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law - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order" |
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jurisprudence |
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accumulation,
aggregation,
assemblage,
collection the act of accumulating
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law the learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system; "he studied law at Yale"
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administrative law the body of rules and regulations and orders and decisions created by administrative agencies of government
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canon law,
ecclesiastical law the body of codified laws governing the affairs of a Christian church
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civil law the body of laws established by a state or nation for its own regulation
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case law,
common law,
precedent (civil law) a law established by following earlier judicial decisions
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international law,
law of nations the body of laws governing relations between nations
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law of the land a phrase used in the Magna Carta to refer to the then established law of the kingdom (as distinct from Roman or civil law); today it refers to fundamental principles of justice commensurate with due process; "the United States Constitution declares itself to be `the supreme law of the land'"
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martial law the body of law imposed by the military over civilian affairs (usually in time of war or civil crisis); overrides civil law
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commercial law,
law merchant,
mercantile law the body of rules applied to commercial transactions; derived from the practices of traders rather than from jurisprudence
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military law the body of laws and rules of conduct administered by military courts for the discipline, trial, and punishment of military personnel
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law of moses,
mosaic law the laws (beginning with the Ten Commandments) that God gave to the Israelites through Moses; it includes many rules of religious observance given in the first five books of the Old Testament (in Judaism these books are called the Torah)
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islamic law,
sharia,
shariah,
shariah law,
sharia law the code of law derived from the Koran and from the teachings and example of Mohammed; "sharia is only applicable to Muslims"; "under Islamic law there is no separation of church and state"
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statutory law the body of laws created by legislative statutes
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securities law the body of laws governing the issuance and selling of securities
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tax law the body of laws governing taxation
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| 2. |
law - a generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature; "the laws of thermodynamics" |
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concept,
conception,
construct an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances
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theory a belief that can guide behavior; "the architect has a theory that more is less"; "they killed him on the theory that dead men tell no tales"
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all-or-none law (neurophysiology) a nerve impulse resulting from a weak stimulus is just as strong as a nerve impulse resulting from a strong stimulus
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principle,
rule a basic truth or law or assumption; "the principles of democracy"
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archimedes' principle,
law of archimedes (hydrostatics) the apparent loss in weight of a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid
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avogadro's hypothesis,
avogadro's law the principle that equal volumes of all gases (given the same temperature and pressure) contain equal numbers of molecules
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bernoulli's law,
law of large numbers (statistics) law stating that a large number of items taken at random from a population will (on the average) have the population statistics
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benford's law a law used by auditors to identify fictitious populations of numbers; applies to any population of numbers derived from other numbers; "Benford's law holds that 30% of the time the first non-zero digit of a derived number will be 1 and it will be 9 only 4.6% of the time"
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bose-einstein statistics (physics) statistical law obeyed by a system of particles whose wave function is not changed when two particles are interchanged (the Pauli exclusion principle does not apply)
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boyle's law,
mariotte's law the pressure of an ideal gas at constant temperature varies inversely with the volume
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coulomb's law a fundamental principle of electrostatics; the force of attraction or repulsion between two charged particles is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the distance between them; principle also holds for magnetic poles
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dalton's law,
dalton's law of partial pressures,
law of partial pressures (chemistry and physics) law stating that the pressure exerted by a mixture of gases equals the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture; the pressure of a gas in a mixture equals the pressure it would exert if it occupied the same volume alone at the same temperature
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distribution law (chemistry) the total energy in an assembly of molecules is not distributed equally but is distributed around an average value according to a statistical distribution
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equilibrium law,
law of chemical equilibrium (chemistry) the principle that (at chemical equilibrium) in a reversible reaction the ratio of the rate of the forward reaction to the rate of the reverse reaction is a constant for that reaction
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fechner's law,
weber-fechner law (psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity; based on early work by E. H. Weber
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fermi-dirac statistics (physics) law obeyed by a systems of particles whose wave function changes when two particles are interchanged (the Pauli exclusion principle applies)
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charles's law,
gay-lussac's law,
law of volumes (physics) the density of an ideal gas at constant pressure varies inversely with the temperature
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henry's law (chemistry) law formulated by the English chemist William Henry; the amount of a gas that will be absorbed by water increases as the gas pressure increases
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hooke's law (physics) the principle that (within the elastic limit) the stress applied to a solid is proportional to the strain produced
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hubble's law,
hubble law (astronomy) the generalization that the speed of recession of distant galaxies (the red shift) is proportional to their distance from the observer
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kepler's law,
kepler's law of planetary motion (astronomy) one of three empirical laws of planetary motion stated by Johannes Kepler
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kirchhoff's laws (physics) two laws governing electric networks in which steady currents flow: the sum of all the currents at a point is zero and the sum of the voltage gains and drops around any closed circuit is zero
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law of averages a law affirming that in the long run probabilities will determine performance
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law of constant proportion,
