martial law

1. 1.

   the body of law imposed by the military over civilian affairs (usually in time of war or civil crisis); overrides civil law

   Broaderlaw

   military · law

Questions about martial law

What does martial law mean?

martial law means "the body of law imposed by the military over civilian affairs (usually in time of war or civil crisis); overrides civil law".

Is martial law a common word?

martial law is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.