Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

   {Law of Charles} (Physics), the law that the volume of a
      given mass of gas increases or decreases, by a definite
      fraction of its value for a given rise or fall of
      temperature; -- sometimes less correctly styled {Gay
      Lussac's law}, or {Dalton's law}.

   {Law of nations}. See {International law}, under
      {International}.

   {Law of nature}.
       (a) A broad generalization expressive of the constant
           action, or effect, of natural conditions; as, death
           is a law of nature; self-defense is a law of nature.
           See {Law}, 4.
       (b) A term denoting the standard, or system, of morality
           deducible from a study of the nature and natural
           relations of human beings independent of supernatural
           revelation or of municipal and social usages.

   {Law of the land}, due process of law; the general law of the
      land.

   {Laws of honor}. See under {Honor}.

   {Laws of motion} (Physics), three laws defined by Sir Isaac
      Newton: (1) Every body perseveres in its state of rest or
      of moving uniformly in a straight line, except so far as
      it is made to change that state by external force. (2)
      Change of motion is proportional to the impressed force,
      and takes place in the direction in which the force is
      impressed. (3) Reaction is always equal and opposite to
      action, that is to say, the actions of two bodies upon
      each other are always equal and in opposite directions.

   {Marine law}, or {Maritime law}, the law of the sea; a branch
      of the law merchant relating to the affairs of the sea,
      such as seamen, ships, shipping, navigation, and the like.
      --Bouvier.

   {Mariotte's law}. See {Boyle's law} (above).

   {Martial law}.See under {Martial}.

   {Military law}, a branch of the general municipal law,
      consisting of rules ordained for the government of the
      military force of a state in peace and war, and
      administered in courts martial. --Kent. Warren's
      Blackstone.

   {Moral law},the law of duty as regards what is right and
      wrong in the sight of God; specifically, the ten
      commandments given by Moses. See {Law}, 2.

   {Mosaic}, or {Ceremonial}, {law}. (Script.) See {Law}, 3.

   {Municipal}, or {Positive}, {law}, a rule prescribed by the
      supreme power of a state, declaring some right, enforcing
      some duty, or prohibiting some act; -- distinguished from
      international and constitutional law. See {Law}, 1.

   {Periodic law}. (Chem.) See under {Periodic}.

   {Roman law}, the system of principles and laws found in the
      codes and treatises of the lawmakers and jurists of
      ancient Rome, and incorporated more or less into the laws
      of the several European countries and colonies founded by
      them. See {Civil law} (above).

   {Statute law}, the law as stated in statutes or positive
      enactments of the legislative body.

   {Sumptuary law}. See under {Sumptuary}.

   {To go to law}, to seek a settlement of any matter by
      bringing it before the courts of law; to sue or prosecute
      some one.

   {To} {take, or have}, {the law of}, to bring the law to bear
      upon; as, to take the law of one's neighbor. --Addison.

   {Wager of law}. See under {Wager}.

   Syn: Justice; equity.

   Usage: {Law}, {Statute}, {Common law}, {Regulation}, {Edict},
          {Decree}. Law is generic, and, when used with
          reference to, or in connection with, the other words
          here considered, denotes whatever is commanded by one
          who has a right to require obedience. A statute is a
          particular law drawn out in form, and distinctly
          enacted and proclaimed. Common law is a rule of action
          founded on long usage and the decisions of courts of
          justice. A regulation is a limited and often,
          temporary law, intended to secure some particular end
          or object. An edict is a command or law issued by a
          sovereign, and is peculiar to a despotic government. A
          decree is a permanent order either of a court or of
          the executive government. See {Justice}.

Wager \Wa"ger\, n. [OE. wager, wajour, OF. wagiere, or wageure,
   E. gageure. See {Wage}, v. t.]
   1. Something deposited, laid, or hazarded on the event of a
      contest or an unsettled question; a bet; a stake; a
      pledge.

            Besides these plates for horse races, the wagers may
            be as the persons please.             --Sir W.
                                                  Temple.

            If any atheist can stake his soul for a wager
            against such an inexhaustible disproportion, let him
            never hereafter accuse others of credulity.
                                                  --Bentley.

   2. (Law) A contract by which two parties or more agree that a
      certain sum of money, or other thing, shall be paid or
      delivered to one of them, on the happening or not
      happening of an uncertain event. --Bouvier.

   Note: At common law a wager is considered as a legal contract
         which the courts must enforce unless it be on a subject
         contrary to public policy, or immoral, or tending to
         the detriment of the public, or affecting the interest,
         feelings, or character of a third person. In many of
         the United States an action can not be sustained upon
         any wager or bet. --Chitty. --Bouvier.

   3. That on which bets are laid; the subject of a bet.

   {Wager of battel}, or {Wager of battle} (O. Eng. Law), the
      giving of gage, or pledge, for trying a cause by single
      combat, formerly allowed in military, criminal, and civil
      causes. In writs of right, where the trial was by
      champions, the tenant produced his champion, who, by
      throwing down his glove as a gage, thus waged, or
      stipulated, battle with the champion of the demandant,
      who, by taking up the glove, accepted the challenge. The
      wager of battel, which has been long in disuse, was
      abolished in England in 1819, by a statute passed in
      consequence of a defendant's having waged his battle in a
      case which arose about that period. See {Battel}.

   {Wager of law} (Law), the giving of gage, or sureties, by a
      defendant in an action of debt, that at a certain day
      assigned he would take a law, or oath, in open court, that
      he did not owe the debt, and at the same time bring with
      him eleven neighbors (called compurgators), who should
      avow upon their oaths that they believed in their
      consciences that he spoke the truth.

   {Wager policy}. (Insurance Law) See under {Policy}.