Law of the land

For other uses, see Law of the land (disambiguation).

The phrase law of the land is a legal term, equivalent to the Latin lex terrae, or legem terrae in the accusative case.[1] It refers to all of the laws in force within a country or region,[2][3][4][5] including statute law and case-made law.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference oldblack was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law, p. 282 (Merriam-Webster 1996): “The established law of a nation or region”.
  3. ^ Hill, Gerald and Hill, Kathleen. Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary (2009): “The body of rules, regulations, and laws that govern a country or jurisdiction. The United States Constitution declares itself 'the supreme law of the land.'"
  4. ^ Wild, Susan. Webster's New World Law Dictionary (Wiley 2010): “The laws effective in a particular nation.”
  5. ^ Joshi, Sudhanshu. Dictionary on Legal Terms, p. 98 (Excel Books India 2011): “slang term for existing laws”.
  6. ^ Blacks Law Dictionary, p. 1020 (10th ed. 2014) (defining law of the land as "The law in effect in a country and applicable to its members, whether the law is statutory, administrative, or case-made.")