Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MU-NI'CI-PAL, a. [Fr. from L. municipalis, from municeps, a person who enjoys the rights of a free citizen; munus, office, duty, and capio, to take.]

1. Pertaining to a corporation or city; as, municipal rights; municipal officers.
2. Pertaining to a state, kingdom or nation. Municipal law is properly defined to be a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state. Blackstone. Municipal, as used by the Romans, originally designated that which pertained to a municipium, a free city or town. It still retains this limited sense, but we have extended it to what belongs to a state or nation, as a distinct, independent body. Municipal law or regulation respects solely the citizens of a state, and is thus distinguished from commercial law, political laws and the law of nations.