unlaw
English edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English unlawe, unlaȝ, unlage, from Old English unlagu (“violation of law, illegality, injustice, lawlessness”), equivalent to un- (“lack or absence of”) + law.
Noun edit
unlaw (usually uncountable, plural unlaws)
- (obsolete) A crime, an illegal action.
- Absence of law; lawlessness.
- 2012, Read I. Myers, The Great Canadian Oligarchy: Flaws in Our Freedoms:
- In regard to abortion we are now lawless. The law of the land is no law at all; that is, unlaw reigns.
- (obsolete) A fine exacted from a transgressor of the law.
Etymology 2 edit
From un- (“reversal, undoing”) + law.
Verb edit
unlaw (third-person singular simple present unlaws, present participle unlawing, simple past and past participle unlawed)
- (transitive) To deprive of the authority or character of law.
- (transitive) To put beyond the protection of the law; to outlaw.
- (transitive, obsolete, Scots law) To fine.