1. A legislator, esp. one who promulgates an entire code of laws.
2. A judge with the power to interpret law. — lawgiving, adj. & n.
“John Chipman Gray in his The Nature and Sources of the Law (1921) repeats a number of times a quotation from Bishop Hoadley [1676–1761]: ‘Whoever hath an absolute authority to interpret any written or spoken laws, it is he who is truly the Law-giver to all intents and purposes, and not the person who first wrote or spoke them.’ ” Lon L. Fuller, Anatomy of the Law 23–24 (1968).
