the.com/law
society's elaborate attempt to write down what your grandmother already told you.
means A rule or system of rules recognized and enforced by a society to govern conduct, with consequences for breaking it.
from From Old English 'lagu,' itself borrowed from Old Norse 'lǫg' — literally 'something laid down or fixed,' the plural of 'lag,' meaning a layer or that which is placed. So at its root, a 'law' is simply what has been set in place, related to the verb 'to lay.' The Norse seafarers and settlers handed England this word, edging out the native Old English 'ǣ.' Note the cousin idea in Latin 'lex' (giving us 'legal'), though that comes through a separate line.
- oldest code
- Hammurabi's laws are nearly 4,000 years old
- latin grip
- courts still quote a dead language daily
- library
- no single human has read all current laws
- loophole engine
- every rule breeds lawyers hunting its edges
hammurabi's code — ancient babylonian legal system with 282 laws, circa 1754 bce
magna carta — english charter limiting royal power, signed 1215 at runnymede
napoleonic code — french civil law system established 1804, influenced europe and latin america
us constitution — supreme law of the united states, ratified 1788