Forms: 3, 5–6 statuit, 4 statout, 4–7 statut, 6 statuytt, 4– statute. (Also ESTATUTE 1514–1610.) Pl. 3–4 statuz (z = ts), 4 statutz, 5 statutez, statuitz, 6 statewes, 9 dial. (sense 6) stattice, stattits. [a. F. statut (OF. also estatut, whence ESTATUTE), ad. late L. statūtum decree, decision, law, subst. use of neut. pa. pple. of statuĕre to set up, establish, decree, f. sta- root of stāre to stand. Cf. Pr. statut-s, Sp., Pg. estatuto, It. statuto.]
I. 1. A law or decree made by a sovereign or a legislative authority. Now rare or Obs. in general sense.
c. 1290. Beket, 759, in S. Eng. Leg., 128. I not ȝwat is þe newe statuit þat þu þencst forth to drawe.
13[?]. Cursor M., 13613 (Gött.). Þe Iuus … had mad … A statute again iesus crist, If ani wold him leue or loute, Þair synagoge suld be put vte.
c. 1325. Song Flemish Insurr., in Pol. Songs (1839), 183. The Kyng of Fraunce made statuz newe In the lond of Flaundres.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 365. [Aristotle] made statutes to iustefie þe citees of Grees [orig. justificationes urbium Graecarum].
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., I. § 10. 6. The names of thise Monthes were cleped in Arabycus, somme for hir propretes, & some by statutz of lordes, some by other lordes of Rome.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle, IV. xxix. (1859), 61. Ordynaunces of pryuate lawes in Reames … ben cleped statutes, for they sholde be stabelly kepte.
1520. Caxton’s Chron. Eng., III. 20 b. They made this statut that a consules sholde be chosen, and they sholde governe the cyte and the people.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 222 b. To this article also perteyneth the decrees, counseyles & statutes of the chirche.
1535. Coverdale, Dan. vi. 13. Daniel … (O kynge) regardeth nether the ner thy statute that thou hast made.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., IV. i. 213. All Pompe and Maiestie I doe forsweare:… My Acts, Decrees, and Statutes I denie.
c. 1670. Hobbes, Dial. Com. Laws (1681), 30. The Positive Laws of all places are Statutes.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IX. 127. By these no statutes and no rights are known.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 385. When I behold … Each wanton judge new penal statutes draw.
b. Applied to an ordinance or decree of God, a deity, fate, etc.
c. 1381. Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 387. Ȝe knowe wel how seynt volantynys day By myn statute … Ȝe come for to cheese … Ȝoure makis. Ibid. (c. 1393), Envoy to Scogan, 1. To-brokene ben þe statutis in heuene Þat creat were eternally to dure.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. xiii. 72. Quhilk, weill I wait, is Na wys include in statutis of the fatis.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxviii. 12. Praysed be thou O Lorde, O teach me thy statutes.
a. 1631. Donne, Holy Sonn., xvi. Men argue yet, Whether a man those statutes can fulfill.
1707. Watts, Hymns, ‘How honourable is the Place,’ iii. Enter ye Nations that obey The Statutes of our King.
c. A law made by a guild or corporation for the conduct of its members; a by-law of a borough; a provision in a municipal charter.
1389. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 100. These been ye statuz of ye gylde of ye holy prophete Seynt Jon baptist.
1429. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 346/2. In the Statuitz of the honourable Ordre of the Gartier.
1509. in Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.), I. 277. They bothe offendid the statute of the Cyte thervppon made.
1538. Latimer, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. III. 204. Hytt were gode you wolde sum tyme sende for Masters of Collegis in Cambryge and Oxforde with there Statuytts, ande yf the Statuytts be natt god and to the furtherance of god lettres, change them.
1546. in J. Bulloch, Pynours (1887), 64. Tha chesit Johne Vodman and Hungre Jok decanis of the said craft to causs this present Statut to be obseruit.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., I. ii. 6. This very day a Syracusian Marchant Is apprehended … And not being able to buy out his life, According to the statute of the towne, Dies ere the wearie sunne set in the West.
1641. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 204. Local statutes to appoint sermons almost every day.
1702. Charlett, in Pepys’ Diary (1879), VI. 251. At a weekly meeting, which by our statutes is every Monday, consisting of the V.C., Heads of Colleges and Halls, and the two Proctors, I moved [etc.].
