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vote; esp., the final affirmative action of the body upon a proposition; hence, adoption; enactment; as, the passage of the bill to its third reading was delayed. "The passage of the Stamp Act." D. Hosack. The final question was then put upon its passage. Cushing. In passage, in passing; cursorily. "These . . . have be…

Enacting or threatening punishment; as, a penal statue; the penal code.

A law enacted by the common people, under the superintendence of a tribune or some subordinate plebeian magistrate, without the intervention of the senate.

Prescribed by express enactment or institution; settled by arbitrary appointment; said of laws. In laws, that which is natural bindeth universally; that which is positive, not so. Hooker.

reason for my rhyme. Spenser. But law in a free nation hath been ever public reason; the enacted reason of a parliament, which he denying to enact, denies to govern us by that which ought to be our law; interposing his own private reason, which to us is no law. Milton. The most probable way of bringing France to reaso…

Specifically, to vacate or make void, as an act, by the enacting authority or by superior authority; to repeal; as, to rescind a law, a resolution, or a vote; to rescind a decree or a judgment.

ng things past; retroactive; as, a retrospective law. Inflicting death by a retrospective enactment. Macaulay.

ide for conduct or action; a governing direction for a specific purpose; an authoritative enactment; a regulation; a prescription; a precept; as, the rules of various societies; the rules governing a school; a rule of etiquette or propriety; the rules of cricket. We profess to have embraced a religion which contains th…

Enacted by statute; depending on statute for its authority; as, a statutory provision.

That quality which tends to secure results; effective power in an institution or enactment; security; validity; legal or moral force; logical conclusiveness; as, the strength of social or legal obligations; the strength of law; the strength of public opinion; strength of evidence; strength of argument.…

A place or region where great events are enacted; as, the theater of war.

Beyond power; transcending authority; -- a phrase used frequently in relation to acts or enactments by corporations in excess of their chartered or statutory rights.

the law of England and of the United States which is not derived from express legislative enactment, or at least from any enactment now extant and in force as such. This law is now generally contained in the reports of judicial decisions. See Common law, under Common. -- Unwritten laws, such laws as have been handed d…

lly, in a constitutional government, a power vested in the chief executive to prevent the enactment of measures passed by the legislature. Such a power may be absolute, as in the case of the Tribunes of the People in ancient Rome, or limited, as in the case of the President of the United States. Called also the veto po…

To enact, establish, grant, determine, etc., by a formal vote; as, the legislature voted the resolution. Parliament voted them one hundred thousand pounds. Swift.

written document to. -- Written laws, laws deriving their force from express legislative enactment, as contradistinguished from unwritten, or common, law. See the Note under Law, and Common law, under Common, a.