Law | Mean of law in English Dictionary

/ˈlɑː/

• Noun
• the whole system or set of rules made by the government of a town, state, country, etc.
1. People who are supposed to obey the law also need to know their rights under the law. [=according to the law]
2. The courts exist to uphold, interpret, and apply the law.
3. state/federal law
4. Stealing is against the law. [=stealing is illegal]
5. He denied that he had broken/violated the law. [=that he had done anything illegal]
6. You have to pay taxes. That's the law of the land. [=the set of rules that exists in a certain place]
7. The job of the police is to enforce the law. [=make sure that people obey the law]
8. He's interested in a career in law enforcement. [=a career as a police officer]
9. (US) Law enforcement officials [=police officials] in the area were alerted of the suspect's escape.
• a particular kind of law
1. a lawyer who specializes in criminal/contract/immigration law
• a rule made by the government of a town, state, country, etc.
1. A law requires that schools provide a safe learning environment. = There is a law requiring schools to provide a safe learning environment.
2. In our civics class we learned how a bill becomes a law.
3. She has proposed a new law to protect people from being evicted unfairly.
4. Congress passed several new laws on the environment. [=laws relating to the environment]
5. a law against unfair eviction [=a law that makes unfair eviction illegal]
6. We need stricter laws against discrimination.
7. Schools are required by law to provide a safe learning environment.
8. The bill will become law at the beginning of the year.
9. With the majority voting in favor, the bill has been passed into law. [=the bill became a law]
10. The bill was signed into law by the governor. [=the proposed law became officially active when the governor signed it]

• the people and organizations (such as the police and the courts) whose job is to find or punish people who do not obey laws
1. They called in the law [=the police] to determine what should be done next.
2. He's been in and out of trouble with the law for the last 10 years.
• the job of a lawyer
1. She's been thinking about going into law. [=thinking about becoming a lawyer]
2. a career in law
3. The company hired a large law firm [=a group of lawyers who work together as a business] to handle the case.
4. She practices law [=she works as a lawyer] with a firm in Boston.
• the area of study that relates to laws and how they are used
1. a professor of law
2. studying law
3. going to law school [=a school that trains you to become a lawyer]
• a religious rule
1. the body of Islamic laws
2. according to Jewish law
• a rule stating that something (such as an art or profession) should be done in a certain way
1. the laws of poetry
2. He teaches his students that balance is the first law of architecture. [=balance is the most important principle in architecture]
• a rule in a sport or game
1. the laws [=rules] of tennis
• a statement that describes how something works in the natural world
1. the law of gravity
2. the laws of nature/physics
3. Newton's laws of motion
• not required to obey the law
1. No one is above the law. [=everyone must obey the law]
2. He complains that the new policy places corporations above the law. [=that the new policy allows corporations to do things that are not legal]
• to ask a court of law to settle a dispute
• a state or situation in which people obey the law
1. The police work to preserve law and order.
2. a breakdown of law and order
• not agreeing with the law
1. actions that may have been outside the law [=illegal]
• in an illegal way
1. Investigators were unable to prove that the business was operating outside the law. [=illegally]
• to try to punish someone for breaking a law even though you do not have the right to do that
1. Police are concerned that the victim's family may try to take the law into their own hands. [=may try to punish the criminal themselves instead of allowing the legal system to do it]
• the idea or principle that something which can produce different results will produce those results in a regular or predictable way over a period of time
1. I can't believe that team has lost 12 games in a row. The law of averages says that they should have won at least one game by now.
• agreeing with the law
1. He says that everything he did was within the law. [=legal]
• in a legal way
1. With the organization under so much scrutiny, it is even more important that they work/operate within the law. [=legally]