Table of Contents
Definition of Law
(noun) A formal or informal rule or standard (mores) enacted by a political entity and enforced by agents with recognized authority such as the police and the courts.
Law Pronunciation
Syllabification: law
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /lAW/
- British English – /lAW/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /lɑ/
- British English – /lɔː/
Usage Notes
- Plural: laws
- Laws are studied in criminology.
Related Quotation
- “We can say that an act is criminal when it offends strong and defined states of the collective consciousness . . . In other words, we must not say that an action offends the common consciousness because it is criminal, but rather that it is criminal because it shocks the common consciousness. We do not condemn it because it is a crime, but it is a crime because we condemn it” (Durkheim [1893] 2004:24).
Related Videos
Additional Information
- Crime and Law Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Politics and Policy Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “law” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Black, Donald. 2011. Moral Time. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Vago, Steven. 2012. Law and Society. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Related Terms
Reference
Durkheim, Émile. [1893] 2004. “The Division of Labour in Society.” Pp. 19–38 in Readings from Emile Durkheim. Rev. ed., edited and translated by K. Thompson. New York: Routledge.
Works Consulted
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Cite the Definition of Law
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “law.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved February 9, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/law/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
law. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/law/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “law.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/law/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“law.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 9 Feb. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/law/>.