/stach"ooht, -oot/ , n.
1. Law.
a. an enactment made by a legislature and expressed in a formal document.
b. the document in which such an enactment is expressed.
2. Internat. Law. an instrument annexed or subsidiary to an international agreement, as a treaty.
3. a permanent rule established by an organization, corporation, etc., to govern its internal affairs.
[ 1250-1300; ME statut estatut statutum, n. use of neut. of L statutus (ptp. of statuere to make stand, set up, deriv. of status STATUS), equiv. to statu-, verb. s. + -tus ptp. suffix ]