Law Definition
law
See also Appendix:ISO 639-3 language codes
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English
Wikipedia has an article on: LawPronunciation
- (UK) enPR: lô, IPA: /lɔː/, SAMPA: /lO:/
- (US) enPR: lô, IPA: /lɔ/, SAMPA: /lO/
- (cot–caught merger) enPR: lä, IPA: /lɑ/, SAMPA: /lA/
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Audio (US) (file)
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- Homophone: lore (in some non-rhotic accents)
Etymology 1
From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu (“law”), from Old Norse *lagu, an early plural form of lag, lǫg (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke, law”, literally “something laid down or fixed”), from Proto-Germanic *lagan (“that which is laid down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legh- (“to lie”). Cognate with Icelandic lög (“things laid down, law”), Swedish lag (“law”), Danish lov (“law”). Replaced Old English ǣ and gesetnes. More at lay.
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Noun
law (countable and uncountable; plural laws)
- (uncountable) The body of rules and standards issued by a government, or to be applied by courts and similar authorities.
- By law, one is not allowed to own a wallaby in New York City.
- A particular such rule.
- A new law forbids driving on that road.
- (more generally) A written or understood rule that concerns behaviours and the appropriate consequences thereof. Laws are usually associated with mores.
- "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow.
- (sciences, strictly) A well-established, observed physical characteristic or behavior of nature. The word is used to simply identify "what happens," without implying any explanatory mechanism or causation. Compare to theory.
- Newton's third law of motion states that to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. This is one of several laws derived from his general theory expounded in the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
- (mathematics) A statement that is true under specified conditions.
- A category of English "common law" petitions that request monetary relief, as opposed to relief in forms other than a monetary judgment; compare to "equity".
- (cricket) One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the MCC.
- (slang, uncountable) The police.
- Here comes the law — run!
- (fantasy) One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to chaos.
Derived terms
Derived terms
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Translations
written or understood rule
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
See also
Etymology 2
From Old English hláw "burial mound". Also spelled low.
Noun
law (plural laws)
- (obsolete) a tumulus of stones
- (Scottish and northern dialectal, archaic) a hill
- You might climb the Law [...] and behold the face of many counties. (Robert Louis Stevenson Across the Plains, 1892)
References
Etymology in ODS
Statistics
Anagrams
Lower Sorbian
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *lьvъ, from Proto-Indo-European *lewo-.
Noun
law m.
Scots
Noun
law (plural laws)
Sranan Tongo
Verb
law
- To be crazy
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Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets. Property law defines rights and obligations related to the transfer and title of personal and real property. Trust law applies to assets held for investment and financial security, while tort law allows claims for compensation if a person's rights or property are harmed. If the harm is criminalised in legislation, criminal law offers means by which the state can prosecute the perpetrator. Constitutional law provides a framework for the creation of law, the protection of human rights and the election of political representatives. Administrative law is used to review the decisions of government agencies, while international law governs affairs between sovereign states in activities ranging from trade to environmental regulation or military action.
Law is a term referring to sociological or scientific norms, or systems and expressions based upon them. In social or political terms, the rule of law refers to a system of rules or guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern the actions and behavior of individuals and groups of people within societies and between them, shaping politics, economics and general circumstances in numerous ways and providing further means of social mediation. The expressed civil laws of human societies often arise as postulates or proposals patterned upon or related to what are regarded as manifest laws of nature or divinity, and often make appeal to various notions of the proper social roles of justice, unity and liberty.
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