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English Dictionary: law' by the DICT Development Group
6 results for law'
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Law \Law\ (l[add]), n. [OE. lawe, laghe, AS. lagu, from the root
      of E. lie: akin to OS. lag, Icel. l[94]g, Sw. lag, Dan. lov;
      cf. L. lex, E. legal. A law is that which is laid, set, or
      fixed; like statute, fr. L. statuere to make to stand. See
      {Lie} to be prostrate.]
      1. In general, a rule of being or of conduct, established by
            an authority able to enforce its will; a controlling
            regulation; the mode or order according to which an agent
            or a power acts.
  
      Note: A law may be universal or particular, written or
               unwritten, published or secret. From the nature of the
               highest laws a degree of permanency or stability is
               always implied; but the power which makes a law, or a
               superior power, may annul or change it.
  
                        These are the statutes and judgments and law,
                        which the Lord made.                     --Lev. xxvi.
                                                                              46.
  
                        The law of thy God, and the law of the King.
                                                                              --Ezra vii.
                                                                              26.
  
                        As if they would confine the Interminable . . .
                        Who made our laws to bind us, not himself.
                                                                              --Milton.
  
                        His mind his kingdom, and his will his law.
                                                                              --Cowper.
  
      2. In morals: The will of God as the rule for the disposition
            and conduct of all responsible beings toward him and
            toward each other; a rule of living, conformable to
            righteousness; the rule of action as obligatory on the
            conscience or moral nature.
  
      3. The Jewish or Mosaic code, and that part of Scripture
            where it is written, in distinction from the gospel;
            hence, also, the Old Testament.
  
                     What things soever the law saith, it saith to them
                     who are under the law . . . But now the
                     righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
                     being witnessed by the law and the prophets. --Rom.
                                                                              iii. 19, 21.
  
      4. In human government:
            (a) An organic rule, as a constitution or charter,
                  establishing and defining the conditions of the
                  existence of a state or other organized community.
            (b) Any edict, decree, order, ordinance, statute,
                  resolution, judicial, decision, usage, etc., or
                  recognized, and enforced, by the controlling
                  authority.
  
      5. In philosophy and physics: A rule of being, operation, or
            change, so certain and constant that it is conceived of as
            imposed by the will of God or by some controlling
            authority; as, the law of gravitation; the laws of motion;
            the law heredity; the laws of thought; the laws of cause
            and effect; law of self-preservation.
  
      6. In matematics: The rule according to which anything, as
            the change of value of a variable, or the value of the
            terms of a series, proceeds; mode or order of sequence.
  
      7. In arts, works, games, etc.: The rules of construction, or
            of procedure, conforming to the conditions of success; a
            principle, maxim; or usage; as, the laws of poetry, of
            architecture, of courtesy, or of whist.
  
      8. Collectively, the whole body of rules relating to one
            subject, or emanating from one source; -- including
            usually the writings pertaining to them, and judicial
            proceedings under them; as, divine law; English law; Roman
            law; the law of real property; insurance law.
  
      9. Legal science; jurisprudence; the principles of equity;
            applied justice.
  
                     Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law
                     itself is nothing else but reason.      --Coke.
  
                     Law is beneficence acting by rule.      --Burke.
  
                     And sovereign Law, that state's collected will O'er
                     thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning
                     good, repressing ill.                        --Sir W.
                                                                              Jones.
  
      10. Trial by the laws of the land; judicial remedy;
            litigation; as, to go law.
  
                     When every case in law is right.      --Shak.
  
                     He found law dear and left it cheap. --Brougham.
  
      11. An oath, as in the presence of a court. [Obs.] See {Wager
            of law}, under {Wager}.
  
      {Avogadro's law} (Chem.), a fundamental conception, according
            to which, under similar conditions of temperature and
            pressure, all gases and vapors contain in the same volume
            the same number of ultimate molecules; -- so named after
            Avogadro, an Italian scientist. Sometimes called
            {Amp[8a]re's law}.
  
      {Bode's law} (Astron.), an approximative empirical expression
            of the distances of the planets from the sun, as follows:
            -- Mer. Ven. Earth. Mars. Aste. Jup. Sat. Uran. Nep. 4 4 4
            4 4 4 4 4 4 0 3 6 12 24 48 96 192 384 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
            --- --- 4 7 10 16 28 52 100 196 388 5.9 7.3 10 15.2 27.4
            52 95.4 192 300 where each distance (line third) is the
            sum of 4 and a multiple of 3 by the series 0, 1, 2, 4, 8,
            etc., the true distances being given in the lower line.
  
