lawman Now chiefly Hist.
(ˈlɔːmən)
[f. law n.1 + man; the OE. lahmann was prob. a. ON. laga-, lǫgmann- (nom. -maðr), whence Anglo-Latin lagamannus, lagemannus, by some writers on legal antiquities anglicized as lageman.]
1. OE. Law. a. One whose official duty it was to declare the law. (Kingsley's use is incorrect.)
| a 1000 Ordin. Dunsætas c. 3 in Schmid Gesetze 360, xii lahmen scylon riht tæcean Wealan and ænglan, vi Englisce and vi Wylisce. ? a 1200 Laws Edw. Conf. c. 38 ibid. 518 Postea inquirat justicia per lagemannos. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xx, ‘Where is the lawman of the town?’ ‘I was lawman last night, to see such law done as there is left’, said Pery. |
b. In the five Danish boroughs, one of a specified number of magistrates or aldermen (in some cases twelve). (As our knowledge of this class of officials is mainly derived from Domesday, which uses the latinized form lagemannus, the word often appears Hist. as lageman.)
| 1086 Domesday Bk. (1783) I. 336 In ipsa ciuitate erant .xii. Lageman idest habentes sacam & socam. 1672 Cowell Interpr., Lageman Homo habens legem, or as we term it, Homo legalis, such as we now call Good men of the Jury. 1675 Ogilby Brit. 156 Lincoln..in Doomsday-Book accounted..900 Burgesses, with 12 Lage-men having Sac and Soc. c 1818 Britton Lincolnsh. 796 In the time of the Conqueror, Stamford was governed by the lagemen or aldermen. 1864 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. IV. 5 Lincoln's Lawmen kept their statutes. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xxi. 578 York..retained..vestiges of the constitutional government by its lawmen which had existed before the Conquest. 1897 Maitland Domesday & Beyond 89 The lawmen of Stamford had sake and soke within their houses. |
2. Orkney and Shetland. The president of the supreme court in the Orkney and the Shetland Islands respectively. Also lawman-general. (The Scandinavian form lagman occurs in historical use.)
| 1554 tr. Diploma Bp. Orkney in Bannatyne Cl. Misc. III. (1855) 84 The seill of..Henrie Randale lawman [orig. legiferi]. 1576 in Oppress. Orkney & Zetld. (1859) 36 The electione of Nichole Ayth..to the office of Lawman-generale of all Zetland. Ibid. 37 Quhilk the said Lawman keipit and observit as ane just bismeyre all his dayis. 1805 Barry Orkney 217 The President, or principal person in the Lawting, was named the Great Foud or Lagman. 1892 G. Goudie in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scotl. XXVI. 190 A functionary termed the ‘Lawman’ held the important office of legal adviser and judge of assize, and had generally the superintendence of the framing and interpretation of the law... The office of Lawman was apparently elective. |
3. A man of law, lawyer. Obs. exc. as nonce-wd.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 87 He hes gart seik in mony sindrie land..Leichis, lawmen, and mony vther mo. 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. Ded., The study of the law,..by these lawmens report, is so hard. 1694 R. L'Estrange Fables ccxxvii. (1714) 247 Nothing Commoner in Times of Danger than for Law-Men to leave their Masters. 1830 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1858) II. 177 Mr. Howard the artist, who resides..with his brother, I think, who is a lawman. |
4. A law enforcement officer. colloq.
| 1959 P. Cook in Granta 6 June 33/1 Had he actually seen the rough law-men bundle the startled Widow into the Black Maria? 1962 R. Barker Clue for Murder ix. 57 Some lawmen took a delight in seeing the criminal squirm. 1972 Radio Times 30 Mar. 14/4 A retired lawman, still sporting a tin star, demonstrated how he could kill with either hand. 1973 J. Wainwright Devil you Don't 65 He surely hated Davis... He also hated this goddam lawman. |