Edict
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Edict
A decree or law of major import promulgated by a king, queen, or other sovereign of a government.
An edict can be distinguished from a public proclamation in that an edict puts a new statute into effect whereas a public proclamation is no more than a declaration of a law prior to its actual enactment.
Under Roman Law, an edict had different meanings. It was usually a mandate published under the authority of a ruler that commanded the observance of various rules or injunctions. Sometimes, however, an edict was a citation to appear before a judge.
EDICT. A law ordained by the sovereign, by which he forbids or commands
something it extends either to the whole country, or only to some particular
provinces.
2. Edicts are somewhat similar to public proclamations. Their
difference consists in this, that the former have authority and form of law
in themselves, whereas the latter are at most, declarations of a law, before
enacted by congress, or the legislature.
3. Among the Romans this word sometimes signified, a citation to appear
before a judge. The edict of the emperors, also called constitutiones
principum, were new laws which they made of their own motion, either to
decide cases which they had foreseen, or to abolish or change some ancient
laws. They were different from their rescripts or decrees. These edicts were
the sources which contributed to the formation of the Gregorian,
Hermogenian, Theodosian, and Justinian Codes. Vide Dig. 1, 4, 1, 1; Inst. 1,
2, 7; Code, 1, 1 Nov. 139.