Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) An ordinance; a decree; an act of the legislature of a state or country, declaring, commanding, or prohibiting something; a positive law; the written will of the legislature expressed with all the requisite forms of legislation; -- used in distinction from common law. See Common.

2. (n.) An act of a corporation or of its founder, intended as a permanent rule or law; as, the statutes of a university.

3. (n.) An assemblage of farming servants (held possibly by statute) for the purpose of being hired; -- called also statute fair.