lodestar

1. (figurative) A guiding tenet or principle.Examples: "Selfe loue, to him ſelf tender, to the reſt tough, / Is, of iuſt iuſtice, neither roote, braunce, nor bough. / Loue (namely ſelfe loue) corruptibly growyng, / Is cheefe lodeſter of lets, in iuſtice ſhowing."; "May we not define its true aim to be that of awakening in the heart those feelings towards moral and religious objects, which like attractions drawing towards the great lodestars of existence, shall ever keep the life right and stedfast?"; "We need a new lodestar, a new map of the world that once again includes a distant, uncharted continent—“Utopia.”"

2. (law) A calculated amount to award as attorney's fees derived by multiplying the reasonable number of hours spent working on a case by the reasonable hourly billing rate.Examples: "Many, though not all, of the objections to lodestars seem to us to be overstated."