law
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The whole body of rules of conduct applied and enforced under the authority of established government in determining that which is proper and should be permitted and that which should be denied, or even penalized, in respect of the relation between a person and the state, between him and society, or between him and another individual, including a provision of a constitution, a legislative enactment or statute, a municipal ordinance, a principle declared in an authoritative decision of a court, a rule of practice prescribed by a legislature or promulgated by a court acting with authority, even, to some extent, a usage or custom. Strother v Lucas (US) 12 Pet 410, 9 L Ed 1137.
There is no word in the language which, in its popular and technical application, takes a wider or more diversified signification. In its popular sense, and in common acceptation, by those for whom laws are made, the word includes the whole body or system of rules of conduct, but it does not include that refined, technical and astute idea which recognizes nothing within the meaning of the term which is not constitutionally and technically perfect. Miller v Dunn, 72 Cal 462, 14 P 27. See also 1 Bl Comm 44.
The constitution of the state is "a law of the state" within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting states from passing laws impairing the obligation of contract. Bier v McGehee, 148 US 137, 37 L Ed 397, 13 S Ct 580.
Ballentine's law dictionary.
Anderson, W.S..
1998.
:
Look at other dictionaries:
law — / lȯ/ n [Old English lagu, of Scandinavian origin] 1: a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority: as a: a command or provision enacted by a legislature see also statute 1 b:… … Law dictionary
law, at — adj. Pertaining to law; related to the law or the legal profession. The Essential Law Dictionary. Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008 … Law dictionary
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law of the land — 1: the established law of a nation or region 2: due process Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 … Law dictionary
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