1785. Paley, Mor. Philos., III. I. xxi. The statutes of some colleges forbid the speaking of any language but Latin within the walls.
1808. Scott, Marm., II. xix. The statutes of whose order strict On iron table lay.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Universities, Wks. (Bohn), II. 90. Oxford … is still governed by the statutes of Archbishop Laud.
† d. gen. An authoritative rule or direction.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., Prol. 3/68. The .5. partie shal ben an introductorie aftur the statutz of owre doctours. Ibid., II. § 4. 18/10. After the statutz of Astrologiens.
1605. A. Warren, Poor Man’s Pass., B 1 b. And I shall die vntested in my death, Doubting least mine Executors refuse The statute of my Testament to vse.
2. An enactment, containing one or more legislative provisions, made by the legislature of a country at one time, and expressed in a formal document; the document in which such an enactment is expressed.
In England, Scotland, and Ireland, statute is in general synonymous with ‘Act of Parliament’ (see, however, quot. 1765), but the designation is applied also to certain early enactments by the king and his council before the rise of regular parliaments.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 327. Euery statut koude he pleyn by rote.
1386. Rolls of Parlt., III. 226/1. The Statut ordeigned and made bi Parlement. Ibid. (1434), V. 438/2. Lawes, custumes and Statutes of his Reaume.
a. 1475. Ashby, Active Policy, 522. Aftur the statutes autorised By noble Kynges your progenitours.
1532. Dial. on Laws Eng., II. xlvi. 116 b. Sometyme in diuers statutes penalles they yt be ignoraunt be excused.
1552. Bury Wills (Camden), 142. Ye booke of ye Kings Statuts.
1556. Ir. Act 3 & 4 Ph. & Mary, c. 14. The moost auncynt statuits of this realme.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxxi. § 16. A testimonie vpon the credite whereof sundry statutes of the Realme are built.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1655), IV. xlix. 117. To Dye once is that uncancell’d debt Which Nature claymes, and raiseth by Eschet On all Mankind by an old Statute past Primo Adami.
1683. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., I. 21. Other duties by any law or statute due to vs.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. Introd. § 3. 85, note. All the acts of one session of parliament taken together make properly but one statute; and therefore when two sessions have been held in one year, we usually mention stat. 1. or 2. Thus the bill of rights is cited, as 1 W. & M. st. 2. c. 2.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 44. The famous statute, called the Declaration of Right.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 795. But (after argument) it was holden, that the case was not within the statute.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Ability, Wks. (Bohn), II. 43. Their social classes are made by statute.
1858. Ld. St. Leonards, Handy-bk. Prop. Law, xiii. 80. A remedy is afforded by statute.
1871. C. Davies, Metric Syst., III. 116. By this statute the ale gallon was expressly declared to be the eighth part of the measure of the bushel. Ibid., 230. Rhode Island has no statute on the subject.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., II. xvii. 585. The statute is a law or an amendment of law, enacted by the king in parliament, and enrolled in the statute roll.
1910. J. Dowden, Medieval Ch. Scot., ii. 27. In 1390 another Act was passed by Parliament strengthening the earlier statute.
† b. By († the) statute: according to the measure, price or rate appointed by statute. Hence, by fixed rule, strictly. Obs.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 377, in Babees Bk. Be statut he schalle take þat on þe day.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 12. An acre of grounde, by the statute, that is to say xvi. fote and a half to the perche or pole.
a. 1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., II. 174/2. Hee will pay him by the Statute.
1642. Milton, Apol. Smect., 4. One who makes sentences by the Statute, as if all above three inches long were confiscat.
1781. Cowper, Table-T., 72. Nor judge by statute a believer’s hope.
c. With identifying designation.
Certain early statutes are currently designated from the place at which the parliament was held, as Statute of Acton Burnell, Statute of Lincoln, Statute of Westminster, etc. Others are named from their subject, as Statute of Labourers, of Limitations, of Provisors, of Treasons, of Uses, etc. (see those words).
Bloody Statute: a popular name for the Act 31 Hen. VIII. c. 4, called the Law of the Six Articles, imposing severe penalties on all who disputed certain articles of faith (see SIX a. 1 d).
a. 1325. trans. Hengham Parva, MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 70 b. Seche þe auctorite in þe furste statut of Westmunstre.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Hen. VIII. (1649), 446. The Six Articles, called by some the Bloody Statute, were also enacted this Parliament [1539].
