Law of Charles (Physics), the law that the volume of a
given mass of gas increases or decreases, by a definite
fraction of its value for a given rise or fall of
temperature; -- sometimes less correctly styled Gay
Lussac's law, or Dalton's law.
Law of nations. See International law, under
International.
Law of nature.
(a) A broad generalization expressive of the constant
action, or effect, of natural conditions; as, death
is a law of nature; self-defense is a law of nature.
See Law, 4.
(b) A term denoting the standard, or system, of morality
deducible from a study of the nature and natural
relations of human beings independent of supernatural
revelation or of municipal and social usages.
Law of the land, due process of law; the general law of the
land.
Laws of honor. See under Honor.
Laws of motion (Physics), three laws defined by Sir Isaac
Newton: (1) Every body perseveres in its state of rest or
of moving uniformly in a straight line, except so far as
it is made to change that state by external force. (2)
Change of motion is proportional to the impressed force,
and takes place in the direction in which the force is
impressed. (3) Reaction is always equal and opposite to
action, that is to say, the actions of two bodies upon
each other are always equal and in opposite directions.
Marine law, or Maritime law, the law of the sea; a branch
of the law merchant relating to the affairs of the sea,
such as seamen, ships, shipping, navigation, and the like.
--Bouvier.
Mariotte's law. See Boyle's law (above).
Martial law.See under Martial.
Military law, a branch of the general municipal law,
consisting of rules ordained for the government of the
military force of a state in peace and war, and
administered in courts martial. --Kent. Warren's
Blackstone.
Moral law,the law of duty as regards what is right and
wrong in the sight of God; specifically, the ten
commandments given by Moses. See Law, 2.
Mosaic, or Ceremonial, law. (Script.) See Law, 3.
Municipal, or Positive, law, a rule prescribed by the
supreme power of a state, declaring some right, enforcing
some duty, or prohibiting some act; -- distinguished from
international and constitutional law. See Law, 1.
Periodic law. (Chem.) See under Periodic.
Roman law, the system of principles and laws found in the
codes and treatises of the lawmakers and jurists of
ancient Rome, and incorporated more or less into the laws
of the several European countries and colonies founded by
them. See Civil law (above).
Statute law, the law as stated in statutes or positive
enactments of the legislative body.
Sumptuary law. See under Sumptuary.
To go to law, to seek a settlement of any matter by
bringing it before the courts of law; to sue or prosecute
some one.
Totake, or have, the law of, to bring the law to bear
upon; as, to take the law of one's neighbor. --Addison.
Wager of law. See under Wager.
Syn: Justice; equity.
Usage: Law, Statute, Common law, Regulation, Edict,
Decree. Law is generic, and, when used with
reference to, or in connection with, the other words
here considered, denotes whatever is commanded by one
who has a right to require obedience. A statute is a
particular law drawn out in form, and distinctly
enacted and proclaimed. Common law is a rule of action
founded on long usage and the decisions of courts of
justice. A regulation is a limited and often,
temporary law, intended to secure some particular end
or object. An edict is a command or law issued by a
sovereign, and is peculiar to a despotic government. A
decree is a permanent order either of a court or of
the executive government. See Justice.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Wager \Wa"ger\, n. [OE. wager, wajour, OF. wagiere, or wageure,
E. gageure. See Wage, v. t.]
1. Something deposited, laid, or hazarded on the event of a
contest or an unsettled question; a bet; a stake; a
pledge.
Besides these plates for horse races, the wagers may
be as the persons please. --Sir W.
Temple.
If any atheist can stake his soul for a wager
against such an inexhaustible disproportion, let him
never hereafter accuse others of credulity.
--Bentley.
2. (Law) A contract by which two parties or more agree that a
certain sum of money, or other thing, shall be paid or
delivered to one of them, on the happening or not
happening of an uncertain event. --Bouvier.
Note: At common law a wager is considered as a legal contract
which the courts must enforce unless it be on a subject
contrary to public policy, or immoral, or tending to
the detriment of the public, or affecting the interest,
feelings, or character of a third person. In many of
the United States an action can not be sustained upon
any wager or bet. --Chitty. --Bouvier.
3. That on which bets are laid; the subject of a bet.
Wager of battel, or Wager of battle (O. Eng. Law), the
giving of gage, or pledge, for trying a cause by single
combat, formerly allowed in military, criminal, and civil
causes. In writs of right, where the trial was by
champions, the tenant produced his champion, who, by
throwing down his glove as a gage, thus waged, or
stipulated, battle with the champion of the demandant,
who, by taking up the glove, accepted the challenge. The
wager of battel, which has been long in disuse, was
abolished in England in 1819, by a statute passed in
consequence of a defendant's having waged his battle in a
case which arose about that period. See Battel.
Wager of law (Law), the giving of gage, or sureties, by a
defendant in an action of debt, that at a certain day
assigned he would take a law, or oath, in open court, that
he did not owe the debt, and at the same time bring with
him eleven neighbors (called compurgators), who should
avow upon their oaths that they believed in their
consciences that he spoke the truth.
Wager policy. (Insurance Law) See under Policy.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Compurgation \Com`pur*ga"tion\, n. [L. compurgatio, fr.
compurgare to purify wholly; com- + purgare to make pure. See
Purge, v. t.]
1. (Law) The act or practice of justifying or confirming a
man's veracity by the oath of others; -- called also
wager of law. See Purgation; also Wager of law,
under Wager.
2. Exculpation by testimony to one's veracity or innocence.
He was privileged from his childhood from suspicion
of incontinency and needed no compurgation. --Bp.
Hacket.
From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
WAGER OF LAW, Eng. law. When an action of debt is brought against a man upon
a simple contract, and the defendant pleads nil debit, and concludes his
plea with this formula, "And this he is ready to defend against him the said
A B and his suit, as the court of our lord the king here shall consider,"
&c., he is said to wage his law. He is then required to swear he owes the
plaintiff nothing, and bring eleven compurgators who will swear they believe
him. This mode of trial, is trial by wager of law.
2. TheWager of law : could only be had in actions of debt on simple
contract, and actions of detinue; in consequence of this right of the
defendant, now actions on simple contracts are brought in assumpsit, and
instead of bridging detinue, trover has been substituted.
3. If ever wager of law had any existence in the United States, it is
now completely abolished. 8 Wheat. 642. Vide Steph. on Plead. 124, 250, and
notes, xxxix.; Co. Entr. 119; Mod. Entr. 179; Lilly's Entr. 467; 3 Ch it.
Pl. 497; 13 Vin. Ab. 58; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t. For the
origin of this form of trial, vide Steph. on Pl. notes xxxix; Co. Litt. 294,
5 3 Bl. Com. 341.