Promulgate

Promulgate (pronounced prom-uhl-geyt or proh-muhl-geyt)

(1) To make known by open declaration; publish; proclaim formally or put into operation a law, decree of a court, etc.

(2) Publicly to set forth or teach a creed, doctrine, etc.

(3) To make widespread.

1520-1530: From the Middle English promulgate (make known by open declaration, publish, announce (a law or decree, news, an event etc), from the Latin promulgatus, past participle of promulgō & prōmulgāre (bring to public knowledge, make publicly known; propose openly, publish), thought perhaps altered from provulgāre (the construct being pro (forth) + vulgāre (make public, publish); root of the latter being vulgus (the common people).  Alternatively, there’s a minority view the second element might be from mulgere (to milk), here used metaphorically in the sense of "cause to emerge or bring fourth" as the milkmaid might squeeze from the udder.  The earlier verb in English was the late fifteenth-century promulge; it’s long been archaic.  The noun promulgation (publication, open declaration) emerged early in the seventeenth century, from the fourteenth century French promulgation, from the  Latin promulgationem (nominative promulgatio) (a public announcement), the noun of action from the past-participle stem of prōmulgāre.Promulgate, promulgated & promulgating are verbs, promulgater, promulgator & promulgation are nouns and promulgatory is an adjective; the noun plural is promulgations.  The form promulgative is non-standard.

Early promulgations were issued sometimes on clay tablets.  Moses descends from Mount Siniai with the Ten Commandments (1662), oil on canvas by Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680).

In law, the act of promulgation is a formal announcement that legislation or some other act of the state has passed into law.  In some jurisdictions, this is merely procedural but in others is a necessity for laws to take effect.  Historically, in English law, an act of parliament, or some other legislative body, was promulgated by ceremonies in designated places when the words were variously read out or posted in writing.  That’s changed and promulgations in the UK now follow royal assent, either by the sovereign appearing in the House of Lords or announcements by Lords Commissioners who announce the act(s), the ceremony held almost always at the Palace of Westminster.  However, this has not been a common practice since the eighteenth century and royal assent is usually granted by the issue of letters patent.

Modern promulgations are posted on Instagram.  Lindsay Lohan & Bader Shammas announce the birth of their first child, July 2023.

In Australia, the process of promulgation is almost always the publication of the details in government gazettes and websites, a process still called gazetting.  The significance of gazetting law is important because of the legal principle ignorantia legis neminem excusat (ignorance of law excuses no one) which hold a person unaware of a law may not escape liability for violating that law merely because they were unaware of its content.  Courts don’t uphold this principle absolutely (as some local government entities which changed by-laws essentially in secret found out) but certainly tend to if things have in some way been appropriately gazetted.  In rare circumstances, promulgation can still be done in the old way: Following the sacking of Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam (1916-2014; prime-minister 1972-1975) in 1975, the governor-general's secretary read the proclamation of dissolution from the steps of old Parliament House.

Etymologists seem generally to find Google's ngrams "interesting but not wholly reliable".  Google note a late-twentieth century resurgence in the use of promulgate after a long decline but since then, it has become rare.