The Manusmṛti (or "Laws of Manu", also known as Mānava-Dharmaśāstra) is the most important and earliest metrical work of the Dharmaśāstra textual tradition of Hinduism.
The text presents itself as a discourse given by Manu, the progenitor of mankind, to a group of seers, or rishis, who beseech him to tell them the "law of all the social classes" (1.2). Manu became the standard point of reference for all future Dharmaśāstras that followed it. According to Hindu tradition, the Manu smruti records the words of Brahma.
The Sanskrit text was edited in 1913 by P. H. Pandya and in 1920 by J.R. Gharpure. The text was first translated into English (from manuscripts) in 1794 by Sir William Jones.