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. xx. 324. The statute of frauds 29 Car. II.
1860. Forster, Gr. Remonstr., 41. The long and remarkable reign of Edward the First’s grandson is the date of the Statute of Treasons, one of the greatest gains to constitutional freedom.
1902. W. T. S. Hewitt, Terms & Phr. Eng. Hist., 34. Statute of Fines.… (4 Henry VII) … intended to put a check on suits for the recovery of lands…. Statute of Grace. A Bill of Indemnity for all political offences, passed in 1690 (William and Mary)…. Statute of Kilkenny. This statute, passed in 1366 (Edward III), forbade the adoption of the Irish language, name or dress by any man of English blood.
3. In international law, [= F. statut personnel, réel] Personal statute: the system of law to which an alien party to a process is personally subject, as distinguished from real statute, the system of law to which the particular transaction is otherwise subject.
1907. E. J. Schuster, Princ. Ger. Civ. Law, 26. The question as to what law is to be applied for the determination of any particular crime frequently depends upon the so-called ‘personal statute’ of one of the parties.
1907. Parl. Papers, Rep. Egypt & Soudan, 20. The foreigner resident in Egypt is fully entitled to retain his Consular Court as a Court of Personal Statute.
1907. E. H. Young, in Law Q. Rev., XXIII. 155. The true province of the ‘real statute’ and of the ‘personal statute.’
II. Uses originating in ellipsis.
† 4. Applied to certain legal instruments or procedures based on the authority of a statute. a. A STATUTE MERCHANT or STATUTE STAPLE; a bond or recognizance by which the creditor had the power of holding the debtor’s lands in case of default. b. Statute of bankrupt, statute of lunacy: the process by which a person was declared a bankrupt or a lunatic. Obs.
a. 1475. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 120/2. By any statut or recouvere extended.
1596. Bacon, Maxims Com. Law, i. (1636), 2. If I be bound to enter into a statute before the Mayor of the Staple at such a day.
1598. Chapman, Blinde Begger, C 3 b. He onely did agree that paying him foure thousand pound at the day I should receiue my statute safely.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., cxxxiv. 9. The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take. Ibid. (1602), Ham., V. i. 113. This fellow might be in’s time a great buyer of Land, with his Statutes, his Recognizances, his Fines.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Noble Gent., I. i. Take up at any Use, give Band, or Land, Or mighty Statutes, able by their strength, To tye up Sampson.
1668. Sir J. Denham, in Wills from Doctors’ Comm. (Camden), 121. Three judgments or statuts which I have upon the manor of Thorpe.
1678. Butler, Lady’s Answ., 83. What tender Sigh and Trickling tear, Longs for a Thousand Pound a year. And Languishing Transports, are Fond Of Statute, Mortgage, Bill and Bond.
1701. Sedley, Mulberry Gard., V. 1. He that marries her shall give the other a statute upon his estate for two thousand pounds.
b. 1707. Hearne, Collect., 7 June (O.H.S.), II. 19. A Statute of Bankrupt was out against him.
1742. C. Yorke, in G. Harris, Life Ld. Hardwicke (1847), II. 20–1. Dean Swift has had a statute of lunacy taken out against him.
† 5. A kind of cloth, of breadth fixed by statute.
Cf. statute-galloon, -lace in 8 b.
1466. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 328. For xxiij. narow clothes called statutes.
1545. Rates Custom Ho., d iij. vi. Statutes for a clothe. Ibid. (1583), G ij. Rates for clothes … Statewes.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 96. Certaine clothes called Statutes, and others called Cardinal-whites.
6. (sing. and pl.) [Short for † statute-sessions: see 9.] A fair or gathering held annually in certain towns and villages for the hiring of servants. Also called statute-fair, -hiring (see 9).
a. 1600. Deloney, Thomas of Reading (1612). I heare that at the Statute folkes do come of purpose to hire seruants.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Statutes is also used in our vulgar talk, for the perit Sessions, which are yearly kept for the disposing of Servants in service, by the Statutes of 1, and 5 Eliz. cap. 4.
1668. O. Heywood, Diaries (1883), III. 101. 14 persons were going over the boate to Normanton statutes.
1763. Bickerstaff, Love in Village, I. vi. You must know there is a statute, a fair for hiring servants, held upon my green to-day.
