- Legally, the women on the Plantation were bound by English common law.
- This may be enforced by law, with a clause in the legislation to set up regulation of care providers.
- Well if some communities are breaking the law, then throw the book at them.
- Some people can get away with breaking the law and others face penalties.
- Indeed it is in a sense not one which is laid down by law at all.
- We will make a change to see that justice is served and no more lives will be stolen by law enforcement.
- Employers or scheme operators who do not execute this duty immediately for their members are breaking the law.
- I mean after all, the argument could be put that children are required by law to attend school.
- And another ballot was found to have violated state law requiring that candidates for nonpartisan office be listed alphabetically.
- The council is required by law to review conservation areas in their jurisdiction on a periodical basis.
- Such litigation brings the law and our legal system into disrepute; and to my mind correctly so.
- Nevertheless, enforcing contempt orders against stubborn journalists has been self-defeating for law enforcers.
- But those horrible laws are still the law of the land because there is absolutely no leadership on the issue.
- You must also by law declare certain pecuniary interests in the statutory register kept for this purpose.
- On that basis, they appear to be in violation of the law and subject to legal consequences.
Synonyms
rules and regulations, system of laws, body of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, charter
1. 1.1 An individual rule as part of a system of law.
  an initiative to tighten up the laws on pornography
  Example sentencesExamples
  The law that had to be applied is the law of negligence, in essence, perhaps the laws of evidence.
  It is natural that these concepts should underpin the codified laws on equality before the law and fair trials.
  At the same time, however, we need to oppose the divisive asylum system and the immigration laws that underpin it.
  The Commonwealth, admittedly, passed laws to repeal it, so that was the end of that.
  He codified the law on public health and passed laws to prevent labour exploitation and recognise trades unions.
  Is it time to review the laws on ownership of intellectual property and copyright?
  Are defamation laws used to gag the discussion of matters of public interest?
  An initiative drive has begun to make authorities enforce our existing immigration laws.
  Although English copyright law applied to Scotland, it was not enforceable in Ireland until after the Union of 1800.
  He was above the law and could not be constrained either by the courts or by laws passed by Congress.
  In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, a dozen states passed draconian anti-terrorism laws.
  But sharing test information is illegal - it violates federal copyright laws.
  Jurisdiction to enforce laws relating to dumping follows the same pattern.
  Many people have argued that criminal libel laws are unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court has never so held.
  We hear the Greens urging everyone to pass all these laws, knowing that the law is unlikely to be enforced.
  It is entirely independent of the copyright laws, and their extension into the domain of art.
  The rules have been around since the mediaeval laws about champerty and barratry.
  Almost all are familiar with this country's laws against discrimination in the workplace.
  The fourth principle is respect for confidentiality and the data protection laws.
  If we want the government to pass a particular law, we can urge the elected branches to vote for it.
  Synonyms
  regulation, statute, enactment, act, bill, decree, edict, rule, ruling, resolution, promulgation, measure, motion, dictum, command, order, stipulation, commandment, directive, pronouncement, ratification, proclamation, dictate, diktat, fiat, covenant, demand, by-law
2. 1.2 Systems of law as a subject of study or as the basis of the legal profession.
  he was still practicing law
  Compare with jurisprudence
  as modifier a law firm
  Example sentencesExamples
  What should be mandatory reading for any lawyer or law firm considering starting a blog?
  They are not criminologists or law professors who are studying theoretical issues.
  I note that the retained law firm does not take legal aid certificates.
  They had two Washington law firms write legal letters demanding that the ads not be run.
  He graduated from law school in 1985 and articled at the defendant law firm.
  In the duration of the course law students read many subjects and cover volumes of materials.
  If the law firm fails to ensure clarity, the law firm pays the price.
  In other words, EC law itself provides the basis for a legal action in the courts of each Member State.
  In fact, it was his father who advised him to study law and take up the legal profession.
  There are a variety of legal databases available for law firms and universities to subscribe to.
  The ultimate goal would be to place the student with the law firm they intern with.
  Next month she will head for Cardiff to study law and criminology.
  He practices commercial and securities litigation at a large downtown law firm in Toronto.
  Criminal law is a subject of great complexity which students find both fascinating and frustrating.
  The disciplined practise or study of law does require you state concrete propositions with precision.
  He resigned after four years to study law; he practised as a barrister for several years, without success.
  Fourth, most Korean law school professors are not lawyers themselves.
  I would rather be a law professor than anything else, including a judge.
  It is important for students of law to situate the legal doctrine of the EU in its historical and political context.
  However, this was delayed as he had enrolled at Thamassat University to study law on a part-time basis.
  Synonyms
  the legal profession, the bar, barristers and solicitors collectively
3. 1.3 Statutory law and the common law.
  Compare with equity
  Example sentencesExamples
  Common law lawyers tend to talk about things assuming everyone knows what they mean.
  I know of another example of non-enforced statutes of law that always shock people when I tell them about it.
  This simply translated into statutory form the law as it was previously understood to be.
  Common law and statutory rights continue to exist alongside the Convention.
  The Texas statute is sumptuary law that has no value in jurisprudence or society.
  Fortescue next explains that a bastard cannot inherit because, under Common law, a bastard child has no father and is nameless.
  As long you do not get too far away from the statute which is the law that you have to apply.
  Common law provides a way for property rights to evolve from the bottom up.
  Common law works by precedent; where there is no specific precedent, it works by analogy.
  You then need to look to State statute or common law for the content of the law and for the remedy.
  One cannot seriously suggest, we would submit, that the common law is the area of law for the entire high seas.
  The legislature has picked up these words and turned them into statutory law.
  Yet often what trial courts apply is common law - law that was made by other judges.
  A very small part of the Common or Statute Law of England is law there by this maxim.
  Synonyms
  rules and regulations, system of laws, body of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, charter
4. 1.4 A thing regarded as having the binding force or effect of a formal system of rules.
  what he said was law
  Example sentencesExamples
  So yes, it's your story, and your word is law when it comes to deciding if your vote or the readers votes are the deciding ones
  I guess anything and everything he says is law around here…
  When I was a kid, what my parents told me was law.
5. 1.5the lawinformal The police.
  he'd never been in trouble with the law in his life
  Example sentencesExamples
  It doesn't take long before he's in trouble with the law but the police are prepared to do a deal with him.
  In a previous run-in with the law, police had gunned down Edward several years ago.
  Synonyms
  the police, the officers of the law, the forces of law and order, law-enforcement officers, police officers, policemen, policewomen, the police force, the constabulary
2A rule defining correct procedure or behavior in a sport.
the laws of the game
Example sentencesExamples
- A strong figure is needed to administer the laws of the game for ninety minutes.
- Foul language is a problem for the law makers in every sport.
- Before long the sports law will be amended to bring about fair play and equality in the voting system.
- It was up to the referee to judge whether they stayed within the laws of the game and punish them if they didn't.
- This is not to mention an ability to play on or perhaps just over the edge of the off-side law, nor putting in the odd illegal late tackle.
- Refs and many other officials are present to make sure all football is kept within the laws of the game.
- The relaxation of the offside law, for example, means players having to cover more ground at a greater pace.
- The referee had made his mark on the match, it was now up to both sides to play the game within his interpretation of the laws.
- At the other end of the scale we have the option of removing the offside law altogether.
- The laws of the game should be simple to understand, a test this latest incarnation sadly fails.
- Glover agreed that too many people who play the game do not know or understand the laws of the game.
- Sport is a human activity and we have people, because of the laws of the game, who are able to adjudicate the game.
- Players should be obliged to be fully conversant with the laws of the game.
- Every day it seems we hear about some kind of incident with an athlete that runs afoul of the law.
- His walk-off was totally without warning and against both the spirit and the laws of the game.
- Regardless of whether or not is is true it does point to one of the unwritten laws of football: local derbies are a bit special.
- Now out of form strikers and captains who cynically exploit the laws of the game are immune from being dropped.
- He helped athletes to cheat, using drugs that broke sport's doping laws.
- The laws of supply and demand are as rigid as the offside law.
- The law states that a handball is awarded only when a player ‘deliberately’ handles the ball when it is in play.
Synonyms
rule, regulation, principle, convention, direction, instruction, guideline, practice
3A statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present.
the second law of thermodynamics
Example sentencesExamples
- What if you could distil your own sharpest observation into a scientific law that would bear your name?
- The third law is included in most thermodynamics texts, but is not recognised by all as a law of thermodynamics.
- It's a law of thermodynamics, and no one has ever witnessed a sustained violation of it.
- Finally, the interrelations of event-chains is what scientific causal laws describe.
- Electrons and atoms are not like tiny snooker balls bouncing around in accordance with Newton's laws.
- It did not state the law of universal gravitation nor Newton's three laws of motion.
- As always my Zeroth law is that the best policy is no policy.
- No, you are dealing with certain laws, scientific laws in relation to human tissues.
- In it, Newton revealed his laws of motion, and the law of universal gravitation.
- Entropy, because it is the measure of the second law, is always associated with energy.
- It is governed by scientific laws, and is or can be an object of discovery.
- Biologists do not claim that life is exempt from any of the laws of thermodynamics.
- The barrier we are hitting is basically the barrier set by the laws of atomic physics.
- Scientific laws were to be seen as agents in the implementation of this purpose in the cosmos in general and on earth in particular.
- The zeroth law of thermodynamics is commonly expressed as heat flowing from hot to cold objects.
- Neither has the second law of thermodynamics nor the universal law of gravitation.
- In 1893 Wien stated his displacement law of blackbody radiation spectra at different temperatures.
- Venus and Mars follow Newton's laws, but electrons are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics.
- These assumed action at a distance and deduced the mathematical laws for induction of electric currents.
- In physics, this is the law of thermodynamics: that heat will always flow from hot to cold.
Synonyms
fact, verity, certainty, certitude
1. 3.1 A generalization based on a fact or event perceived to be recurrent.
  the first law of American corporate life is that dead wood floats
  Example sentencesExamples
  The patterns I have been discussing in this section are of course generalizations, not iron laws.
  What football needs is simply sound management based on the basic laws of the market economy.
  Change is the law of life.
  Struggle is the law of existence and suffering is a condition for progress.
  One of very few universally valid laws of history is the law of unintended consequences.
  The other day when I was writing about the fate of mobile applications, I mentioned one of the laws of technology strategy.
4The body of divine commandments as expressed in the Bible or other religious texts.
Example sentencesExamples
- He distinguished between law and ethics in the Bible and highlighted the value of biblical law as a paradigm.
- Traditionalists tend to be the vast majority of Muslims when it comes to the classical Islamic law.
- They claim that I maximize the failings of states governed by strict Islamic law.
- Yet it takes only one sin for us to stand condemned according to God's holy law.
- All our life we live knowing that God's justice demands satisfaction for our transgression of God's law.
- Muslim leaders in Kenya are threatening armed conflict if the new Kenyan constitution does not enshrine Islamic law.
- As a bishop, she is pledged to uphold church law and file charges against pastors who openly defy it.
- Even when danger is not imminent, religious law may be violated to prevent the risk of future danger.
- In morals Simon was probably Antinomian, an enemy of Old Testament law.
- In some Christian traditions, a very sharp distinction is made between law and gospel.
- Nowhere in Scripture is the Old Testament law divided into moral/civil and ceremonial.
- It recognizes the Ten Commandments as eternal law and the Old Testament as Holy Writ.
- The church itself often speaks too strongly out of reason and law and not enough out of spirituality.
- The Old Testament is not just a book of history, law and prophecy.
- The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi called for an eye for an eye long before the Israelite law did.
- The Pharisees shared this commitment to the Law and saw law keeping as a primary religious duty.
- Are Christians to take all the Old Testament law as applying to them?
Synonyms
principle, rule, precept, directive, direction, injunction, instruction, commandment, prescription, standard, criterion, belief, creed, credo, ethic, maxim, formula, tenet, doctrine, canon
1. 4.1the Law The Pentateuch as distinct from the other parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Prophets and the Writings).
  Example sentencesExamples
  The priest and the Levite who pass by unconcerned are the Old Testament law and prophets.
  The Torah, then, was not merely a Law written in a perishable book, or part of a covenant with the people of Israel.
  We know that still this Law calls us to rest from work and to worship God.
  Moses commanded us a Law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
  They would rather kill Jesus than violate the Law - a Law originally intended to help the people of Israel remain inside the covenant with God.
2. 4.2 The precepts of the Pentateuch.
  Compare with Torah
  Example sentencesExamples
  For example, at one time the ceremonial Law of Moses required that the Jews not wear clothing of mixed threads.
  Instead he follows Jewish law for the Jews to punish them in case of crimes like theft, murders and rape or adultery.
  The masses want an eye for an eye, the Law of Moses, implemented post-haste.
  Jewish law requires every Jew to give up his life rather than desecrate the Name of Hashem in public.
  While it is true I am not seeking to please God by obeying the precepts of the Law of Moses, I still am not living in sin.
  As it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.
  In the Old Testament, the law of Moses was given to the people on tablets of stone.
  The day of worship was changed from the Sabbath under the Law of Moses in the time following Jesus' death and resurrection.
  According to the Law of Moses, faithful Jews were expected to keep the Sabbath sacred as a day of rest.
  He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.
  The Talmud and Jewish law describe the mutual obligations of husband and wife.
  During this visit, the believers from Jerusalem began to insist that the Gentile Christians in Antioch adopt all the prescriptions of the Law of Moses.

