|
Law, in its ideal, is the statement of a principle of right in mandatory form, by competent authority, with
adequate penalty for disobedience; in common use, the term is applied to any legislative act, however
imperfect or unjust. Command and commandment are personal and particular; as, the commands of a parent;
the ten commandments. An edict is the act of an absolute sovereign or other authority; we speak of the edict of
an emperor, the decree of a court. A mandate is specific, for an occasion or a purpose; a superior court issues
its mandate to an inferior court to send up its records. Statute is the recognized legal term for a specific law;
enactment is the more vague and general expression. We speak of algebraic or chemical formulas, municipal
ordinances, military orders, army regulations, ecclesiastical canons, the rules of a business house. Law is
often used, also, for a recognized principle, whose violation is attended with injury or loss that acts like a
penalty; as, the laws of business; the laws of nature. In more strictly scientific use, a natural law is simply a
recognized system of sequences or relations; as, Kepler's laws of planetary distances. A code is a system of
laws; jurisprudence is the science of law, or a system of laws scientifically considered, classed, and
interpreted; legislation, primarily the act of legislating, denotes also the body of statutes enacted by a
legislative body. An economy (Gr. oikonomia, primarily the management of a house) is any comprehensive
system of administration; as, domestic economy; but the word is extended to the administration or government
of a state or people, signifying a body of laws and regulations, with the entire system, political or religious,
especially the latter, of which they form a part; as, the code of Draco, Roman jurisprudence, British
legislation, the Mosaic economy. Law is also used as a collective noun for a system of laws or recognized
rules or regulations, including not only all special laws, but the principles on which they are based. The
Mosaic economy is known also as the Mosaic law, and we speak of the English common law, or the law of
nations. Polity (Gr. politeia, from polis, a city) signifies the form, constitution, or method of government of a
nation, state, church, or other institution; in usage it differs from economy as applying rather to the system,
while economy applies especially to method, or to the system as administered; an economy might be termed a
polity considered with especial reference to its practical administration, hence commonly with special
reference to details or particulars, while polity has more reference to broad principles.
* * * * *
LIBERTY.
Synonyms:
emancipation, freedom, independence, license.
In general terms, it may be said that freedom is absolute, liberty relative; freedom is the absence of restraint,
liberty is primarily the removal or avoidance of restraint; in its broadest sense, it is the state of being exempt
from the domination of others or from restricting circumstances. Freedom and liberty are constantly
interchanged; the slave is set at liberty, or gains his freedom; but freedom is the nobler word. Independence is
said of states or nations, freedom and liberty of individuals; the independence of the United States did not
secure liberty or freedom to its slaves. Liberty keeps quite strictly to the thought of being clear of restraint or
compulsion; freedom takes a wider range, applying to other oppressive influences; thus, we speak of freedom
from annoyance or intrusion. License is, in its limited sense, a permission or privilege granted by adequate
authority, a bounded liberty; in the wider sense, license is an ignoring and defiance of all that should restrain,
and a reckless doing of all that individual caprice or passion may choose to do--a base and dangerous
counterfeit of freedom. Compare ALLOW; PERMISSION.
Antonyms:
captivity, imprisonment, oppression, slavery, compulsion, necessity, serfdom, superstition, constraint,
obligation, servitude, thraldom.
* * * * *
Synonyms and Antonyms, by James Champlin Fernald
188
LIGHT.
Synonyms:
blaze, gleam, glow, shimmer, flame, gleaming, illumination, shine, flare, glimmer, incandescence, shining,
flash, glistening, luster, sparkle, flicker, glistering, scintillation, twinkle, glare, glitter, sheen, twinkling.
Light, strictly denoting a form of radiant energy, is used as a general term for any luminous effect discernible
by the eye, from the faintest phosphorescence to the blaze of the noonday sun. A flame is both hot and
luminous; if it contains few solid particles it will yield little light, tho it may afford intense heat, as in the case
of a hydrogen- flame. A blaze is an extensive, brilliant flame. A flare is a wavering flame or blaze; a flash is a
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
