"law of the land" meaning in English

See law of the land in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Head templates: {{head|en|noun}} law of the land
  1. (law) A particular law or the complete set of laws currently in effect within a jurisdiction, especially with emphasis on the official and authoritative nature of such law. Wikipedia link: law of the land Categories (topical): Law Translations (local law or rules): 國法 /国法 (guófǎ) (Chinese Mandarin)
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          "ref": "1724, The Drapier's Letters, Jonathan Swift, Appendix 4:",
          "text": "Besides it must be remembered that precedents in some cases will not excuse a judge, even where they are according to the undoubted law of the land.",
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          "ref": "1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “chapter-7”, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC:",
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          "ref": "1873, Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner, chapter 29, in The Gilded Age:",
          "text": "He confessed that neither he nor any citizen had a right to consult his own feelings or conscience in a case where a law of the land had been violated before his own eyes.",
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          "ref": "1915, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 14, in An Amiable Charlatan:",
          "text": "I am on the side of the established authorities. I am in the cast-iron position of the man who falls into line with the law of the land.",
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          "text": "\"A lot of other people don’t like it. But what’s law is law and you abide by the law of the land.\"",
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          "ref": "2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:",
          "text": "So why not rob these red cloaks? Serves em right for letting their guard down. Isn’t that the unwritten law of the land? If someone gets one up on you, you deserve it for letting them?",
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-02 using wiktextract (9e2b7d3 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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