DEFINITION OF LAW

DEFINITION OF LAW
9. Law a. The body of principles or precepts held to express the divine will, especially as revealed in the Bible.b. The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures.
10. A code of principles based on morality, conscience, or nature.
11. a. A rule or custom generally established in a particular domain: the unwritten laws of good sportsmanship.b. A way of life: the law of the jungle.
12. a. A statement describing a relationship observed to be invariable between or among phenomena for all cases in which the specified conditions are met: the law of gravity.b. A generalization based on consistent experience or results: the law of supply and demand.
13. Mathematics A general principle or rule that is assumed or that has been proven to hold between expressions.
14. A principle of organization, procedure, or technique: the laws of grammar; the laws of visual perspective.intr.v. lawed, law·ing, laws To go to law; litigate.Idioms: a law unto (oneself) A totally independent operator: An executive who is a law unto herself.take the law into (one's) own hands To mete out justice as one sees fit without due recourse to law enforcement agencies or the courts.[Middle English, from Old English lagu, from Old Norse *lagu, variant of lag, that which is laid down; see legh- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin CompanyThe American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Black’s Law Dictionary (3rd edition)
“That which is laid down, ordained, or established. A rule or method according to which phenomena or actions co-exist or follow each other. A system of principles and rules of human conduct, being the aggregate of those commandments and principles which are either prescribed or recognized by the governing power in an organized jural society as its will in relation to the conduct of the members of such society and which it undertakes to maintain and sanction and to use as the criteria of the actions of such members.”