Phrases

at (or in) law

According to or concerned with the laws of a country.
an agreement enforceable at law
an attorney-at-law
Example sentencesExamples
- In sum, looking at the course of conduct, I find that there was a waiver at law of the landlord's right to forfeiture.
- Does the Defendant have any ground at law for preventing the Claimant from obtaining possession?
- The claimant has to show that the tribunal erred in law in refusing leave.
- That is so and, indeed, somewhat the distinction might be rights at law and rights in equity because at law the widow always has the ability to enforce the contract.
- They prompt the question whether improper conduct has occurred which may be actionable at law.
- A person solely entitled to the full beneficial ownership of money or property, both at law and in equity, does not enjoy an equitable interest in that property.
- That issue was whether those assumed and admitted facts were ‘sufficient, at law, to give rise to an independent tortious duty of care’.
- Such attacks normally took one of two forms, either that of prosecutions and fines at law for misfeasance, or the more drastic resort of attainder and forfeiture.
- Therefore I do not accept that the Tribunal erred in law on this aspect of the case.
- This meant that the land would descend only to the lineal issue of the person specified and not to any other persons who would otherwise have been regarded as possible heirs at law.

be a law unto oneself

Behave in a manner that is not conventional or predictable.
Example sentencesExamples
- It is the mentality of members of the current government to think they are a law unto themselves and that they have the right to, without redress, build this and take that!
- It encourages others to become a law unto themselves, and it becomes a precedent for the government to do that again and again and again.
- ‘But unless these kids are tightly controlled and organised, they will become a law unto themselves,’ said a media source who asked not to be named.
- She said: ‘They're a law unto themselves and they thought it was amusing I had to give in.’
- Our bus and autorickshaw drivers are a law unto themselves.
- How is it that such ‘brave’ people cannot handle the auto rickshaw drivers who have become a law unto themselves?
- In the decades since World War II, as military leaders and monarchs smothered democratic life, the security agencies have become a law unto themselves.
- Developers are a law unto themselves, above the normal laws of community, ruling not only local government, but state and federal governments - a very dangerous situation for us all.
- They are all 17, their A-level exams this summer loom like a nasty, scholastic Matterhorn, but in this half-term break they are a law unto themselves.
- Instances of suppression, third degree methods and atrocities committed against the innocent have left them with no other conclusion than that the police are a law unto themselves.

