(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
The ~ is a system of rules that a society or government develops in order to deal with crime, business agreements, and social relationships. You can also use the ~ to refer to the people who work in this system.
Obscene and threatening phone calls are against the ~...
They are seeking permission to begin criminal proceedings against him for breaking the ~ on financing political parties...
There must be changes in the ~ quickly to stop this sort of thing ever happening to anyone else...
The book analyses why women kill and how the ~ treats them.
N-SING: the N
2.
Law is used to refer to a particular branch of the ~, such as criminal ~ or company ~.
He was a professor of criminal ~ at Harvard University ~ school...
Important questions of constitutional ~ were involved.
N-UNCOUNT: usu adj N
3.
A ~ is one of the rules in a system of ~ which deals with a particular type of agreement, relationship, or crime.
...the country’s liberal political asylum ~...
The ~ was passed on a second vote.
N-COUNT: oft n N
4.
The ~s of an organization or activity are its rules, which are used to organize and control it.
...the ~s of the Church of England...
Match officials should not tolerate such behaviour but instead enforce the ~s of the game.
= rule
N-PLURAL: the N of n, supp N
5.
A ~ is a rule or set of rules for good behaviour which is considered right and important by the majority of people for moral, religious, or emotional reasons.
...inflexible moral ~s.
= code
N-COUNT
6.
A ~ is a natural process in which a particular event or thing always leads to a particular result.
The ~s of nature are absolute.
N-COUNT: with supp
7.
A ~ is a scientific rule that someone has invented to explain a particular natural process.
...the ~ of gravity.
N-COUNT: with supp
8.
Law or the ~ is all the professions which deal with advising people about the ~, representing people in court, or giving decisions and punishments.
A career in ~ is becoming increasingly attractive to young people...
Nearly 100 ~ firms are being referred to the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal.
N-UNCOUNT
9.
Law is the study of systems of ~ and how ~s work.
He came to Oxford and studied ~...
He holds a ~ degree from Bristol University.
N-UNCOUNT
10.
see also court of ~ , rule of ~
11.
If you accuse someone of thinking they are above the ~, you criticize them for thinking that they are so clever or important that they do not need to obey the ~.
One opposition member of parliament accuses the government of wanting to be above the ~...
PHRASE: v-link PHR disapproval
12.
The ~ of averages is the idea that something is sure to happen at some time, because of the number of times it generally happens or is expected to happen.
On the ~ of averages we just can’t go on losing.
PHRASE
13.
If you have to do something by ~ or if you are not allowed to do something by ~, the ~ states that you have to do it or that you are not allowed to do it.
By ~ all restaurants must display their prices outside...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
14.
If you say that someone lays down the ~, you are critical of them because they give other people orders and they think that they are always right.
...traditional parents, who believed in laying down the ~ for their offspring.
PHRASE: V inflects disapproval
15.
If someone takes the ~ into their own hands, they punish someone or do something to put a situation right, instead of waiting for the police or the legal system to take action.
The speeding motorist was pinned to the ground by angry locals who took the ~ into their own hands until police arrived.
PHRASE: V inflects
16.
If you say that someone is a ~ unto himself or herself, you mean that they behave in an independent way, ignoring ~s, rules, or conventional ways of doing things.
Some of the landowners were a ~ unto themselves. There was nobody to check their excesses and they exploited the people.
PHRASE: v-link PHR
17.
Sod’s ~: see sod