At Law

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia.

At Law

According to law; by, for, or in the law, as in the professional title attorney at law. Within or arising from the traditions of the Common Law as opposed to Equity, the system of law that developed alongside the common law and emphasized fairness and justice rather than enforcement of technical rules.

AT LAW. This phrase is used to point out that a thing is to be done according to the course of the common law; it is distinguished from a proceeding in equity.
2. In many cases when there is no remedy at law, one will be afforded in equity. See 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2411.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.

References in periodicals archive ?

Finally, he worked from a set of developed legal positions, which could in turn be related to his political theory and ultimately to his grandest philosophical schemes, favoring strong royal authority and a flexible, somewhat equitable, notion that "salus populi suprema lex" (the well-being of the people is the highest law), which was in keeping with the inductive method of his natural philosophy and also ran counter to Coke's sense of the rigidity of common law.(46) This new panel decided that neither statute barred recourse to Chancery after a judgment at law.

The original petition, among its complaints, referred to recourse to Chancery after judgments at law. This petition was denied by the King.

Equity and ideas: Coke, Ellesmere, and James I

They meet at law schools and function rooms across the country to discuss and debate the finer points of legal theory and substance on panels that often include liberals--providing friction, stimulus, and the illusion of balance.