| 释义 |
by-law, bye-law|ˈbaɪlɔː|
Also 4 bilage, 4–6 bilawe, 6–7 by-lawe.
[In sense 1 apparently (from the identity of meaning, and the identification of bylaw-man (see below) with byrlaw-man) a doublet of byrlaw. The difference of form would be explained by the derivation of bylaw from the stem instead of the genitive case of ON. bý-r, Sw. and Da. by, ‘dwelling-place, farm, village, township, town’: cf. the Dan. bylag, Sw. byalag, bylag, mentioned below. It is less probable that bylaw might be formed in England itself from the same elements: cf. by n.1; but it might be a corruption of byr-law either phonetic, or due to confusion with the adverbial prefix by-. The earliest examples of the word refer to Kent: the difficulty of assigning a Scandinavian etymology to the local name of a Kentish custom is obvious, but cf. quot. 1292 under byrlaw from an assize held in Devonshire, and quot. 1370 for the general use of bylaw in sense 2. Sense 3 however shows that the word was in the 16th c. used as if f. by adv. + law, analogous to by-name, by-path, by-way; and this is the way in which sense 2 is now understood and used. This may have been, in its origin, merely a mistaken interpretation, but it is also possible that a word may have been formed independently from these elements, without influence of the Scandinavian word, although naturally falling together with it in the general sense of subsidiary or side-law.
The compounds actually found in the Scandinavian langs. are Da. bylag, explained by Molbech as ‘Forening imellem alle eller endeel Bönder i en Landsby, Bymenighed’, i.e. ‘association between all or some of the farmers in a rural township, bymenighed’, the latter being further said to be ‘the community of citizens in a town, of farmers in a rural township, etc.’; also Sw. byalag, bylag, village community. In ON. lag had, among other senses, that of ‘fellowship’; the pl. lög those of ‘law’, ‘law-community or association’, and ‘law-district’ (cf. the Dena-lagu or Dane-law). The sing. has given Sw. and Dan. lag-et; the pl. Sw. lag-en, Da. lov-en ‘law’. The word belagines, alleged by Jordanis to be Gothic for ‘written law’, has sometimes been referred to in this connexion; but it can have no relation to the Eng. word.]
†1. Apparently the same as byrlaw: occurring in the 13th c. as the name of a custom (in Kent) according to which disputes concerning boundaries were settled outside the law courts, on the testimony of neighbours, by official or specially deputed arbitrators. Obs.
1283in W. Thorn Chronica (Twysden p. 1936) [Abbas Nicholaus ordinavit] Item si contingat quæstionem moveri inter nos [monks of St. Augustine, Canterbury] & archiepiscopum vel ejus tenentes de subtractionibus, purpresturis, dampnis seu aliis injuriis hinc inde factis, quod consuetudo illa quæ dicitur bilage observetur. 1303ibid. Ad sextum articulum petitur, quid intelligitur per hanc dictionem Bilage. ‘Dicunt quod quidam usus vel consuetudo, qui Bilage in partibus Kantiæ vulgaliter appellatur, sic se habere consuevit: quod cum contentio vel controversia aliqua suborta fuerit inter aliquos super finibus, seu limitibus, debent seneschalli seu ballivi partium, vel aliæ personæ fide dignæ, ad hoc per partes specialiter deputatæ, in loco de quo est contentio convenire, remque oculis subicere, informationeque per viros vicinos fide dignos habita, absque strepitu judiciali, & figura judicii, mox totam dirimere quæstionem.
b. Often specially applied to ordinances made by common assent in a Court-leet or Court-baron. Cf. bylaw-man.
1607Cowell Interpr., Bilawes [ed. 16 adds ‘or rather By-laws, that is Laws made obiter or by the By’] are orders made in court leets or court Barons by common assent, for the good of those that make them, farder then the publique law doth binde. These in Scotland are called (burlawe) or (birlawe) Skene de Verb. Sign. verbo Burlawe. 1622Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 230 Also Ordinances may be made by the power of a Court, as in a Court Baron to make Orders, or by the Inhabitants of a Town by Custom..And these are more properly by-Laws then Laws. 1642N. Riding Rec. IV. 225 A Barmeby gent. presented for not paying the sum in which he was assessed according to an ancient custom of the inhabitants called a Bylaw. 1676Coles, Bylaw, Burlaw or Byrlaw, laws determined by persons elected by common consent of neighbours. 1689Selden Table Talk, Convocation §2 A Court-Leet, where they have a power to make By-Laws, as they call them. 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. I. v. 91 In the courts of the manor are transacted the other remaining portions of the old township jurisdiction; the enforcing of pains and penalties on the breakers of by-laws, etc.
c. In Old Danish, bylag had also the sense ‘Payment or contribution in order to receive citizenship or the freedom of the by’ (see Kalkar); the following quotation applies the name to a proportional charge or assessment made for a local purpose: cf. 1642 in b.
