Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence

Right of search. The right of a public vessel to examine and inspect the papers of a neutral vessel; of a suspected slaver, &c.; on the high seas, and the goods on board. Right of

q. V. It was the form of allegthe defendant in his own defence against the plaintiff's first assault.

Formal words introduced at the conclusion of a traverse. Their object is to put the party whose pleading is traversed not only to the proof that the matter of fact denied is, in it

Lunacy, commission of. An authority in writing authorizing an inquiry into the mental condition of some person alleged to be of unsound mind. Lupl Qum caput gerere. To bear a wolf'

Non sum informatus. I am not informed; I have not been instructed. The name of a judgment in a species of default, founded on an averment by the defendant's attorney that he has no

1. In former English conveyancing, something appended to a larger writing, to operate as a codicil. Wharton. 2. Also a narrow slip of paper afl Sxed to a deed or writ to bear the s

In its vernacular sense of work, service of the more onerous and inferior kind, labor is often used in statutes, such as laws forbidding labor on Sunday, laws giving a lien or priv

In English statutes, this term is generally understood to designate a servant employed in husbandry or manufactures, and not dwelling in the home of his employer. Numerous statutor

Slackness; neglect; remissness; delay or neglect in making a claim or enforcing a right, which, if not excused, as by ignorance or legal disability, will operate to bar a remedy wh

Has no definite legal signification in the United States, as designating a class entitled to any peculiar privileges. In England, it denotes a woman of rank; and is a title belongi

Goods found adrift at sea. See LiGAN. When mariners in danger of shipwreck cast goods out of the ship, and fasten a buoy to them, that they may find them again, these goods are cal

In England, where clergymen of the established church are a distinct rank or class, in legal cognizance, the word laity has a definite legal meaning, as including all persons who a

In many legal connections, is used as if meaning more than the soil or ground, and as if coextensive ■with " realty " and " real property." Philosophically, it seems more correct t

Means a wharfage-place for craft, not a harbor for them, whether laden or empty. Hays v. Briggs, 74 Pa. Si. 373.

In modern usage, signifies one who, being the owner of a superior estate in realty, leases or lets it to another, in consideration of a rent or service reserved. • When the absolut

The designation, upon English estates, of a person whose business it is to overlook certain parts of a farm or estate; to attend not only to the woods and hedge-timber, but also as

A tax upon the beneficial owner of land, which has, in modern times (so Sugden says), superseded other methods of taxation in England, and appears to embody the principle upon whic

The correlative of landlord.

n. A slip or failure. Lapse, 1 v.: to slip, fail, or pass away from the original destination. Lapsed: that which has failed or passed aside. The noun lapse, as applied to a devise

adj. This word is used, in the vernacular sense, in legal phrases. Last heir. In English real-property law, signifies the person to whom lands came by escheat for want of lawful he

n. In old English law, signifies a burden -^also, a measure of weight used for certain commodities of the bulkier sort. " Ballast," or the burden needed to trim a vessel, pei'haps

In such expreasiona aa " J. B., late a resident of this state," means last, or recently, in a place or office. It ia a legal term, and, as such, is in the superlative degree, and m

An ambiguity (q. v.) which does not appear upon a bare inspection of the language of an instrument, but is raised by some extrinsic evidence concerning the subject-matter. The impo

Is used by Sir Edward Coke for an interpreter. (2 Inst. 616.) It seems that the word is mistaken, and should be Latiner, because lieretofore he that understood Latin, which, in the

Three causes made the Latin language useful and important in early English jurispnidence: 1. Its conciseness, expressiveness, and adaptability to condensation fitted it, in early t

He lies hid. The name of a writ, in old English practice, requiring the defendant to answer in a personal action in the court of king's bench. It issued upon the theory that the de

After-math, q. v. LAUREATE; LAUREAT. An officer of the household of the sovereign, whose business consists only in composing an ode annually, on the sovereign's birthable victory.

This vernacular term for a professional person whose business it is to conduct proceedings, or draught papers, by which rights may be secured or wrongs redressed, is but little use

V. A term in pleading, meaning to allege or state. Thus to lay an offence, or a wrong, is to allege the act for which the indictment or declaration seeks redress. To lay damages is

n. A share of the profits of a fishing or whaling voyage, which is, by the usages of those employments, commonly allotted to each officer and seaman, as his compensation, and in li

adj. In English law, not clerical or ecclesiastical. See Laity. In America, where clergymen are not a distinct rank, in a legal sense, lay is employed as opposed to professional. I

A specified number of days, usually allowed by stipulation, in a chartei'-party, for loading and unloading the cargo. 3 Kent Com. 202. They are also called running days. 2 Steph. C

The phrase laying out, as used in the Connecticut statute relating to highways, includes not, only the initiatory act of laying out the road by the selectmen, but also the acceptan