1770. C. Jenner, Placid Man, IV. vii. What then are we to hire lovers at a statute?
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 33. Statute and feast his village yearly knew.
1847. T. Miller, Pict. Country Life, 157. A Country Statute (or ‘Stattice,’ as it is always pronounced by the villagers) is a rural feast or wake, where farmers hire their assistants,… held both in villages and small market towns.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, I. vi. 135. I hired you at Treddles’on stattits, without a bit o’ character.
1897. Sheffield Chron., 16 Dec., 9. Ashbourne Statutes.—The Annual Statutes fair for hiring farm servants was held yesterday.
III. 7. Misused for STATUE sb.
Now only an illiterate blunder; in some early instances the confusion may have been helped by the knowledge of the literal sense of L. statutum, ‘something set up.’
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 5641. With ilk a statute þat þar stude stoutely enarmed.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., x. 25. This Virgilie made by his crafte an ymage or a statute.
1615. A. Stafford, Heav. Dogge, 89. Suffer not sycophants to perswade thee to the erecting of thy statutes.
1649. Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees), 334. A statute of brasse.
1650. Earl Monm., trans. Senault’s Man bec. Guilty, 345. They … put their trust in Gods made of clay and wood, and consulted with statutes.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), IV. 277. Their statutes with garlands adorning.
[1880. Tennyson, Village Wife, vii. An’ ’e bowt little statutes all-naäkt an’ which was a shaame to be seen.]
IV. attrib. and Comb.
8. a. quasi-adj., with the senses ‘fixed by statute,’ ‘recognized by statute,’ ‘statutory.’ Also transf. of what is prescribed by custom.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 46. Not only convincible and statute madnesse, but also manifest impiety.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 91. These Nations are well ring’d for rooting, and enjoy the Statute beauty of our Swine.
a. 1687. Petty, Polit. Arith. (1690), Pref. a 3. Those who can give good Security, may have Money under the Statute-Interest.
1831. W. L. Bowles, Life Bp. Ken, II. 229, note. Informator is the statute-name of the head-master [of Winchester].
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Result, Wks. (Bohn), II. 134. At home they have a certain statute hospitality.
b. designating a unit of measure or weight as fixed by statute, as in statute acre, mile, perch, pole, ton; articles of merchandise of size regulated by statute, as † statute brick, † fringe, † galloon, † lace, † yarn.
1590. Lucar, Lucarsolace, I. ii. 8, marg. A *statute acar of land doth contain … 4840 square yardes.
1861. Times, 16 Oct., 8/2. Ground for potatoes being let near Kells at 5l. to more than 6l. per statute acre.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 43. *Statute-bricks.
1771. Encycl. Brit., I. 676/1. Statute bricks, or small common bricks.
1594. in Archæol. Cant. (1886), XVI. 191. For 6 oz. and 1/2 *statute fringe, ijs. ijd.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 460/2. *Statute galloon. These are narrow cotton or silk ribbons, employed for the binding of flannels.
1590. in Antiquary, XXXII. 118. xij yeards *stattute lace, xii d.
1592. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees), II. 211. ij grose of statute lace 12s.
1612. W. Parkes, Curtaine-Dr. (1876), 23. A Curtaine … and that a gawdy one, imbrodred with Statute-lace.
a. 1652. Brome, Queen & Concubine, IV. i. (1659), 76. And can you handle the Bobbins well, good Woman? Make statute-Lace?
1610. Hopton, Baculum Geodæt., VI. lii. 263. To reduce *Statute measure into customary measure.
1889. Skrine, Mem. E. Thring, 122. The statute measures of things were startlingly discredited.
1862. Ansted, Channel Isl., I. v. 92. It is about eleven *statute miles in length.
1590. Lucar, Lucarsolace, I. ii. 8. 5 meating yards and 1/2 meating yeard make a *statute pearch.
1766. Complete Farmer, s.v. Surveying 7 F 1 b/1 Four *statute-poles or perches.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 457/1. 418 *statute tons.
1598. Florio, Accia,… spinning cruell or *statute yearne.
c. objective, as statute-breaker, -drawer.
a. 1831. Bentham, Nomogr., iii. Wks. 1843, III. 242. The productions of an official statute-drawer.
