Examples:

• The transport ministers do not entirely lay down the law in this field.
• It feels so much more comfortable simply to lay down the law.
• The United States is in a position to lay down the law to the international community.
• This is not so in this case, as Parliament and the Council lay down the law together, but the Council decides the implementing measures on its own.
• At the end there is a complicated appendix which seeks to lay down the law on the specifications for codends and even the exact size and shape of codend buoys.
• We strongly disagree with Mr Hughes, of the British Labour Party, that the European Union should lay down the law with regard to the work/life/family balance of people everywhere.
• It would have been more correct to say that you cannot continually lay down the law, regulate and tie everything up with red tape all week long and then expect a friendly 'yes' from the people on Sunday.
• The proposal by Mrs Peijs and myself also seeks to bring the banks together around one table, not to lay down the law, but because we simply cannot increase the pressure any further from the political side.
• The second statement opens the door for the EU to override national governments and lay down the law on how cross-border healthcare is reimbursed, leading inevitably to how healthcare as a whole is funded and managed.