1691Blount Law Dict. s.v. Bi-scot, 9 Edw. 3, At a Session of Sewers held at Wigenhale in Norfolk, it was decreed, That if any one in those parts of Marchland, should not repair his proportion of the Banks, Ditches and Causeys, by a day assigned, xiid. for every Perch unrepaired (which is called a Bilaw) should be levied upon him.
2. A ‘law’ or ordinance dealing with matters of local or internal regulation, made by a local authority, or by the members of a corporation or association. More particularly: An ordinance made by the members of a corporation for the better government of their own body, or for the regulation of their dealings with the public; in modern times most commonly (as by railway companies) in the exercise of powers expressly conferred by the Legislature.
a. of a town or local authority.
1370Yearbook 44 Edw. III, 19 Inhabitants dun ville, sauns ascun custome poient fayre ordinaunces ou Bilawes pur reparation del Eglise, ou dun haut voy, ou dascun tiel chose, que est pur le bien publique generalment, & in tiel case le greinderpart liera touts sauns ascun custome. 1622Bacon Hen. VII, Wks. (Bohn) 459 There was likewise a law to restrain the by-laws, or ordinances of corporations. 1628Coke On Litt. 110 b, An vpland Towne may alledge a Custome..to make By-lawes for the reparations of the Church, the well ordering of the Commons, etc. 1732(title) City Liberties..and Bye Laws, relating to Carts, Coaches, Fire-cocks, Fairs, etc. 1815Scott Guy M. xxiii, A by-law of the corporation of Newcastle.
b. of a society or corporation.
1366–80Wyclif Wks. (1880) 276 Þat þe ordre of presthod..be holden..sikerer þan ony newe secte wiþ bilawes, customes, obseruancis founden of synful men. 1523in Turner Sel. Records Oxford 40 By lawes wch the..Schollers..have made. 1681Trial S. Colledge 98, I heard a man was in trouble..upon a By-Law in the Stationers Company. 1694Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 355 The new bank..have appointed a committee of 15 to make by laws. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. xi. 450 The power of making by⁓laws, subject to parliamentary control. Mod. Prosecuted for a breach of the Company's Bye-Laws.
3. A secondary, subordinate, or accessory law.
1541Coverdale Old Faith vi. Wks. 1844 I. 41 As for all the laws and ordinances which afterward were added unto these two tables, they were not joined thereunto as principal laws, but as by-laws. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 209 Great Philosophers..proudly think t' unriddle ev'ry Cause, That Nature uses, by their own By-laws. a1719Addison (J.) In the beginning..is inserted the law or institution; to which are added two by-laws, as a comment upon the general law. 1780Sir J. Reynolds Disc. x. (1876) 13 In detail, or what may be called the by-laws of each art.
Hence bylaw-man = byrlaw-man.
1590Court-leet Rec. Manchester in Athenæum 2 Aug. (1879) 146 Bylawmen. 1620Acc. Feoffees of Comm. Lands Rotherham, ibid. 9 Aug., Bye-lawe men with the rest of the neabors..The multitude of pore people which follow the Bye-law men. 1622― Ale and bread which was bestowed on the Bylaw⁓men. a1800Form of Bylawmen's Oath, formerly used in the Cholmley Courts (MS. communicated by Rev. J. C. Atkinson) ‘You shall well and truly execute the office of Bylawman for the year ensuing for the Township of ―, and you shall take care that the commons and common fields be broken at the usual time, that the common gates, fences, and bridges be duly made and repaired, and the bylaws be duly kept and observed, etc.’ 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. I. v. 91 note, The officers elected [at Aldborough, Yorksh.] in the ninth of Charles I were four by-lawmen or plebiscitarii, two constables, etc. |