go to law

Resort to legal action in order to settle a matter.
Example sentencesExamples
- It is clear pitches are being badly prepared, but the authorities are afraid to impose the swingeing penalty of a 25-point ban since they know the penalised county would go to law.
- But however serious those four examples are, it is better impossible to resolve it than to go to law; you would agree?
- And if you feel you've been denied that quality of life by reason of the state's shortcomings, you go to law.
- I asked the insurance company not to pay it, but they did because it was cheaper to settle it that way rather than going to law.
- Neighbours go to law, and even shoot each other, over the most trivial boundary disputes.
- And it is even more disconcerting if two officers of the council, having gone to law and losing, now pass on the bill for this affair to the rate-payers.
- Scrapping no-win no-fee deals where solicitors take up cases which previously would have been settled without going to law.
- He went to law whenever he believed he was being cheated.
- Her decision not to go to law at the time is understandable, given how rape trials can be for the victim a prolonged continuation of the original trauma.
- If there is a dispute when a cohabitation contract is terminated then both parties have to go to law - just as when a married couple are divorced.

law and order

A situation characterized by respect for and obedience to the rules of a society.
Example sentencesExamples
- He said that if he decides to stand he will campaign on ‘a return to law and order and decency’.
- One of the first precepts of any civilised society is respect for law and order.
- He intends to campaign on issues such as law and order and the number of economic migrants trying to get into Britain.
- The state has assigned the task of maintenance of proper law and order in the country to the police.
- For those with no respect or regard for law and order, such rules and laws are irrelevant.
- The estate is patrolled by ex-soldiers who are helping to restore law and order.
- One wouldn't want to allow something as frightful as ordinary people having a say in law and order, would one?
- There was no law and order, even when the soldiers came and made a barricade with barbed wire outside the station.
- It would have to give people security, humanitarian aid, peace, and some form of law and order.
- To restore and preserve law and order, there will be 10,000 extra police on the streets.
Synonyms
law and order, lawfulness, order, peacefulness, peaceableness, harmony, harmoniousness, accord, concord, amity, amicableness, goodwill, friendship, cordiality, non-aggression, non-violence

lay down the law

Issue instructions to other people in an authoritative or dogmatic way.
Example sentencesExamples
- In the wake of the elections, media owners have wasted no time in laying down the law to the incoming government, demanding lower business costs and taxes.
- Whatever difficulties or problems arise in terms of schooling in the future are best dealt with not by people laying down the law but by people listening to each other's needs.
- She'll lay down the law on headline issues and take your calls.
- Tonight, TV's No.1 judge lays down the law on family squabbles.
- He has gone for ground rules rather than laying down the law.
- If even the greatest writers are not bound by the rules and we have no academy to lay down the law, who is to decide what is acceptable and what is not?
- Democrats should see regulating the labor market to keep the big fish from eating the little fish as a modern parallel to laying down the law on Wall Street after 1929.
- Whether or not the Minister and the Government has the right to lay down the law for a sporting body like this is another question and very much open to debate.
- He said: ‘It made us realise that listening to each other and negotiation is better than confrontation and laying down the law.’
- While the details of the proceedings were not made public, there is no doubt that Bolton attempted to lay down the law.
Synonyms
order someone about, order someone around, tell someone what to do, boss someone about, boss someone around, ride roughshod over someone, be dogmatic, be domineering

take the law into one's own hands

Punish someone for an offense according to one's own ideas of justice, especially in an illegal or violent way.
Example sentencesExamples
- There have been numerous cases of abuse and illegal detentions; people are not supposed to be taking the law into their own hands.
- Instead he was let down by the State and he did the one thing that was left for him to do - he took the law into his own hands.
- Otherwise, people will take the law into their own hands to fight for justice.
- Far better if they fear that they will themselves be punished for their trouble, and instead take the law into their own hands.
- They urged police to crack down on racist yobs before youths took the law into their own hands.
- If anyone, it was they who could have persuaded the justice-seekers to remain calm and not to take the law into their own hands.
- It is not up to the common person to take the law into their own hands and dish out what they deem to be justice.
- A motorist plagued by yobs interfering with his parked car took the law into his own hands - with a broom handle.
- It would sanction excessive conduct which allowed headstrong, violent people to take the law into their own hands in a way which no civilized society could permit.
- It seems that as part of this intifada, people on both sides are taking the law into their own hands and committing acts of violence against the other community.

take someone to law

Initiate legal proceedings against someone.
Example sentencesExamples
- The Board took them to law and won the first round in the English courts, but the owner challenged that finding in the European Court of Justice.
- That and the written terms may be their defence if you take them to law over it.
- In 1796 Thackeray, together with several other patent ‘pirates'’ were taken to law by Boulton and Watt and, for a while, this engine was stopped.
- We'd be thrown out of any court in the land if we took them to law.
Synonyms
litigation, legal action, legal proceedings, lawsuit, justice

there's no law against it

informal Used in spoken English to assert that one is doing nothing wrong, especially in response to an actual or implied criticism.
I can laugh, can't I? There's no law against it
Example sentencesExamples
- I can't say it's criminal, because there's no law against it, but it's certainly immoral.
- Even though there's no law against it, you may be interrogated the next time you snap a picture of the Empire State Building.
- We can still be friends Andi, there's no law against it.
- Calling electors - of course, there's no law against it.
- I mean, it's perfectly legal, there's no law against it.

Origin

Old English lagu, from Old Norse lag ‘something laid down or fixed’, of Germanic origin and related to lay.

