lay down the law

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lay down the law (third-person singular simple present lays down the law, present participle laying down the law, simple past and past participle laid down the law)

1. To promulgate law.
   • 1982, “Mesopotamia”, performed by The B-52's:

     Six or eight thousand years ago / They laid down the law / In Mesopotamia

   • 2004, John Lierman, The New Testament Moses, page 125:

     [I]n other words, some Jews thought of Moses as the one who laid down the Law, while others saw him more as a prophet.

2. (law, dated) To present the law that applies to a given case.
3. (idiomatic) To authoritatively or dogmatically assert what is permitted or not permitted.
   • 1818, Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, chapter 4:

     He concluded this sentence with a self-important cough, as one who has laid down the law in an indisputable manner.

   • 1908, Upton Sinclair, The Moneychangers, chapter 19:

     Montague could picture the grim, hawk-faced old man, sitting at the head of the council board, and laying down the law to the masters of the Metropolis.

   • 2003, Robert Ludlum with Gayle Lynds, The Altman code, page 357:

     Looks like the governor's laid down the law about the guards getting too lax, so we have to be damned careful.

• read the riot act