Occurs in some technical phrases. To lead a use. A deed made previous to a fine and recovery, in old English conveyancing, for the purpose of directing to what uses they should ope

1. Loss or waste, in liquids, which has arisen from a portion escaping from the cask or vessel. When leakage is predicable of "ullage" or " wantage " in a bottle, though the cork i

Is an assurance of property for life, or years, or at will, and for less time than he that leases has in the property; and usually made upon consideration of payment of a rent or o

0. The expressions to leave a state and to, remove from a state are not always synonymous; but in La. Code I'r. arts. 212, 214, authorizing holding a debtor to bail who is about to

n. Consent; permission. Thus the expression leave of court is often used to signify permission granted by the court to a party to do something which, without such permission, would

See Coukt-leet.

A gift of personal property by will. The term is equivalent to bequest (see Bequeath); and, when properly used, is opposed to devise, which signifies a testamentary disposition of

1. Allowed by or conformable to law; obedient to the rules of law applicable to the subject; not inconsistent with the law of the land, as legal interest for use of money. 2. Cogni

A lawful man; a person who stands rectus in curia; a person not outlawed, excommunicated, or infamous; it occurs in the phrase, p7-nbi el legalis homines (good and lawful men, comp

1. The quality or virtue in an act, proceeding, instrument, relation, &c., of conformity to law. Usually, conformity to the law as an entirety is intended; the noun is not used (li

To render lawful; to give authority of law to that which lacks it. Legalization; the conferting validity upon an act, contract, &c., which previous law does not authorize. The gene

The title of an ambassador or envoy from the pope to the court of a catholic sovereign or nation. There have been three kinds: Legates a latere, being such as the pope commissions

A person to whom personal property is given by will; the retation, a donee of personal or movable estate; but it may be construed to mean a donee of real estate, whenever a testato

An embassy; a diplomatic mission. The persons associated in the performance of diplomatic service, upon a commission from one power at the seat of government of another, are styled

A legacy. Legatum generis. A legacy by kind. A gift merely indicating the kind of thing, as "a horse," without designating which one. Legatum liberationis. A legacy of a discharge.

To make laws. Legislator: one authorized to make laws, or, sometimes, a member of the law-making body. Legislature: the body of persons in.the state clothed with authority to enact

Lawfulness; and, particularly, the status or civil condition of a child born in wedlock. Legitimate: lawful; authorized; made or done of right. Thus a child lawfully begotten is of

The Latin adverb, meaning lawfully, legitimately. Legitime imperanti parere necesse est. To one lawfully commanding, it is necessary to yield obedience.

For one who has charge of a pistol belonging to another to consent that a third person should take it away for a temporary use, is to "lend" it, within a statute making it a misdem

The old law-French word for the king. Le roy le veut. The king wills it. The form of giving the royal assent in England to acts of parliament of a public nature. During the reign o

In case of a, sale, it is competent for the purchaser to rescind the contract on account of lesion, i, e. the worsened value of thing sold, when it exceeds respect, but he must exe

These phrases are employed in the old law of conveyancing to point out the mode in which releases of land operate. A release might be a conveyance of a right to a person in possess

1. In old English, as a verb, to hinder or obstruct; also a noun, a hindrance or obstruction; also an adjective, hindered, obstructed. 2. In modern English, as verb or adjective (w

In French law, a letter. It is used, like our English " letter," for a formal instrument giving authority. Lettres de cachet. Letters issued and signed by the kings of France, and

Those degrees of kindred enumerated by the 18, and adopted by English and American law generally, as being so near that persons within them must not intermarry.

n. and v. 1. The verb, in old English law, was used to signify to raise or lift up; to cast or throw up; to set or put up; to erect or build; to make or construct. To levy a house

The name of a court of subordinate jurisdiction, formerly held in each of the counties of Maryland, of much the same grade, and clothed with substantially the same powers, as the c

Law. The old French equivalent of the English word law, and the Latin lex. Frequently used, like those words, in the technical sense of an oath with compurgators, or the mode of tr

Amenability or responsibility to law; the condition of one who is subject to a charge or duty which may be judicially enforced. Liable: amenable or chargeable in some judicial proc

«. 1. The name of a wrong, also an offence, consisting in a censorious or ridiculing writing, picture, or sign, made with a mischievous and malicious intent towards government, mag

A little book. LibelluB conventionis. The civillaw term for the statement of a plaintiff 's claim in a petition presented to the magistrate, who directed an officer to deliver it t

n. A book. A subdivision of a literary work; used in many codes or digests of the law, as the Paridects. Liber assisarum. The book of assizes or pleas of the crown, being the fifth

adj. Free; exempt from the power or authority of another; exempt from a charge or burden. Liber homo. A free man. 1. In the Roman law, every man not a 2. In early English law, a ma