单词	law
释义	Definition of law in English: law noun lɔːlɔ 1often the lawmass noun The system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties. shooting the birds is against the law they were taken to court for breaking the law as modifier law enforcement Example sentencesExamples We will make a change to see that justice is served and no more lives will be stolen by law enforcement. Nevertheless, enforcing contempt orders against stubborn journalists has been self-defeating for law enforcers. Adequate fencing of pools will be achieved only if fencing is both required by law and regulations are enforced. In countries where military service is compulsory, failure to perform this duty is frequently punishable by law. Such litigation brings the law and our legal system into disrepute; and to my mind correctly so. Indeed it is in a sense not one which is laid down by law at all. But those horrible laws are still the law of the land because there is absolutely no leadership on the issue. The council is required by law to review conservation areas in their jurisdiction on a periodical basis. And another ballot was found to have violated state law requiring that candidates for nonpartisan office be listed alphabetically. This may be enforced by law, with a clause in the legislation to set up regulation of care providers. City councilors decided that those breaking the law will incur heavy penalties. On that basis, they appear to be in violation of the law and subject to legal consequences. Some people can get away with breaking the law and others face penalties. Each of the offices is empowered within the limits set out by law. The police are law enforcers, they abide by the laws they must enforce. I mean after all, the argument could be put that children are required by law to attend school. You must also by law declare certain pecuniary interests in the statutory register kept for this purpose. Employers or scheme operators who do not execute this duty immediately for their members are breaking the law. Constitutional law requires that jury pools must be a fair cross-section of the community and not systematically racially biased. Legally, the women on the Plantation were bound by English common law. Well if some communities are breaking the law, then throw the book at them. English domestic law imposes a constraint upon the applicability of the doctrine of legitimate expectation. Synonyms rules and regulations, system of laws, body of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, charter jurisprudence 1.1count noun An individual rule as part of a system of law. a new law was passed to make divorce easier and simpler Example sentencesExamples The law that had to be applied is the law of negligence, in essence, perhaps the laws of evidence. Jurisdiction to enforce laws relating to dumping follows the same pattern. It is entirely independent of the copyright laws, and their extension into the domain of art. He codified the law on public health and passed laws to prevent labour exploitation and recognise trades unions. It is natural that these concepts should underpin the codified laws on equality before the law and fair trials. Are defamation laws used to gag the discussion of matters of public interest? Is it time to review the laws on ownership of intellectual property and copyright? Although English copyright law applied to Scotland, it was not enforceable in Ireland until after the Union of 1800. He was above the law and could not be constrained either by the courts or by laws passed by Congress. Almost all are familiar with this country's laws against discrimination in the workplace. The rules have been around since the mediaeval laws about champerty and barratry. An initiative drive has begun to make authorities enforce our existing immigration laws. At the same time, however, we need to oppose the divisive asylum system and the immigration laws that underpin it. But sharing test information is illegal - it violates federal copyright laws. We hear the Greens urging everyone to pass all these laws, knowing that the law is unlikely to be enforced. The fourth principle is respect for confidentiality and the data protection laws. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, a dozen states passed draconian anti-terrorism laws. The Commonwealth, admittedly, passed laws to repeal it, so that was the end of that. If we want the government to pass a particular law, we can urge the elected branches to vote for it. Many people have argued that criminal libel laws are unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court has never so held. Synonyms regulation, statute, enactment, act, bill, decree, edict, rule, ruling, resolution, promulgation, measure, motion, dictum, command, order, stipulation, commandment, directive, pronouncement, ratification, proclamation, dictate, diktat, fiat, covenant, demand, by-law North American ordinance in Tsarist Russia ukase in Spain &amp Spanish-speaking countries pronunciamento 1.2 Systems of law as a subject of study or as the basis of the legal profession. he was still practising law as modifier a law firm law students Example sentencesExamples The ultimate goal would be to place the student with the law firm they intern with. However, this was delayed as he had enrolled at Thamassat University to study law on a part-time basis. There are a variety of legal databases available for law firms and universities to subscribe to. It is important for students of law to situate the legal doctrine of the EU in its historical and political context. In other words, EC law itself provides the basis for a legal action in the courts of each Member State. Criminal law is a subject of great complexity which students find both fascinating and frustrating. He resigned after four years to study law; he practised as a barrister for several years, without success. If the law firm fails to ensure clarity, the law firm pays the price. I would rather be a law professor than anything else, including a judge. He practices commercial and securities litigation at a large downtown law firm in Toronto. What should be mandatory reading for any lawyer or law firm considering starting a blog? In fact, it was his father who advised him to study law and take up the legal profession. Fourth, most Korean law school professors are not lawyers themselves. In the duration of the course law students read many subjects and cover volumes of materials. They are not criminologists or law professors who are studying theoretical issues. The disciplined practise or study of law does require you state concrete propositions with precision. He graduated from law school in 1985 and articled at the defendant law firm. Next month she will head for Cardiff to study law and criminology. They had two Washington law firms write legal letters demanding that the ads not be run. I note that the retained law firm does not take legal aid certificates. Synonyms the legal profession, the bar, barristers and solicitors collectively 1.3 Statute law and the common law. Compare with equity Example sentencesExamples Common law and statutory rights continue to exist alongside the Convention. The legislature has picked up these words and turned them into statutory law. The Texas statute is sumptuary law that has no value in jurisprudence or society. Yet often what trial courts apply is common law - law that was made by other judges. Common law lawyers tend to talk about things assuming everyone knows what they mean. As long you do not get too far away from the statute which is the law that you have to apply. Fortescue next explains that a bastard cannot inherit because, under Common law, a bastard child has no father and is nameless. Common law provides a way for property rights to evolve from the bottom up. You then need to look to State statute or common law for the content of the law and for the remedy. I know of another example of non-enforced statutes of law that always shock people when I tell them about it. Common law works by precedent; where there is no specific precedent, it works by analogy. This simply translated into statutory form the law as it was previously understood to be. A very small part of the Common or Statute Law of England is law there by this maxim. One cannot seriously suggest, we would submit, that the common law is the area of law for the entire high seas. Synonyms rules and regulations, system of laws, body of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, charter 1.4 Something regarded as having binding force or effect. he had supreme control—what he said was law Example sentencesExamples I guess anything and everything he says is law around here… So yes, it's your story, and your word is law when it comes to deciding if your vote or the readers votes are the deciding ones When I was a kid, what my parents told me was law. 1.5the lawinformal The police. he'd never been in trouble with the law in his life Example sentencesExamples It doesn't take long before he's in trouble with the law but the police are prepared to do a deal with him. In a previous run-in with the law, police had gunned down Edward several years ago. Synonyms the police, the officers of the law, the forces of law and order, law-enforcement officers, police officers, policemen, policewomen, the police force, the constabulary informal the cops, the fuzz, the boys in blue, the long arm of the law British informal the (Old) Bill, the bobbies, the busies, the bizzies, the coppers, the rozzers, the force, plod, PC Plod North American informal the heat informal, derogatory the pigs, the filth, Babylon 2A rule defining correct procedure or behaviour in a sport. the laws of the game Example sentencesExamples Before long the sports law will be amended to bring about fair play and equality in the voting system. It was up to the referee to judge whether they stayed within the laws of the game and punish them if they didn't. Now out of form strikers and captains who cynically exploit the laws of the game are immune from being dropped. The law states that a handball is awarded only when a player ‘deliberately’ handles the ball when it is in play. Players should be obliged to be fully conversant with the laws of the game. The laws of the game should be simple to understand, a test this latest incarnation sadly fails. His walk-off was totally without warning and against both the spirit and the laws of the game. He helped athletes to cheat, using drugs that broke sport's doping laws. Glover agreed that too many people who play the game do not know or understand the laws of the game. This is not to mention an ability to play on or perhaps just over the edge of the off-side law, nor putting in the odd illegal late tackle. The laws of supply and demand are as rigid as the offside law. Refs and many other officials are present to make sure all football is kept within the laws of the game. Regardless of whether or not is is true it does point to one of the unwritten laws of football: local derbies are a bit special. A strong figure is needed to administer the laws of the game for ninety minutes. The referee had made his mark on the match, it was now up to both sides to play the game within his interpretation of the laws. Every day it seems we hear about some kind of incident with an athlete that runs afoul of the law. Sport is a human activity and we have people, because of the laws of the game, who are able to adjudicate the game. Foul language is a problem for the law makers in every sport. The relaxation of the