Nomothet

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who creates or establishes the laws and moral code for a society or state, such as an ancient legislator
2. The founder or framer of a community's legal system, someone who sets down the rules by which people must live
3. One who institutes laws and a governing order for a people, typically a legendary or historical figure of antiquity

Etymology: Ancient Greek "nomothetes" was built from "nomos", "law" or "custom", and "tithenai", "to set down" or "to place", so a "nomothetes" was literally a law-setter. The word was used most famously of Solon, Lycurgus and other legendary figures credited with founding the constitutions of Greek city-states, men who were imagined as laying down an entire body of law at once rather than adjusting it piece by piece. English borrowed the term directly from Greek, and it appears in scholarly writing on ancient history and political philosophy rather than in everyday speech. Its most useful feature is the contrast it draws: the Greeks also had the verb "nomothetein" for the act of enacting laws, which helped separate the founding lawgiver from the ordinary assemblies and courts that interpreted and applied the rules afterwards.

Synonyms: lawgiver