1909. Q. Rev., Oct., 386. Where morality thus becomes a question of locality, and right and wrong are matters of geography, a statute-breaker is but little oppressed with a sense of moral guilt.
9. Special comb.: statute-barred a., (of debts, claims) barred by the statute of limitations; † statute-cap, the woollen cap ordered by the Act of 13 Eliz. c. 19 (1571) to be worn on Sundays and holy days by all persons not of a certain social or official rank; † statute congregation, a separatist designation for a congregation of the established church; statute duty = statute-labor; statute-execution, the summary execution of a statute-merchant (see 4 a); statute fair, statute hiring = sense 6; † statute hall, a building open at the ‘statutes’ (see 6) for hiring of servants; statute labo(u)r, a definite amount of labor on works of public utility, formerly required by statute to be performed by the residents in the district interested (also attrib.); so statute labo(u)rer; statute law, a law contained in a statute; also in generalized sense, the system of law contained in statutes, as distinguished from common law; statute money, money paid as commutation for statute labor; † statute-Protestant (see quot. a. 1591); statute-roll, the roll on which the statutes are engrossed; often = STATUTE-BOOK 2; † statute-sessions = sense 6 (see quot. 1607); statute-work = statute labor.
1905. Daily Chron., 8 Aug., 2/7. A desire to liquidate debts that were *statute-barred.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 281. Better wits haue worne plain *statute caps.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., Pref. viii. § 1. [The separatists say:] we thinke the *statute-congregations in Englande to be no true Christian Churches.
c. 1830. Pract. Treat. Roads, 25, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. The system of *statute-duty naturally induces a larger outlay to take place in horse labour, than would otherwise occur.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. xxxi. 487. It hath also been held, that under a commission of bankrupt, which is in the nature of a *statute-execution, the landlord shall be allowed his arrears of rent … in preference to other creditors.
1826. Hor. Smith, Tor Hill, I. 89. The *statute-fair had a few days before completely exhausted their little hoards of half-pence and farthings.
1863. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, i. Many a rustic went to a statute fair or ‘mop,’ and never came home to tell of his hiring.
1772. Town & Country Mag., 33/1. She … resolved … to repair to one of the *Statute-halls, in order to obtain a place in quality of servants.
1878. J. H. Gray, China, I. x. 240. For these servants there are what in England are termed *statute hirings.
1800. Local Act 39 & 40 Geo. III., c. xxxii. An Act for levying a Conversion Money in lieu of the *Statute Labour [on roads].
1845. W. Pagan, Road Reform, III. 208. There is an excellent statute labour road diverging at Leslie.
1847. Jrnl. Agric. 1847–49, 65. The 8th and 9th Vict. c. 41 (the general statute labour act,) which § 9 enacts [etc.].
1612. R. Daborne, Christian turn’d Turke, 886. He would haue me a cuckold by law forsooth, by *statute law.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Discov., Poesis. There is no Statute Law of the Kingdome bidds you bee a Poet, against your will.
a. 1653. Sir R. Filmer, Patriarcha, iii. § 11 (1680), 115. What is hitherto affirmed of the Dependency and Subjection of the Common Law to the Soveraign Prince, the same may be said as well of all Statute Laws.
1818. Hallam, Mid. Ages, viii. III. (1819), III. 225. Though the statute law is full of authorities in their favour.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., I. ii. 10. The system of jurisprudence … is in a great measure independent of statute-law.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 363. That the commissioners of supply, as public bodies in separate counties,… should borrow money, upon the credit of the *statute money.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1622), 544. *Statute-Protestants, which goe to the Church and heare an Homily, and receiue once a yeere.
1818. Hallam, Mid. Ages, viii. III. (1819), III. 71. These petitions … were … entered upon the *statute-roll.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xviii. 274. His statute-roll contains no acts for securing or increasing public liberties.
1607. Cowell, Interpr., *Statute sessions … are a meeting in every hundred … vnto the which the constables doe repaire, and others both householders and seruants, for the debating of differences between masters and their seruants, the rating of seruants wages, and the bestowing of such people in seruice, as being fit to serue, either refuse to seeke, or cannot get Masters.
1726. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 63. The roads … cannot be sufficiently repair’d by the *statute work.
1807. Beverley & Kexby Road Act, 7. All persons who by law are or shall be liable to do Statute Work.