offside law, for example, means players having to cover more ground at a greater pace. At the other end of the scale we have the option of removing the offside law altogether. Synonyms rule, regulation, principle, convention, direction, instruction, guideline, practice 3A statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present. the second law of thermodynamics Example sentencesExamples It is governed by scientific laws, and is or can be an object of discovery. It's a law of thermodynamics, and no one has ever witnessed a sustained violation of it. These assumed action at a distance and deduced the mathematical laws for induction of electric currents. As always my Zeroth law is that the best policy is no policy. Electrons and atoms are not like tiny snooker balls bouncing around in accordance with Newton's laws. In physics, this is the law of thermodynamics: that heat will always flow from hot to cold. In 1893 Wien stated his displacement law of blackbody radiation spectra at different temperatures. Venus and Mars follow Newton's laws, but electrons are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Scientific laws were to be seen as agents in the implementation of this purpose in the cosmos in general and on earth in particular. The third law is included in most thermodynamics texts, but is not recognised by all as a law of thermodynamics. Neither has the second law of thermodynamics nor the universal law of gravitation. In it, Newton revealed his laws of motion, and the law of universal gravitation. The zeroth law of thermodynamics is commonly expressed as heat flowing from hot to cold objects. No, you are dealing with certain laws, scientific laws in relation to human tissues. It did not state the law of universal gravitation nor Newton's three laws of motion. Biologists do not claim that life is exempt from any of the laws of thermodynamics. Finally, the interrelations of event-chains is what scientific causal laws describe. What if you could distil your own sharpest observation into a scientific law that would bear your name? Entropy, because it is the measure of the second law, is always associated with energy. The barrier we are hitting is basically the barrier set by the laws of atomic physics. Synonyms fact, verity, certainty, certitude 3.1 A generalization based on a fact or event perceived to be recurrent. the first law of American corporate life is that dead wood floats Example sentencesExamples One of very few universally valid laws of history is the law of unintended consequences. The patterns I have been discussing in this section are of course generalizations, not iron laws. What football needs is simply sound management based on the basic laws of the market economy. The other day when I was writing about the fate of mobile applications, I mentioned one of the laws of technology strategy. Struggle is the law of existence and suffering is a condition for progress. Change is the law of life. 4mass noun The body of divine commandments as expressed in the Bible or other religious texts. Example sentencesExamples Are Christians to take all the Old Testament law as applying to them? The Old Testament is not just a book of history, law and prophecy. He distinguished between law and ethics in the Bible and highlighted the value of biblical law as a paradigm. In some Christian traditions, a very sharp distinction is made between law and gospel. It recognizes the Ten Commandments as eternal law and the Old Testament as Holy Writ. Traditionalists tend to be the vast majority of Muslims when it comes to the classical Islamic law. Muslim leaders in Kenya are threatening armed conflict if the new Kenyan constitution does not enshrine Islamic law. Even when danger is not imminent, religious law may be violated to prevent the risk of future danger. All our life we live knowing that God's justice demands satisfaction for our transgression of God's law. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi called for an eye for an eye long before the Israelite law did. Nowhere in Scripture is the Old Testament law divided into moral/civil and ceremonial. The Pharisees shared this commitment to the Law and saw law keeping as a primary religious duty. As a bishop, she is pledged to uphold church law and file charges against pastors who openly defy it. Yet it takes only one sin for us to stand condemned according to God's holy law. In morals Simon was probably Antinomian, an enemy of Old Testament law. They claim that I maximize the failings of states governed by strict Islamic law. The church itself often speaks too strongly out of reason and law and not enough out of spirituality. Synonyms principle, rule, precept, directive, direction, injunction, instruction, commandment, prescription, standard, criterion, belief, creed, credo, ethic, maxim, formula, tenet, doctrine, canon Judaism mitzvah 4.1 The Pentateuch as distinct from the other parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Prophets and the Writings). Example sentencesExamples The priest and the Levite who pass by unconcerned are the Old Testament law and prophets. We know that still this Law calls us to rest from work and to worship God. They would rather kill Jesus than violate the Law - a Law originally intended to help the people of Israel remain inside the covenant with God. The Torah, then, was not merely a Law written in a perishable book, or part of a covenant with the people of Israel. Moses commanded us a Law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. 4.2 The precepts of the Pentateuch. Example sentencesExamples Instead he follows Jewish law for the Jews to punish them in case of crimes like theft, murders and rape or adultery. During this visit, the believers from Jerusalem began to insist that the Gentile Christians in Antioch adopt all the prescriptions of the Law of Moses. Jewish law requires every Jew to give up his life rather than desecrate the Name of Hashem in public. While it is true I am not seeking to please God by obeying the precepts of the Law of Moses, I still am not living in sin. The day of worship was changed from the Sabbath under the Law of Moses in the time following Jesus' death and resurrection. In the Old Testament, the law of Moses was given to the people on tablets of stone. According to the Law of Moses, faithful Jews were expected to keep the Sabbath sacred as a day of rest. The Talmud and Jewish law describe the mutual obligations of husband and wife. For example, at one time the ceremonial Law of Moses required that the Jews not wear clothing of mixed threads. As it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The masses want an eye for an eye, the Law of Moses, implemented post-haste. Phrases at (or in) law According to or concerned with the laws of a country. an agreement enforceable at law a barrister-at-law Example sentencesExamples That is so and, indeed, somewhat the distinction might be rights at law and rights in equity because at law the widow always has the ability to enforce the contract. Therefore I do not accept that the Tribunal erred in law on this aspect of the case. A person solely entitled to the full beneficial ownership of money or property, both at law and in equity, does not enjoy an equitable interest in that property. The claimant has to show that the tribunal erred in law in refusing leave. They prompt the question whether improper conduct has occurred which may be actionable at law. This meant that the land would descend only to the lineal issue of the person specified and not to any other persons who would otherwise have been regarded as possible heirs at law. Such attacks normally took one of two forms, either that of prosecutions and fines at law for misfeasance, or the more drastic resort of attainder and forfeiture. That issue was whether those assumed and admitted facts were ‘sufficient, at law, to give rise to an independent tortious duty of care’. In sum, looking at the course of conduct, I find that there was a waiver at law of the landlord's right to forfeiture. Does the Defendant have any ground at law for preventing the Claimant from obtaining possession? be a law unto oneself Behave in a manner that is not conventional or predictable. she was a law unto herself and did what she wanted to do Example sentencesExamples She said: ‘They're a law unto themselves and they thought it was amusing I had to give in.’ It encourages others to become a law unto themselves, and it becomes a precedent for the government to do that again and again and again. They are all 17, their A-level exams this summer loom like a nasty, scholastic Matterhorn, but in this half-term break they are a law unto themselves. In the decades since World War II, as military leaders and monarchs smothered democratic life, the security agencies have become a law unto themselves. ‘But unless these kids are tightly controlled and organised, they will become a law unto themselves,’ said a media source who asked not to be named. It is the mentality of members of the current government to think they are a law unto themselves and that they have the right to, without redress, build this and take that! Our bus and autorickshaw drivers are a law unto themselves. How is it that such ‘brave’ people cannot handle the auto rickshaw drivers who have become a law unto themselves? Instances of suppression, third degree methods and atrocities committed against the innocent have left them with no other conclusion than that the police are a law unto themselves. Developers are a law unto themselves, above the normal laws of community, ruling not only local government, but state and federal governments - a very dangerous situation for us all. go to law Resort to legal action in order to settle a matter. the process of going to law is not as simple as one may imagine Example sentencesExamples It is clear pitches are being badly prepared, but the authorities are afraid to impose the swingeing penalty of a 25-point ban since they know the penalised county would go to law. If there is a dispute when a cohabitation contract is terminated then both parties have to go to law - just as when a married couple are divorced. He went to law whenever he believed he was being cheated. But however serious those four examples are, it is better impossible to resolve it than to go to law; you would agree? Scrapping no-win no-fee deals where solicitors take up cases which previously would have been settled without going to law. And it is even more disconcerting if two officers of the council, having gone to law and losing, now pass on the bill for this affair to the rate-payers. Her decision not to go to law at the time is understandable, given how rape trials can be for the victim a prolonged continuation of the original trauma. And if you feel you've been denied that quality of life by reason of the state's shortcomings, you go to law. Neighbours go to law, and even shoot each other, over the most trivial boundary disputes. I asked the insurance company not to pay it, but they did because it was cheaper to settle it that way rather than going to law. law and order A situation characterized by respect for and obedience to the rules of a society. his forces were preparing to withdraw from the province after restoring law and order Example sentencesExamples He said that if he decides to stand he will campaign on ‘a return to law and order and decency’. The estate is patrolled by ex-soldiers who are helping to restore law and order. There was no law and order, even when the soldiers came