A Dictionary of Law

In the civil law. A defamatory publication; a publication injuriously affecting character; a libel. Inst. 4, 4, 1; Dig. 47, 10; Cod. 9, 36.

In Seotch law. ‘The instrument which contains the charge against a person aceused eee ofacrime. Libels are of two kinds, namely, indictments and criminal letters.

Defamatory; of the nature of a libel; constiluting or involving libel.

Lat. <A book, of whatever material composed; a main division of a literary work. Also, a8 an adjective, free or exempt.

A livery or delivery of s0 much corn or grass to a customary tenant, who cut down or prepared the said grass or corn, and received some part or small portion of it as a reward or g

In old records, A. free boat; the right of having a boat to fish in a certain water; a species of free fishery.

A judicial writ granted to a person for a frea chase belonging to his manor after proof made by inquiry of a jury that the same of right belongs to him, Wharton.

Inold English law. Free law; frank law; the law of the land. uished from such men as have lost the efit and protection of the law in conseence of crime, Hence this term denoted sta

To lose one’s free law, (called the villainous judgment,) to become discredited or disabled as juror and witness, to forfeit goods and chattels and lands for life, to have those la

In old English law. A free fishery. Co. Litt. 122c.

In the civillaw. Tofree or set free; to liberate; to give one his liber-, ty. Calvin. In old English law. To deliver, transfer, or hand over. Applied to writs, panels of jurors, et

The Book of Assizes. <A collection of cases that arose on assizes and other trials in the country. It was the fourth volume ofthe reports of the reign of Edward Ill. 3 Reeve, Eng.

In old English law. Livery; money paid for the delivery or use of a thing. In old Scotch law. Livery; afee given to a servant or otlicer. Skene. Money, meat, drink, clothes, etc.,

In old English law. Free warren, (q. ¥.)

Inold English law. Free bench. Bract. fol. 97%.

In Saxon lew. Freemen; the possessurs of allodial lands. 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 5. In the civil law. Children. The term included “grandchildren.”

The book ot judgment, or doom-book. The Saxon Domboc. Conjectured to be a book of statutes of ancient Saxon kings.

Black book. Aname given to several ancient records,

(the black book of the king’s household.) The title of a book in which there is an account of the household establishment of King Mdward LY., and of the several musicians retained

The black book of the exchequer, attributed te Gervase of Tilbury. 1 Reeve, Eng, Law, 220, note.

The red book of the exchequer. 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 220, note.

Liberty; freedom; a privilege; a franchise.

Church liberty, or ecclesiastical immunity. Gibertas est naturalis facultas ejus quod cuique facere libet, nisi quod de juro aut vi prohibetur. Co. Litt. 116. Liberty is that natur

A writ lying for a citizen or burgess, impleaded contrary to his liberty, to have his privilege allowed. Reg. Orig. 262. LIBERTATIBUS EXIGENDIS IN

LIBERTINI. In Boman law. Freedmen. There seems to have been some difference in the use of these two words; the former denoting the manumitted slaves considered in their relations w

A destroyer of liberty. Libertinum ingratum leges civiles in pristinam servitutem redigunt; sed leges Anglis semel manumissum semper liberum judicant. Co. Litt.137. Thecivil laws r

1. Freedom; exemption from extraneous control. The power of the will, in its moral freedom, to follaw the dictates of its unrestricted choice, and to direct the external acts of th

Freedom ac. corded by the constitution or laws of a state to express opinions and facts by word of mouth, uncontrolled by any censorship or restrictions of government.

The right to print and publish the truth, from good motives and for justifiable ends. 3 Johna, Cus. 394. The right freely to publish whatever the citizen may please, and to be prot

A priyilege to go ont of the Fleet and Marshalsea prisons within certain limits, and there reside. Abolished by 5 & 6 Vict. c. 22.

