statute

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: stat=ute
• COUNT in NET: 20 in 18 verses (in OT : 20 in 18 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

statute, n. [F. statut, LL. statutum, from L. statutus, p. p. of statuere to set, station, ordain, fr. status position, station, fr. stare, statum, to stand. See Stand, and cf. Constitute, Destitute.].

•  An act of the legislature of a state or country, declaring, commanding, or prohibiting something; a positive law; the written will of the legislature expressed with all the requisite forms of legislation; -- used in distinction from common law. See Common law, under Common, a.  Bouvier.  [1913 Webster]

  " Statute is commonly applied to the acts of a legislative body consisting of representatives. In monarchies, the laws of the sovereign are called edicts, decrees, ordinances, rescripts, etc. In works on international law and in the Roman law, the term is used as embracing all laws imposed by competent authority. Statutes in this sense are divided into statutes real, statutes personal, and statutes mixed; statutes real applying to immovables; statutes personal to movables; and statutes mixed to both classes of property."  [1913 Webster]
•  An act of a corporation or of its founder, intended as a permanent rule or law; as, the statutes of a university.  [1913 Webster]
•  An assemblage of farming servants (held possibly by statute) for the purpose of being hired; -- called also statute fair.  Halliwell.  [1913 Webster]

Statute book, a record of laws or legislative acts. Blackstone. -- Statute cap, a kind of woolen cap; -- so called because enjoined to be worn by a statute, dated in 1571, in behalf of the trade of cappers. [Obs.] Halliwell. -- Statute fair. See Statute, n., 3, above. -- Statute labor, a definite amount of labor required for the public service in making roads, bridges, etc., as in certain English colonies. -- Statute merchant (Eng. Law), a bond of record pursuant to the stat. 13 Edw. I., acknowledged in form prescribed, on which, if not paid at the day, an execution might be awarded against the body, lands, and goods of the debtor, and the obligee might hold the lands until out of the rents and profits of them the debt was satisfied; -- called also a pocket judgment. It is now fallen into disuse. Tomlins. Bouvier. -- Statute mile. See under Mile. -- Statute of limitations (Law), a statute assigning a certain time, after which rights can not be enforced by action. -- Statute staple, a bond of record acknowledged before the mayor of the staple, by virtue of which the creditor may, on nonpayment, forthwith have execution against the body, lands, and goods of the debtor, as in the statute merchant. It is now disused. Blackstone.

Syn. -- Act; regulation; edict; decree. See Law.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

statute, n.
1 a written law passed by a legislative body, e.g. an Act of Parliament.
2 a rule of a corporation, founder, etc., intended to be permanent (against the University Statutes).
3 divine law (kept thy statutes).

Idiom

statute-barred (of a case etc.) no longer legally enforceable by reason of the lapse of time. statute-book
1 a book or books containing the statute law.
2 the body of a country's statutes.
statute law
1 (collect.) the body of principles and rules of law laid down in statutes as distinct from rules formulated in practical application (cf. common law, case-law (see CASE(1))).
2 a statute. statute mile see MILE 1.
statute-roll
1 the rolls in the Public Records Office containing the statutes of the Parliament of England.
2 = statute-book. statutes at large the statutes as originally enacted, regardless of later modifications.

Etymology

ME f. OF statut f. LL statutum neut. past part. of L statuere set up f. status: see STATUS

THESAURUS

statute

Eighteenth Amendment, Prohibition Party, Volstead Act, act, assize, ban, bill, bylaw, canon, contraband, decree, decretum, denial, dictate, dictation, disallowance, edict, embargo, enactment, exclusion, forbiddance, forbidden fruit, forbidding, form, formality, formula, formulary, index, index expurgatorius, index librorum prohibitorum, inhibition, injunction, institution, interdict, interdiction, interdictum, jus, law, legislation, lex, measure, no-no, ordinance, ordonnance, precept, preclusion, prescript, prescription, prevention, prohibition, prohibitory injunction, proscription, refusal, regulation, rejection, repression, restrictive covenants, rubric, rule, ruling, ruling out, standing order, sumptuary laws, suppression, taboo, zoning, zoning laws

ROGET THESAURUS

statute

Precept

N precept, direction, instruction, charge, prescript, prescription, recipe, receipt, golden rule, maxim, rule, canon, law, code, corpus juris, lex scripta, act, statute, rubric, stage direction, regulation, form, formula, formulary, technicality, canon law, norm, order.

Legality

N legality, legitimacy, legitimateness, legislature, law, code, corpus juris, constitution, pandect, charter, enactment, statute, rule, canon, ordinance, institution, regulation, bylaw, byelaw, decree, ordonnance, standing order, plebiscite, legal process, form, formula, formality, rite, arm of the law, habeas corpus, fieri facias, jurisprudence, nomology, legislation, codification, equity, common law, lex, lex nonscripta, law of nations, droit des gens, international law, jus gentium, jus civile, civil law, canon law, crown law, criminal law, statute law, ecclesiastical law, administrative law, lex mercatoria, constitutionalism, constitutionality, justice, court, tribunal, judge, lawyer, attorney, legal counsel, legal, legitimate, according to law, vested, constitutional, chartered, legalized, lawful, statutable, statutory, legislatorial, legislative, regulatory, regulated, legally, in the eye of the law, de jure, ignorantia legis neminem excusat, ignorance of the law is no excuse, where law ends tyranny begins.