law of definite proportions (chemistry) law stating that every pure substance always contains the same elements combined in the same proportions by weight
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law of diminishing returns a law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectiveness
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law of effect (psychology) the principle that behaviors are selected by their consequences; behavior having good consequences tends to be repeated whereas behavior that leads to bad consequences is not repeated
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law of equivalent proportions,
law of reciprocal proportions (chemistry) law stating that the proportions in which two elements separately combine with a third element are also the proportions in which they combine together
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law of gravitation,
newton's law of gravitation (physics) the law that states any two bodies attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them
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dalton's law,
law of multiple proportions (chemistry and physics) law stating that the pressure exerted by a mixture of gases equals the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture; the pressure of a gas in a mixture equals the pressure it would exert if it occupied the same volume alone at the same temperature
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law of mass action (chemistry) the law that states the following principle: the rate of a chemical reaction is directly proportional to the molecular concentrations of the reacting substances
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law of thermodynamics (physics) a law governing the relations between states of energy in a closed system
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mendel's law (genetics) one of two principles of heredity formulated by Gregor Mendel on the basis of his experiments with plants; the principles were limited and modified by subsequent genetic research
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law of motion,
newton's law,
newton's law of motion one of three basic laws of classical mechanics
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ohm's law electric current is directly proportional to voltage and inversely proportional to resistance; I = E/R
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pascal's law,
pascal's law of fluid pressures pressure applied anywhere to a body of fluid causes a force to be transmitted equally in all directions; the force acts at right angles to any surface in contact with the fluid; "the hydraulic press is an application of Pascal's law"
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exclusion principle,
pauli exclusion principle no two electrons or protons or neutrons in a given system can be in states characterized by the same set of quantum numbers
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mendeleev's law,
periodic law (chemistry) the principle that chemical properties of the elements are periodic functions of their atomic numbers
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planck's law (physics) the basis of quantum theory; the energy of electromagnetic waves is contained in indivisible quanta that have to be radiated or absorbed as a whole; the magnitude is proportional to frequency where the constant of proportionality is given by Planck's constant
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planck's radiation law (physics) an equation that expresses the distribution of energy in the radiated spectrum of an ideal black body
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principle of relativity (physics) a universal law that states that the laws of mechanics are not affected by a uniform rectilinear motion of the system of coordinates to which they are referred
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power law,
stevens' law,
stevens' power law (psychophysics) the concept that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to a power of the stimulus intensity
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weber's law (psychophysics) the concept that a just-noticeable difference in a stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus; "Weber's law explains why you don't notice your headlights are on in the daytime"
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| 3. |
law - legal document setting forth rules governing a particular kind of activity; "there is a law against kidnapping" |
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instrument,
legal document,
legal instrument,
official document the means whereby some act is accomplished; "my greed was the instrument of my destruction"; "science has given us new tools to fight disease"
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jurisprudence,
law the branch of philosophy concerned with the law and the principles that lead courts to make the decisions they do
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jurisprudence,
law the branch of philosophy concerned with the law and the principles that lead courts to make the decisions they do
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anti-drug law a law forbidding the sale or use of narcotic drugs
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anti-racketeering law,
racketeer influenced and corrupt organiz,
rico,
rico act law intended to eradicate organized crime by establishing strong sanctions and forfeiture provisions
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antitrust law,
antitrust legislation law intended to promote free competition in the market place by outlawing monopolies
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statute of limitations a statute prescribing the time period during which legal action can be taken
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constitution,
fundamental law,
organic law the act of forming or establishing something; "the constitution of a PTA group last year"; "it was the establishment of his reputation"; "he still remembers the organization of the club"
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public law a law affecting the public at large
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blue law a statute regulating work on Sundays
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blue sky law a state law regulating the sale of securities in an attempt to control the sale of securities in fraudulent enterprises
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gag law any law that limits freedom of the press
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homestead law a law conferring privileges on owners of homesteads
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poor law a law providing support for the poor
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riot act a former English law requiring mobs to disperse after a magistrate reads the law to them
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prohibition the action of prohibiting or inhibiting or forbidding (or an instance thereof); "they were restrained by a prohibition in their charter"; "a medical inhibition of alcoholic beverages"; "he ignored his parents' forbiddance"
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| 4. |
law - the learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system; "he studied law at Yale" |
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learned profession one of the three professions traditionally believed to require advanced learning and high principles
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jurisprudence,
law the branch of philosophy concerned with the law and the principles that lead courts to make the decisions they do
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| 5. |
law - a rule or body of rules of conduct inherent in human nature and essential to or binding upon human society |
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concept,
conception,
construct an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances
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divine law a law that is believed to come directly from God
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principle a basic truth or law or assumption; "the principles of democracy"
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sound law a law describing sound changes in the history of a language
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