[In sense 1 repr. OE. landlaʓu, f. land LAND sb. + laʓu LAW sb.1; otherwise a modern formation. Cf. ON. lands-lǫg.]

1

  1.  (Also † land’s law.) The law of a land or country; the ‘law of the land.’

2

c. 1000.  Rect. Sing. Pers., c. 4, in Schmid, Gesetze, 376. Ðeos landlaʓu stænt on suman lande. Ibid., c. 21, ibid., 382. Landlaʓa syn mistlice, swa ic ær … sæde.

3

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12095. Þat he yu ne luue mare þan lands lau.

4

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 132. To stryue and plede for worldly possessions by londis lawe.

5

1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxviii. ‘It’s the fashion here for decent bodies, and ilka land has its ain land-law.’

6

  2.  Law, or a law, relating to land considered as property.

7

1878.  N. Amer. Rev., CXXVII. 253. The land-laws of that country.

8

1894.  Daily News, 20 April, 4/7. Mr. John Stuart Mill pointed out that the English land law system was peculiar, and even was alone, among the land law systems of Europe.

9

1894.  F. N. Thorpe, Govt. U.S., 13. Land-laws originate in the use of the land for grazing.

10