Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A local law; a law made by a municipality or by a rural community for the regulation of affairs within its authority; an ordinance.
  • noun Hence A standing rule of a legislative body, a corporation, or a society, made for the regulation of its internal organization and conduct, and distinguished from a provision of its constitution in being more particular and more readily altered.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A local or subordinate law; a private law or regulation made by a corporation for its own government.
  • noun A law that is less important than a general law or constitutional provision, and subsidiary to it; a rule relating to a matter of detail; as, civic societies often adopt a constitution and by-laws for the government of their members. In this sense the word has probably been influenced by by, meaning secondary or aside.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative spelling of bylaw.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a rule adopted by an organization in order to regulate its own affairs and the behavior of its members

Etymologies

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