law and order

1. The orderly arrangement of society in which people follow laws and are not disruptive: a breakdown of law and order.

2. The strict enforcement of laws, especially by police action: argued that we should balance law and order with a willingness to listen to people's grievances.

law′-and-or′der adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

law-and-order

(Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (modifier) favouring or advocating strong measures to suppress crime and violence: a law-and-order candidate.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

References in periodicals archive

That's the hope at CBS, where four of the net's five new hours have a law-and-order bent.

Primetime crime rate rises; but too many police dramas could cause casualties in fall. (Fall TV Preview)

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