constitutional law. 1. The body of law deriving from the U.S. Constitution and dealing primarily with govern-mental powers, civil rights, and civil liberties. 2. The body of legal rules that determine the constitution of a state or country with an unwritten constitution. Cf. STATUTORY LAW; COMMON LAW . 3. The field of law dealing with […]
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A statute that exempts from liability a person (such as an off-duty physician) who voluntarily renders aid to another in imminent danger but negligently causes injury while rendering the aid. • Some form of good-samaritan legislation has been enacted in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia. — Also written Good Samaritan law.
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caselaw. The law to be found in the collection of reported cases that form all or part of the body of law within a given jurisdiction. — Also written case law; caselaw. — Also termed decisional law; adjudicative law; juri-sprudence; organic law. “Case law in some form and to some extent is found wherever there
A corrupted form of Latin formerly used in law and legal documents, including judicial writs, royal charters, and private deeds. • It primarily consists of a mixture of Latin, French, and English words used in English sentence structures. — Abbr. L.L.; L. Lat. — Also written law Latin.
lawgiver. 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
Lombard law. A Germanic customary law based primarily on a code called the Edict of Rothar, published in A.D. 643. • Rothar was the King of the Lombards at the time (A.D. 636–652), and his code (written in Latin) was more complete than the Germanic leges barbarorum. — Also termed law of Lombardy; law of
The corrupted form of the Norman French language that arose in England in the centuries after William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and that was used for several centuries as the primary language of the English legal system; the Anglo-French used in medieval England in judicial proceedings, pleadings, and lawbooks. — Abbr. L.F. —
law in books. The legal rules to be found in texts; esp., sterile, oft-repeated rules that seem to depart from the way in which the law actually operates in the day-to-day workings of the legal system. — Sometimes written law-in-books. Cf. LAW IN ACTION.
Law Lord. A member of the appellate committee of the House of Lords, consisting of the Lord Chancellor, the salaried Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, and any peer who holds or has held high judicial office. — Also written law lord.