Edict

The written law of a king. After his seal was put on it, the law was read in public. Disobeying a king’s edict was a crime punishable by death. Pharaoh made an edict that all Hebrew boy babies were to be killed. In the time of Esther, the king made an edict that all Jews were to be killed. Many of these laws could not be changed, even by the king.