and made a barricade with barbed wire outside the station. To restore and preserve law and order, there will be 10,000 extra police on the streets. He intends to campaign on issues such as law and order and the number of economic migrants trying to get into Britain. It would have to give people security, humanitarian aid, peace, and some form of law and order. For those with no respect or regard for law and order, such rules and laws are irrelevant. One of the first precepts of any civilised society is respect for law and order. The state has assigned the task of maintenance of proper law and order in the country to the police. One wouldn't want to allow something as frightful as ordinary people having a say in law and order, would one? Synonyms law and order, lawfulness, order, peacefulness, peaceableness, harmony, harmoniousness, accord, concord, amity, amicableness, goodwill, friendship, cordiality, non-aggression, non-violence lay down the law Issue instructions to other people in an authoritative or dogmatic way. I am not attempting to lay down the law, but simply wish to voice my opinion Example sentencesExamples If even the greatest writers are not bound by the rules and we have no academy to lay down the law, who is to decide what is acceptable and what is not? Democrats should see regulating the labor market to keep the big fish from eating the little fish as a modern parallel to laying down the law on Wall Street after 1929. In the wake of the elections, media owners have wasted no time in laying down the law to the incoming government, demanding lower business costs and taxes. She'll lay down the law on headline issues and take your calls. Tonight, TV's No.1 judge lays down the law on family squabbles. Whether or not the Minister and the Government has the right to lay down the law for a sporting body like this is another question and very much open to debate. He said: ‘It made us realise that listening to each other and negotiation is better than confrontation and laying down the law.’ He has gone for ground rules rather than laying down the law. Whatever difficulties or problems arise in terms of schooling in the future are best dealt with not by people laying down the law but by people listening to each other's needs. While the details of the proceedings were not made public, there is no doubt that Bolton attempted to lay down the law. Synonyms order someone about, order someone around, tell someone what to do, boss someone about, boss someone around, ride roughshod over someone, be dogmatic, be domineering take the law into one's own hands Punish someone for an offence according to one's own ideas of justice, especially in an illegal or violent way. people have been urged to keep calm and not take the law into their own hands Example sentencesExamples It seems that as part of this intifada, people on both sides are taking the law into their own hands and committing acts of violence against the other community. There have been numerous cases of abuse and illegal detentions; people are not supposed to be taking the law into their own hands. A motorist plagued by yobs interfering with his parked car took the law into his own hands - with a broom handle. If anyone, it was they who could have persuaded the justice-seekers to remain calm and not to take the law into their own hands. They urged police to crack down on racist yobs before youths took the law into their own hands. Otherwise, people will take the law into their own hands to fight for justice. It would sanction excessive conduct which allowed headstrong, violent people to take the law into their own hands in a way which no civilized society could permit. Far better if they fear that they will themselves be punished for their trouble, and instead take the law into their own hands. Instead he was let down by the State and he did the one thing that was left for him to do - he took the law into his own hands. It is not up to the common person to take the law into their own hands and dish out what they deem to be justice. take someone to law Initiate legal proceedings against someone. he's got to pay for it, or I'll take him to law Example sentencesExamples In 1796 Thackeray, together with several other patent ‘pirates'’ were taken to law by Boulton and Watt and, for a while, this engine was stopped. We'd be thrown out of any court in the land if we took them to law. That and the written terms may be their defence if you take them to law over it. The Board took them to law and won the first round in the English courts, but the owner challenged that finding in the European Court of Justice. Synonyms litigation, legal action, legal proceedings, lawsuit, justice there's no law against it informal Said to assert that one is doing nothing wrong, especially in response to an actual or implied criticism. I can laugh, can't I? There's no law against it Example sentencesExamples Calling electors - of course, there's no law against it. We can still be friends Andi, there's no law against it. I can't say it's criminal, because there's no law against it, but it's certainly immoral. I mean, it's perfectly legal, there's no law against it. Even though there's no law against it, you may be interrogated the next time you snap a picture of the Empire State Building. Origin Old English lagu, from Old Norse lag 'something laid down or fixed', of Germanic origin and related to lay¹. The words legacy (Late Middle English), legal (Late Middle English), legitimate (Late Middle English), and loyal (early 16th century) all descend from Latin lex ‘law’, the source also of law. The phrase law and order is found from the late 16th century. It was Charles Dickens who first said the law is an ass, or rather his character Mr Bumble did in Oliver Twist: ‘“If the law supposes that,” said Mr Bumble…“the law is a ass…a idiot.”’ See also jungle Rhymes abhor, adore, afore, anymore, ashore, awe, bandore, Bangalore, before, boar, Boer, bore, caw, chore, claw, cocksure, comprador, cor, core, corps, craw, Delors, deplore, door, draw, drawer, evermore, explore, flaw, floor, for, forbore, fore, foresaw, forevermore, forswore, four, fourscore, furthermore, Gábor, galore, gnaw, gore, grantor, guarantor, guffaw, hard-core, Haugh, haw, hoar, ignore, implore, Indore, interwar, jaw, Johor, Lahore, lessor, lor, lore, macaw, man-o'-war, maw, mirador, mor, more, mortgagor, Mysore, nevermore, nor, oar, obligor, offshore, onshore, open-jaw, or, ore, outdoor, outwore, paw, poor, pore, pour, rapport, raw, roar, saw, scaur, score, senhor, señor, shaw, ship-to-shore, shop-floor, shore, signor, Singapore, snore, soar, softcore, sore, spore, store, straw, swore, Tagore, tau, taw, thaw, Thor, threescore, tor, tore, torr, trapdoor, tug-of-war, two-by-four, underfloor, underscore, war, warrantor, Waugh, whore, withdraw, wore, yaw, yore, your noun.1 phr. Definition of law in US English: law nounlɔlô 1often the lawThe system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties. they were taken to court for breaking the law as modifier law enforcement a license is required by law Example sentencesExamples In countries where military service is compulsory, failure to perform this duty is frequently punishable by law. English domestic law imposes a constraint upon the applicability of the doctrine of legitimate expectation. City councilors decided that those breaking the law will incur heavy penalties. Constitutional law requires that jury pools must be a fair cross-section of the community and not systematically racially biased. Adequate fencing of pools will be achieved only if fencing is both required by law and regulations are enforced. The police are law enforcers, they abide by the laws they must enforce. Each of the offices is empowered within the limits set out by law. Legally, the women on the Plantation were bound by English common law. This may be enforced by law, with a clause in the legislation to set up regulation of care providers. Well if some communities are breaking the law, then throw the book at them. Some people can get away with breaking the law and others face penalties. Indeed it is in a sense not one which is laid down by law at all. We will make a change to see that justice is served and no more lives will be stolen by law enforcement. Employers or scheme operators who do not execute this duty immediately for their members are breaking the law. I mean after all, the argument could be put that children are required by law to attend school. And another ballot was found to have violated state law requiring that candidates for nonpartisan office be listed alphabetically. The council is required by law to review conservation areas in their jurisdiction on a periodical basis. Such litigation brings the law and our legal system into disrepute; and to my mind correctly so. Nevertheless, enforcing contempt orders against stubborn journalists has been self-defeating for law enforcers. But those horrible laws are still the law of the land because there is absolutely no leadership on the issue. You must also by law declare certain pecuniary interests in the statutory register kept for this purpose. On that basis, they appear to be in violation of the law and subject to legal consequences. Synonyms rules and regulations, system of laws, body of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, charter 1.1 An individual rule as part of a system of law. an initiative to tighten up the laws on pornography Example sentencesExamples The law that had to be applied is the law of negligence, in essence, perhaps the laws of evidence. It is natural that these concepts should underpin the codified laws on equality before the law and fair trials. At the same time, however, we need to oppose the divisive asylum system and the immigration laws that underpin it. The Commonwealth, admittedly, passed laws to repeal it, so that was the end of that. He codified the law on public health and passed laws to prevent labour exploitation and recognise trades unions. Is it time to review the laws on ownership of intellectual property and copyright? Are defamation laws used to gag the discussion of matters of public interest? An initiative drive has begun to make authorities enforce our existing immigration laws. Although English copyright law applied to Scotland, it was not enforceable in Ireland until after the Union of 1800. He was above the law and could not be constrained either by the courts or by laws passed by Congress. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, a dozen states passed draconian anti-terrorism laws. But sharing test information is illegal - it violates federal copyright laws. Jurisdiction to enforce laws relating to dumping follows the same pattern. Many people have argued that criminal libel laws are unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court has never so held. We hear the Greens urging everyone to pass all these laws, knowing that the law is unlikely to be enforced. It is entirely independent of the copyright laws, and their extension into the domain of art. The rules have been around since the mediaeval laws about champerty and barratry. Almost all are familiar with this country's laws against discrimination in the workplace. The fourth principle is respect for confidentiality and the data protection laws. If we want the government to pass a particular law, we can urge the elected branches to vote for it. Synonyms regulation, statute, enactment, act, bill, decree, edict, rule, ruling, resolution, promulgation, measure, motion, dictum, command, order, stipulation, commandment, directive, pronouncement, ratification, proclamation, dictate, diktat, fiat, covenant, demand, by-law 1.2 Systems of law as a subject of study or as the basis of the legal profession. he was still practicing law Compare with jurisprudence as modifier a law firm Example sentencesExamples What should be mandatory reading for any lawyer or law firm considering starting a blog? They are not criminologists or law professors who are studying theoretical issues. I note that the retained law firm does not take legal aid certificates. They had two Washington law firms write legal letters demanding that the ads not be run. He graduated from law school in 1985 and articled at the defendant law firm. In the duration of the course law students read many subjects and cover volumes of materials. If the law firm fails to ensure clarity, the law firm pays the price. In other words, EC law itself provides the basis for a legal action in the courts of each Member State. In fact, it was his father who advised him to study law and take up the legal profession. There are a variety of legal databases available for law firms and universities to subscribe to. The ultimate goal would be to place the student with the law firm they intern with. Next month she will head for Cardiff to study law and criminology. He practices commercial and securities litigation at a large downtown law firm in Toronto. Criminal law is a subject of great complexity which students find both fascinating and frustrating. The disciplined practise or study of law does require you state concrete propositions with precision. He resigned after four years to study law; he practised as a barrister for several years, without success. Fourth, most Korean law school professors are not lawyers themselves. I would rather be a law professor than anything else, including a judge. It is important for students of law to situate the legal doctrine of the EU in its historical and political context. However, this was delayed as he had enrolled at Thamassat University to study law on a part-time basis. Synonyms the legal profession, the bar, barristers and solicitors collectively 1.3 Statutory law and the common law. Compare with equity Example sentencesExamples Common law lawyers tend to talk about things assuming everyone knows what they mean. I know of another example of non-enforced statutes of law that always shock people when I tell them about it. This simply translated into statutory form the law as it was previously understood to be. Common law and statutory rights continue to exist alongside the Convention. The Texas statute is sumptuary law that has no value in jurisprudence or society. Fortescue next explains that a bastard cannot inherit because, under Common law, a bastard child has no father and is nameless. As long you do not get too far away from the statute which is the law that you have to apply. Common law provides a way for property rights to evolve from the bottom up. Common law works by precedent; where there is no specific precedent, it works by analogy. You then need to look to State statute or common law for the content of the law and for the remedy. One cannot seriously suggest, we would submit, that the common law is the area of law for the entire high seas. The legislature has picked up these words and turned them into statutory law. Yet often what trial courts apply is common law - law that was made by other judges. A very small part of the Common or Statute Law of England is law there by this maxim. Synonyms rules and regulations, system of laws, body of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, charter 1.4 A thing regarded as having the binding force or effect of a formal system of rules. what he said was law Example sentencesExamples So yes, it's your story, and your word is law when it comes to deciding if your vote or the readers votes are the deciding ones I guess anything and everything he says is law around here… When I was a kid, what my parents told me was law. 1.5the lawinformal The police. he'd never been in trouble with the law in his life Example sentencesExamples It doesn't take long before he's in trouble with the law but the police are prepared to do a deal with him. In a previous run-in with the law, police had gunned down Edward several years ago. Synonyms the police, the officers of the law, the forces of law and order, law-enforcement officers, police officers, policemen, policewomen, the police force, the constabulary 2A rule defining correct procedure or behavior in a sport. the laws of the game Example sentencesExamples A strong figure is needed to administer the laws of the game for ninety minutes. Foul language is a problem for the law makers in every sport. Before long the sports law will be amended to bring about fair play and equality in the voting system. It was up to the referee to judge whether they stayed within the laws of the game and punish them if they didn't. This is not to mention an ability to play on or perhaps just over the edge of the off-side law, nor putting in the odd illegal late tackle. Refs and many other officials are present to make sure all football is kept within the laws of the game. The relaxation of the offside law, for example, means players having to cover more ground at a greater pace. The referee had made his mark on the match, it was now up to both sides to play the game within his interpretation of the laws. At the other end of the scale we have the option of removing the offside law altogether. The laws of the game should be simple to understand, a test this latest incarnation sadly fails. Glover agreed that too many people who play the game do not know or understand the laws of the game. Sport is a human activity and we have people, because of the laws of the game, who are able to adjudicate the game. Players should be obliged to be fully conversant with the laws of the game. Every day it seems we hear about some kind of incident with an athlete that runs afoul of the law. His walk-off was totally without warning and against both the spirit and the laws of the game. Regardless of whether or not is is true it does point to one of the unwritten laws of football: local derbies are a bit special. Now out of form strikers and captains who cynically exploit the laws of the game are immune from being dropped. He helped athletes to cheat, using drugs that broke sport's doping laws. The laws of supply and demand are as rigid as the offside law. The law states that a handball is awarded only when a player ‘deliberately’ handles the ball when it is in play. Synonyms rule, regulation, principle, convention, direction, instruction, guideline, practice 3A statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present. the second law of thermodynamics Example sentencesExamples What if you could distil your own sharpest observation into a scientific law that would bear your name? The third law is included in most thermodynamics texts, but is not recognised by all as a law of thermodynamics. It's a law of thermodynamics, and no one has ever witnessed a sustained violation of it. Finally, the interrelations of event-chains is what scientific causal laws describe. Electrons and atoms are not like tiny snooker balls bouncing around in accordance with Newton's laws. It did not state the law of universal gravitation nor Newton's three laws of motion. As always my Zeroth law is that the best policy is no policy. No, you are dealing with certain laws, scientific laws in relation to human tissues. In it, Newton revealed his laws of motion, and the law of universal gravitation. Entropy, because it is the measure of the second law, is always associated with energy. It is governed by scientific laws, and is or can be an object of discovery. Biologists do not claim that life is exempt from any of the laws of thermodynamics. The barrier we are hitting is basically the barrier set by the laws of atomic physics. Scientific laws were to be seen as agents in the implementation of this purpose in the cosmos in general and on earth in particular. The zeroth law of thermodynamics is commonly expressed as heat flowing from hot to cold objects. Neither has the second law of thermodynamics nor the universal law of gravitation. In 1893 Wien stated his displacement law of blackbody radiation spectra at different temperatures. Venus and Mars follow Newton's laws, but electrons are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. These assumed action at a distance and deduced the mathematical laws for induction of electric currents. In physics, this is the law of thermodynamics: that heat will always flow from hot to cold. Synonyms fact, verity, certainty, certitude 3.1 A generalization based on a fact or event perceived to be recurrent. the first law of American corporate life is that dead wood floats Example sentencesExamples The patterns I have been discussing in this section are of course generalizations, not iron laws. What football needs is simply sound management based on the basic laws of the market economy. Change is the law of life. Struggle is the law of existence and suffering is a condition for progress. One of very few universally valid laws of history is the law of unintended consequences. The other day when I was writing about the fate of mobile applications, I mentioned one of the laws of technology strategy. 4The body of divine commandments as expressed in the Bible or other religious texts. Example sentencesExamples He distinguished between law and ethics in the Bible and highlighted the value of biblical law as a paradigm. Traditionalists tend to be the vast majority of Muslims when it comes to the classical Islamic law. They claim that I maximize the failings of states governed by strict Islamic law. Yet it takes only one sin for us to stand condemned according to God's holy law. All our life we live knowing that God's justice demands satisfaction for our transgression of God's law. Muslim leaders in Kenya are threatening armed conflict if the new Kenyan constitution does not enshrine Islamic law. As a bishop, she is pledged to uphold church law and file charges against pastors who openly defy it. Even when danger is not imminent, religious law may be violated to prevent the risk of future danger. In morals Simon was probably Antinomian, an enemy of Old Testament law. In some Christian traditions, a very sharp distinction is made between law and gospel. Nowhere in Scripture is the Old Testament law divided into moral/civil and ceremonial. It recognizes the Ten Commandments as eternal law and the Old Testament as Holy Writ. The church itself often speaks too strongly out of reason and law and not enough out of spirituality. The Old Testament is not just a book of history, law and prophecy. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi called for an eye for an eye long before the Israelite law did. The Pharisees shared this commitment to the Law and saw law keeping as a primary religious duty. Are Christians to take all the Old Testament law as applying to them? Synonyms principle, rule, precept, directive, direction, injunction, instruction, commandment, prescription, standard, criterion, belief, creed, credo, ethic, maxim, formula, tenet, doctrine, canon 4.1the Law The Pentateuch as distinct from the other parts of the Hebrew Bible (the Prophets and the Writings). Example sentencesExamples The priest and the Levite who pass by unconcerned are the Old Testament law and prophets. The Torah, then, was not merely a Law written in a perishable book, or part of a covenant with the people of Israel. We know that still this Law calls us to rest from work and to worship God. Moses commanded us a Law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. They would rather kill Jesus than violate the Law - a Law originally intended to help the people of Israel remain inside the covenant with God. 4.2 The precepts of the Pentateuch. Compare with Torah Example sentencesExamples For example, at one time the ceremonial Law of Moses required that the Jews not wear clothing of mixed threads. Instead he follows Jewish law for the Jews to punish them in case of crimes like theft, murders and rape or adultery. The masses want an eye for an eye, the Law of Moses, implemented post-haste. Jewish law requires every Jew to give up his life rather than desecrate the Name of Hashem in public. While it is true I am not seeking to please God by obeying the precepts of the Law of Moses, I still am not living in sin. As it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. In the Old Testament, the law of Moses was given to the people on tablets of stone. The day of worship was changed from the Sabbath under the Law of Moses in the time following Jesus' death and resurrection. According to the Law of Moses, faithful Jews were expected to keep the Sabbath sacred as a day of rest. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The Talmud and Jewish law describe the mutual obligations of husband and wife. During this visit, the believers from Jerusalem began to insist that the Gentile Christians in Antioch adopt all the prescriptions of the Law of Moses. Phrases at (or in) law According to or concerned with the laws of a country. an agreement enforceable at law an attorney-at-law Example sentencesExamples In sum, looking at the course of conduct, I find that there was a waiver at law of the landlord's right to forfeiture. Does the Defendant have any ground at law for preventing the Claimant from obtaining possession? The claimant has to show that the tribunal erred in law in refusing leave. That is so and, indeed, somewhat the distinction might be rights at law and rights in equity because at law the widow always has the ability to enforce the contract. They prompt the question whether improper conduct has occurred which may be actionable at law. A person solely entitled to the full beneficial ownership of money or property, both at law and in equity, does not enjoy an equitable interest in that property. That issue was whether those assumed and admitted facts were ‘sufficient, at law, to give rise to an independent tortious duty of care’. Such attacks normally took one of two forms, either that of prosecutions and fines at law for misfeasance, or the more drastic resort of attainder and forfeiture. Therefore I do not accept that the Tribunal erred in law on this aspect of the case. This meant that the land would descend only to the lineal issue of the person specified and not to any other persons who would otherwise have been regarded as possible heirs at law. be a law unto oneself Behave in a manner that is not conventional or predictable. Example sentencesExamples It is the mentality of members of the current government to think they are a law unto themselves and that they have the right to, without redress, build this and take that! It encourages others to become a law unto themselves, and it becomes a precedent for the government to do that again and again and again. ‘But unless these kids are tightly controlled and organised, they will become a law unto themselves,’ said a media source who asked not to be named. She said: ‘They're a law unto themselves and they thought it was amusing I had to give in.’ Our bus and autorickshaw drivers are a law unto themselves. How is it that such ‘brave’ people cannot handle the auto rickshaw drivers who have become a law unto themselves? In the decades since World War II, as military leaders and monarchs smothered democratic life, the security agencies have become a law unto themselves. Developers are a law unto themselves, above the normal laws of community, ruling not only local government, but state and federal governments - a very dangerous situation for us all. They are all 17, their A-level exams this summer loom like a nasty, scholastic Matterhorn, but in this half-term break they are a law unto themselves. Instances of suppression, third degree methods and atrocities committed against the innocent have left them with no other conclusion than that the police are a law unto themselves. go to law Resort to legal action in order to settle a matter. Example sentencesExamples It is clear pitches are being badly prepared, but the authorities are afraid to impose the swingeing penalty of a 25-point ban since they know the penalised county would go to law. But however serious those four examples are, it is better impossible to resolve it than to go to law; you would agree? And if you feel you've been denied that quality of life by reason of the state's shortcomings, you go to law. I asked the insurance company not to pay it, but they did because it was cheaper to settle it that way rather than going to law. Neighbours go to law, and even shoot each other, over the most trivial boundary disputes. And it is even more disconcerting if two officers of the council, having gone to law and losing, now pass on the bill for this affair to the rate-payers. Scrapping no-win no-fee deals where solicitors take up cases which previously would have been settled without going to law. He went to law whenever he believed he was being cheated. Her decision not to go to law at the time is understandable, given how rape trials can be for the victim a prolonged continuation of the original trauma. If there is a dispute when a cohabitation contract is terminated then both parties have to go to law - just as when a married couple are divorced. law and order A situation characterized by respect for and obedience to the rules of a society. Example sentencesExamples He said that if he decides to stand he will campaign on ‘a return to law and order and decency’. One of the first precepts of any civilised society is respect for law and order. He intends to campaign on issues such as law and order and the number of economic migrants trying to get into Britain. The state has assigned the task of maintenance of proper law and order in the country to the police. For those with no respect or regard for law and order, such rules and laws are irrelevant. The estate is patrolled by ex-soldiers who are helping to restore law and order. One wouldn't want to allow something as frightful as ordinary people having a say in law and order, would one? There was no law and order, even when the soldiers came and made a barricade with barbed wire outside the station. It would have to give people security, humanitarian aid, peace, and some form of law and order. To restore and preserve law and order, there will be 10,000 extra police on the streets. Synonyms law and order, lawfulness, order, peacefulness, peaceableness, harmony, harmoniousness, accord, concord, amity, amicableness, goodwill, friendship, cordiality, non-aggression, non-violence lay down the law Issue instructions to other people in an authoritative or dogmatic way. Example sentencesExamples In the wake of the elections, media owners have wasted no time in laying down the law to the incoming government, demanding lower business costs and taxes. Whatever difficulties or problems arise in terms of schooling in the future are best dealt with not by people laying down the law but by people listening to each other's needs. She'll lay down the law on headline issues and take your calls. Tonight, TV's No.1 judge lays down the law on family squabbles. He has gone for ground rules rather than laying down the law. If even the greatest writers are not bound by the rules and we have no academy to lay down the law, who is to decide what is acceptable and what is not? Democrats should see regulating the labor market to keep the big fish from eating the little fish as a modern parallel to laying down the law on Wall Street after 1929. Whether or not the Minister and the Government has the right to lay down the law for a sporting body like this is another question and very much open to debate. He said: ‘It made us realise that listening to each other and negotiation is better than confrontation and laying down the law.’ While the details of the proceedings were not made public, there is no doubt that Bolton attempted to lay down the law. Synonyms order someone about, order someone around, tell someone what to do, boss someone about, boss someone around, ride roughshod over someone, be dogmatic, be domineering take the law into one's own hands Punish someone for an offense according to one's own ideas of justice, especially in an illegal or violent way. Example sentencesExamples There have been numerous cases of abuse and illegal detentions; people are not supposed to be taking the law into their own hands. Instead he was let down by the State and he did the one thing that was left for him to do - he took the law into his own hands. Otherwise, people will take the law into their own hands to fight for justice. Far better if they fear that they will themselves be punished for their trouble, and instead take the law into their own hands. They urged police to crack down on racist yobs before youths took the law into their own hands. If anyone, it was they who could have persuaded the justice-seekers to remain calm and not to take the law into their own hands. It is not up to the common person to take the law into their own hands and dish out what they deem to be justice. A motorist plagued by yobs interfering with his parked car took the law into his own hands - with a broom handle. It would sanction excessive conduct which allowed headstrong, violent people to take the law into their own hands in a way which no civilized society could permit. It seems that as part of this intifada, people on both sides are taking the law into their own hands and committing acts of violence against the other community. take someone to law Initiate legal proceedings against someone. Example sentencesExamples The Board took them to law and won the first round in the English courts, but the owner challenged that finding in the European Court of Justice. That and the written terms may be their defence if you take them to law over it. In 1796 Thackeray, together with several other patent ‘pirates'’ were taken to law by Boulton and Watt and, for a while, this engine was stopped. We'd be thrown out of any court in the land if we took them to law. Synonyms litigation, legal action, legal proceedings, lawsuit, justice there's no law against it informal Used in spoken English to assert that one is doing nothing wrong, especially in response to an actual or implied criticism. I can laugh, can't I? There's no law against it Example sentencesExamples I can't say it's criminal, because there's no law against it, but it's certainly immoral. Even though there's no law against it, you may be interrogated the next time you snap a picture of the Empire State Building. We can still be friends Andi, there's no law against it. Calling electors - of course, there's no law against it. I mean, it's perfectly legal, there's no law against it. Origin Old English lagu, from Old Norse lag ‘something laid down or fixed’, of Germanic origin and related to lay. noun.1 phr.
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