      {Boyle's law} (Physics), an expression of the fact, that when
            an elastic fluid is subjected to compression, and kept at
            a constant temperature, the product of the pressure and
            volume is a constant quantity, i. e., the volume is
            inversely proportioned to the pressure; -- known also as
            {Mariotte's law}, and the {law of Boyle and Mariotte}.
  
      {Brehon laws}. See under {Brehon}.
  
      {Canon law}, the body of ecclesiastical law adopted in the
            Christian Church, certain portions of which (for example,
            the law of marriage as existing before the Council of
            Tent) were brought to America by the English colonists as
            part of the common law of the land. --Wharton.
  
      {Civil law}, a term used by writers to designate Roman law,
            with modifications thereof which have been made in the
            different countries into which that law has been
            introduced. The civil law, instead of the common law,
            prevails in the State of Louisiana. --Wharton.
  
      {Commercial law}. See {Law merchant} (below).
  
      {Common law}. See under {Common}.
  
      {Criminal law}, that branch of jurisprudence which relates to
            crimes.
  
      {Ecclesiastical law}. See under {Ecclesiastical}.
  
      {Grimm's law} (Philol.), a statement (propounded by the
            German philologist Jacob Grimm) of certain regular changes
            which the primitive Indo-European mute consonants,
            so-called (most plainly seen in Sanskrit and, with some
            changes, in Greek and Latin), have undergone in the
            Teutonic languages. Examples: Skr. bh[be]tr, L. frater, E.
            brother, G. bruder; L. tres, E. three, G. drei, Skr. go,
            E. cow, G. kuh; Skr. dh[be] to put, Gr. ti-qe`-nai, E. do,
            OHG, tuon, G. thun.
  
      {Kepler's laws} (Astron.), three important laws or
            expressions of the order of the planetary motions,
            discovered by John Kepler. They are these: (1) The orbit
            of a planet with respect to the sun is an ellipse, the sun
            being in one of the foci. (2) The areas swept over by a
            vector drawn from the sun to a planet are proportioned to
            the times of describing them. (3) The squares of the times
            of revolution of two planets are in the ratio of the cubes
            of their mean distances.
  
      {Law binding}, a plain style of leather binding, used for law
            books; -- called also {law calf}.
  
      {Law book}, a book containing, or treating of, laws.
  
      {Law calf}. See {Law binding} (above).
  
      {Law day}.
            (a) Formerly, a day of holding court, esp. a court-leet.
            (b) The day named in a mortgage for the payment of the
                  money to secure which it was given. [U. S.]
  
      {Law French}, the dialect of Norman, which was used in
            judicial proceedings and law books in England from the
            days of William the Conqueror to the thirty-sixth year of
            Edward III.
  
      {Law language}, the language used in legal writings and
            forms.
  
      {Law Latin}. See under {Latin}.
  
      {Law lords}, peers in the British Parliament who have held
            high judicial office, or have been noted in the legal
            profession.
  
      {Law merchant}, or {Commercial law}, a system of rules by
            which trade and commerce are regulated; -- deduced from
            the custom of merchants, and regulated by judicial
            decisions, as also by enactments of legislatures.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
  
  
      {Law of Charles} (Physics), the law that the volume of a
            given mass of gas increases or decreases, by a definite
            fraction of its value for a given rise or fall of
            temperature; -- sometimes less correctly styled {Gay
            Lussac's law}, or {Dalton's law}.
  
      {Law of nations}. See {International law}, under
            {International}.
  
      {Law of nature}.
            (a) A broad generalization expressive of the constant
                  action, or effect, of natural conditions; as, death
                  is a law of nature; self-defense is a law of nature.
                  See {Law}, 4.
            (b) A term denoting the standard, or system, of morality
                  deducible from a study of the nature and natural
                  relations of human beings independent of supernatural
                  revelation or of municipal and social usages.
  
      {Law of the land}, due process of law; the general law of the
            land.
  
      {Laws of honor}. See under {Honor}.
  