The liberty of having a courtofone’sown. Thus, certain lords had the privilege of holding pleas within their own manors. Liberum corpus nullam recipit estimationem. Dig. 9, 8, 7. T

In old English law, Frank-marriage. Bract. fol. 2.

Inold English law. A pound; ~ alw assum of money equal to a pound ster- Hass. LIZR 1 ARSA. Inold Englishlaw. A pond burned; that is, melter, or assayed by melting, to test its puri

A pound of money counted instead of being weighed. Spelman.

In Roman law. <A wrilar or amanuensis; a copyist. Dig. 50, 17, 92.

A portion of ground containing four oxgangs, and every oxgang fourteen acres. Cowell. This is the same with what in Scotland was called “poundland” of ald extent. Wharton.

In Roman law. A weigher or balance-holder. The person who held a brazen balance in the ceremony of emancipation per ws et libram. Inst. 2, 10, 1. Librorum appellatione continentur

An of: ficer of the army whose rank is above thatof &@ major and below that of a colonel.

In Spanish law. An attorney or advocate; particularly, a person admitted to the degree of “Licentiate in Jurisprudence” by any of the literary universities of Spain, and who is the

In the law of contracts. A permission, accorded by a competent authority, conferring the right to do some act which without such authorization would be illegal, or would bea trespa

A term applied, in England, to all persons selling any kind of intoxicating liquor under a license from the Justices of tha peace, Wharton,

A person to whom a license has been granted. In patent law. Ona who has had trans. ferred to him, either in wriling or orally, a less or different interest than either the interest

This expression is applied by Hallam (Const. Hist. c. 13) to acts of parliament for the restraint of printing, except by license. It muy aiso be applied to any act of parliament pa

The person who gives or grants a license.

Lat. In old practice and conveyancing. License or leave to agree; one of the proceedings on levying a fine of lands. 2 Bl. Comm. 350.

Lat. In old practice. Leave to speak, (é e, with the plaintiff;) an imparlance; or rather leave to imparl. 3 BL Comin, 299.

Lat. In old English practice. License to arise; permission given by the court to a tenant in a real action, who had cast an essoin de malo /ecti, to arise out of his bed, which he

One who has license to practice any art or faculty.

Lat. A writ or warrant directed to the keeper of the port of Dover, or other seaport, commanding him to let such persons pass over sea as have obtained the royal license thereunto.

The indulgence of the arbitrary will of the individual, without regard to ethics or law, or respect for the rights of others. In this it differs from “liberty;” for the latter term

Lat. To be lawful; to be allowed or permitted by law. Carvin. LICERE£, LICERI. Lat. In Roman

In Spanish law. The offering for sale at public auction ofan estate or property held by co-leirs or joint proprie tors, which cannot be divided up without det riment to the whole.

Lat. In Roman law. To offer a price at a sale; to bid; to bid often; te make several bids, one above another. Calyin.

In the civil law. An offering for sale to the highest bidder, or to him who will give most for a thing. An act by which co-heirs or other co-proprietors of a thing in common and un

In Roman law. A bidder at a sale.

Inold English law. A free and j Jawfulman. A term applied to a juror, from the earliest period.

An old form of “lieutenant,” and stil] retained us the vulgar pronunciation of the word.

Homage which, when performed by one sovereign prince to another, included fealty and services, as opposed to simple homage, which was a mere acknowledsment of tenure. (1 Bi. Comm.

A sovereign; a superior lord. LIEGs POUSTIE. In Scotch -law. That state of health which gives a person full power to dispose of, mortis eausi or otherwise, his heritable property.

Hethat oweth allegiance. Cowell.

or LEGER. A resident ambassador.

or LIEGE PEOPLE. Subjects.

Property is ‘said to “lie in franchise” when it is of such a nature that the persons entitled thereto _ may seize it without the aid of a court; e. g., wrecks, waifs, estrays.

A term applied to corporeal hereditaments, freeholds, etc., signifying that they pass by livery, not by the mere force of the grant.

