the.com/ordinance
A law small enough to fit your city, big enough to ruin your weekend.
means An official rule or law passed by a local governing body, like a city council, to regulate something within its jurisdiction.
from From Old French 'ordenance,' rooted in Latin 'ordinare' — to put in order, arrange, appoint — itself from 'ordo,' meaning row or rank. The same root gives us 'order' and 'ordain.' An ordinance, then, is literally an act of putting things in their proper row: a city deciding where the fences go, when the leaf blowers may scream, how tall your hedge is allowed to dream.
- origin
- from Latin ordinare, to put in order
- scope
- local rule, not federal or state law
- classic example
- noise limits, lawn height, parking bans
- enforcement
- fines, not prison, usually