      {Laws of motion} (Physics), three laws defined by Sir Isaac
            Newton: (1) Every body perseveres in its state of rest or
            of moving uniformly in a straight line, except so far as
            it is made to change that state by external force. (2)
            Change of motion is proportional to the impressed force,
            and takes place in the direction in which the force is
            impressed. (3) Reaction is always equal and opposite to
            action, that is to say, the actions of two bodies upon
            each other are always equal and in opposite directions.
  
      {Marine law}, or {Maritime law}, the law of the sea; a branch
            of the law merchant relating to the affairs of the sea,
            such as seamen, ships, shipping, navigation, and the like.
            --Bouvier.
  
      {Mariotte's law}. See {Boyle's law} (above).
  
      {Martial law}.See under {Martial}.
  
      {Military law}, a branch of the general municipal law,
            consisting of rules ordained for the government of the
            military force of a state in peace and war, and
            administered in courts martial. --Kent. Warren's
            Blackstone.
  
      {Moral law},the law of duty as regards what is right and
            wrong in the sight of God; specifically, the ten
            commandments given by Moses. See {Law}, 2.
  
      {Mosaic}, [or] {Ceremonial}, {law}. (Script.) See {Law}, 3.
           
  
      {Municipal}, [or] {Positive}, {law}, a rule prescribed by the
            supreme power of a state, declaring some right, enforcing
            some duty, or prohibiting some act; -- distinguished from
            international and constitutional law. See {Law}, 1.
  
      {Periodic law}. (Chem.) See under {Periodic}.
  
      {Roman law}, the system of principles and laws found in the
            codes and treatises of the lawmakers and jurists of
            ancient Rome, and incorporated more or less into the laws
            of the several European countries and colonies founded by
            them. See {Civil law} (above).
  
      {Statute law}, the law as stated in statutes or positive
            enactments of the legislative body.
  
      {Sumptuary law}. See under {Sumptuary}.
  
      {To go to law}, to seek a settlement of any matter by
            bringing it before the courts of law; to sue or prosecute
            some one.
  
      {To} {take, [or] have}, {the law of}, to bring the law to
            bear upon; as, to take the law of one's neighbor.
            --Addison.
  
      {Wager of law}. See under {Wager}.
  
      Syn: Justice; equity.
  
      Usage: {Law}, {Statute}, {Common law}, {Regulation}, {Edict},
                  {Decree}. Law is generic, and, when used with
                  reference to, or in connection with, the other words
                  here considered, denotes whatever is commanded by one
                  who has a right to require obedience. A statute is a
                  particular law drawn out in form, and distinctly
                  enacted and proclaimed. Common law is a rule of action
                  founded on long usage and the decisions of courts of
                  justice. A regulation is a limited and often,
                  temporary law, intended to secure some particular end
                  or object. An edict is a command or law issued by a
                  sovereign, and is peculiar to a despotic government. A
                  decree is a permanent order either of a court or of
                  the executive government. See {Justice}.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Law \Law\, v. t.
      Same as {Lawe}, v. t. [Obs.]

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Law \Law\, interj. [Cf. {La}.]
      An exclamation of mild surprise. [Archaic or Low]

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]:
   law
  
      {software law}
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
   Law
      a rule of action. (1.) The Law of Nature is the will of God as
      to human conduct, founded on the moral difference of things, and
      discoverable by natural light (Rom. 1:20; 2:14, 15). This law
      binds all men at all times. It is generally designated by the
      term conscience, or the capacity of being influenced by the
      moral relations of things.
     
         (2.) The Ceremonial Law prescribes under the Old Testament the
      rites and ceremonies of worship. This law was obligatory only
      till Christ, of whom these rites were typical, had finished his
      work (Heb. 7:9, 11; 10:1; Eph. 2:16). It was fulfilled rather
      than abrogated by the gospel.
     
         (3.) The Judicial Law, the law which directed the civil policy
      of the Hebrew nation.
     
         (4.) The Moral Law is the revealed will of God as to human
      conduct, binding on all men to the end of time. It was
      promulgated at Sinai. It is perfect (Ps. 19:7), perpetual (Matt.
      5:17, 18), holy (Rom. 7:12), good, spiritual (14), and exceeding
      broad (Ps. 119:96). Although binding on all, we are not under it
      as a covenant of works (Gal. 3:17). (See {COMMANDMENTS}.)
     
         (5.) Positive Laws are precepts founded only on the will of
      God. They are right because God commands them.
     
         (6.) Moral positive laws are commanded by God because they are
      right.
     
No guarantee of accuracy or completeness!
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