Deliver ye. The name of an old English writ which used to issue out of chancery, under the great seal. It might be directed to the treasurer, chamberlain, and barons of the exchequ

1. Liberty is often used in jurisprudence in its general vernacular sense of freedom; exemption from bondage or servitude. Thus the law, in common with philosophy, speaks often of

A pound. Denotes the sum of money equivalent to a pound sterling. Occurs in early English records and writings, generally with some qualifying words annexed; as, librae arsae, poun

Leave; license; permission. English practice, to the leave granted, in an action for levying a fine of lands, to the defendant to come to an agreement with the plaintiff; which was

1. In its original and more general sense, licentiousness means doing what one pleases, unrestrained by any regard for the rights of others. It differs from liberty, in conveying a

1. It is lawful; it is allowable. 2. Although. In this sense, the word imports a direct affirmation. Licet ssepius requisitus. Although often requested. The emphatic words, in the

To subsist; to exist; to be sustainable, &c. Thus the phrase, " an action will not lie" signifies that an action cannot be sustained, or that there is no ground upon which to found

A term of the feudal law ■which is differently explained. Upon the whole, it seems probable that it was originally used as a noun, with the meaning of a bond or tie. Then it came t

For some ptirposes, life is recognized as commencing from conception; particularly for those in which beneficial interests of the child are involved, such as its capacity to inheri

Goods left adrift at sea, but attached to something in the nature of a buoy, in hope of preserving them to their owner. See Lagan.

An old form of allegiance, q. V.

Besides the vernacular sense of this word, two or three somewhat technical uses of it are found. 1. It is nearly equivalent to window, except that openings are termed lights when t

A small vessel employed in unlading (lightening) vessels whose draught prevents their coming to wharf. Lighterage: the business of bringing in cargo from vessels too large to come

As used in a will, was held equivalent to " also," rather than to " in like manner." State I3ank v. Ewing, 17 Ind. 68.

V. To fix the extent or length; to mark the end; to set a boimd. To limit an estate, means to mark out or to define the period of its duration; and the words employed in deeds for

n.; LIMITATION. Limit is chiefly used in its vernacular sense of a boundary, restriction, or termination of a subject in any respect; while limitation has a technical use, when res

Confined within positive bounds; curtailed; restricted in duration, extent, or scope. Limited administration. An administration of a temporary character, granted for a particular p

One of the inns of court within which the chancery courts are held, with the exception of the rolls court, which sits in Bolls Yard, Chancery Lane. Maz Uy Sf W. LINE; LINEA. 1. The

Is used in the law of descent more narrowly than line; it implies direct course; immediate descent. Collateral relationship is not called lineal, though the expression collateral l

To adjust or settle an indebtedness; to determine an amount to be paid. Liquidated: adjusted, certain, or settled in respect to amount. Liquidation: the act of determining what amo

In a statute restricting the sale of liquors, should be understood to mean only spirituous or intoxicating liquor. State V. Townley, 18 N. J. L. 311, '321. "Liquors" commonly inclu

A controversy; a dispute; particularly, a legal controversy; an action or proceeding in law. Lis mota. A controversy begun; a dispute arisen. This refers to the origin of a controv

Is used, without deviation from its vernacular meaning of a catalogue, roll, or orderly statement of names, to denote various tabular statements used in law proceedings; as the arg

The Latin word for which "letter" is the English equivalent. It is used, also the plural, literae, in the Roman law and in the law Latin in the same way as we use "letter" and "let

1. In American and English law, generally means, according to language; following expression in words. Thus a literal construction of a document is one which adheres closely to its

Pertaining to polite learning; connected with the study or use of books and writings. Literary property. A distinction is to be taken between literary property (which is the natura

A party to a lawsuit. May mean either a plaintiff or defendant; but is usually spoken of active parties, not of nominal ones.

Lat.; LITIGATE, Eng. To prosecute or contest a judicial proceeding; to carry on or defend a suit. Litigated: involved in a suit; questioned or brought forward for detei Tnination i

1. In a use peculiar to jurisprudence, litigious means subject to a lawsuit; open to judicial controversy; that which may be claimed and determined in the courts. Thus, in French l

A judge of the English common pleas, in the reign of Edward IV., who was celebrated as the author of a treatise of tenures, upon which Chief Justice Coke has written an extensive c

1. The act or form whereby possession of lands was, in former English law, given or assumed. Livery, in respect to realty, corresponds to delivei-y, spoken of chattels; not that li

An association in the city of London, the members of which underwrite each other's policies. In the times of William the Third and Queen Anne, when coffee-houses in London were the

This word indicates the depth to which a ship is loaded so as to sink in salt-water. Section 6 of the merchant shipping act of 1876 (38 & 39 Vict, ch. 88) prescribes that every own