decree

noun

1. An edict or law.

   “There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.”

   “Poor hand, why quiverest thou at this decree?”

2. The judicial decision in a litigated cause rendered by a court of equity.
3. The determination of a cause in a court of admiralty or court of probate.
4. A predetermination made by God; an act of providence.

verb

1. To command by a decree.

   “A court decrees a restoration of property.”

   “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.”

   “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.”

   “The Nhasangs themselves are from Ngaba, which is in the Amdo region of northeastern Tibetan, a cultural borderland where Tibetan and Sichuan traditions meet. China has decreed that Ngaba is within Sichuan Province.”