A qualified right of property which a creditor has in or over specific property of bis debtor, as security for the debt or charge or for perforimance of some act. In every case in

The commencement of a covenant stating the names of the covenantors and covenuniees, and the character of the covenant, whether joint or several. Wharton.

The person having or owning a lien; one who has aright of lien upon property of another.

To adjoin. A coltage must have had four acres of land laid toit. See 2 Show. 279.

Fr. Place; room. It is only used with “in;” in (éew, insteud of. Ene. Lond.

Fr. Inold pleading. A known place; a place well known and generally takeu notice of by those who dwell aboutit, as acastle, a manor, ete. Whishaw; 1 Ld. Raym. 259.

COMMISSION OF. See COMMISSION OF ARRAY.

1. A deputy; substitute; an officer who supplies the place of another; one acting by vicarious authority. Etywologically, one who holds the post or office of another, in the place

A commissioned officer of the United States navy, whose rank is above that of lieutenant and below that of commander.

An of: ficer in the army, whose rank is above that of major general and below that of “general of the army.” In the United States, this rank is not permanent, being usually created

In English law. <A deputy-governor, acting as the chief civil officer of one of several colonies undera governor general. Webster. In American law. An officer of a state, sometimes

That state of animals and plants, or of an organized being, in which its natural functions and motions are periormed, or in which its organs are capable of performing their functio

An engagement to pay an income yearly during tie life of some person; also the sum thus promised.

An estate whose duration is limited to the life of the party holding it, or of some other person; a freehold estate, not of inheritance.

That kind of insurance in which the risk contemplated is the death of a particular person; upon which curs) the insurer engages to pay a stipulated sim to the legal representatives

Aclaim orinterest, not amounting to ownership, and limited by aterm of life, either that of the person in whom the right is vested or that of another.

or LDIFE-HOLD, Land held on a lease for lives.

Letters patent, conferring the dignity of baron for life only, do not enxble the grantee to sit and vote in the house of lords, not even with the usual writ of summons to the house

A policy of life insurance; a policy of insurance upon the life of an individual.

In Scotch law. An estate for life; a right to the use and enjoyment of an estate or thing for one's life, but without destruction of its substance. They are either legal, such as t

In Scotch law. A tenant for life without waste. Bell,

To raise; to take up. To “lift” 4a promissory note is to discharge its obligatien by paying its amount or substituting another evidence of debt. To “lift the bar” of the statute of

In old European law. A league or confederation. Spelman.

To tle or bind, Bract. fol. 8600.

Allegiance; the faithful obedience of a subject to his sovereign, of a citizento his government. Also, derivatively, the territory of a state or sovereignty.

Lat. Ligeance; allegiance, = Ligeantia est quasi lexis essentia; est vineulum fidei. Ca. Litt,129. Allagianece is, as it were, the essence of law; it is the. chain of faith, Ligean

Im old records. aA liege.

A window, or opening in the wall for the admission of light. Also a privlege or easement to haye light admitted into one’s building by the openings made for that purpose, without o

A small vessel used in loading and unloading ships and steamers,

The business of transferring merchandise to and from vessela by means of lightera; also the compensation or

The master or owner of a lighter. He is liable as a common carrier.

A structure, usually in the form of a tower, containing signal lights for the guidance of vessels at nivht, at dangerous points of a coast, shoals, ete. They are usually erected by

A commission authorized by congress, cousisting of ‘two officers of the navy, two oficers of the corps of engineers of the army, and two civilinns, together with an officer of the

1. Windows; openings in the wall of a house for the admission of light. 2. Signal-lamps on board a vessel or at particular points on the coast, required by the navigation laws to b

LIGHT-VESSEL. <A vessel serving the purpose of a light-hougs, usually at a place where the latter could not weil be built.

A person bound to another by a solemn tie or engagement. Now used to express the relation of a subject to his sovereign. Ligna et lapides sub “armorum” appellatione non continentur