Black's Law Dictionary

He who grants a lease. Viterbo v. Friedlander, 120 U. S. 707, 7 Sup. Ct 962, 30 In Ed. 776. —Lessor of the plaintiff. In the action of ejectment, this was the party who really and

In the action of ejectment, this was the party who really and in effect prosecuted the action and was interested in its result. The reason of his having been so called arose from t

Fr. In French maritime law. Ballast. Ord. Mar. liv. 4, tit 4, art. 1.

Lestage free or exempt from the duty of paying ballast money CowelL

A cnstom for carrying things in fairs and markets. Fleta. 1. 1, c. 47; Termes de la Ley.

Lastage or lestage; a duty laid on the cargo of a ship. Cowell

Pastures. Domesday; Co.. Litt. 4b. A term often inserted in old deeds and conveyances. Cowell.

n. In old conveyancing. Hindrance; obstruction; interruption. Still occasionally used in the phrase "without any let, suit, trouble," etc. v. In conveyancing. To demise or lease. "

In Scotch law. A deadly weapon. See State v. Godfrey, 17 Or. 300, 20 Pac. 625, 11 Am. St. Rep. 830.

In practice. To admit a party as a matter of favor; as to open a judgment and "let the defendant in" to a defense.

In Spanish law. An advocate. White, New Recop. hi 1, tit. 1, c. 1, § 3, note.

1. One of the arbitrary marks or characters constituting the alphabet, and used in written language as the representatives of sounds or articulations of the human organs of speech.

An employe of the post-office, whose duty it is to carry letters from the post-office to the persons to whom they are addressed. — into some other order of religion. Jacob.

A communication from one person to another, advising or warning the latter of something which he ought to know, and commonly apprising him beforehand of some act done by the writer

A power of attorney; a written instrument by which one person constitutes another his true and lawful attorney, in order that the latter may de for the former, and in his place and

An open or sealed letter, from a merchant in one place, directed to another, in another place or country, requiring him, if a person therein named, or the bearer of the letter, sha

In English law, a written instrument in the nature of an agreement, signed by all the creditors of a failing or embarrassed debtor in trade, granting him an extension of time for t

A writing whereby one person certifies concerning another that he is of good characterj solvent, possessed of commercial credit, skilled in his trade or profession, or otherwise wo

The instrument by which an administrator or administratrix is authorized by the probate court, surrogate, or other proper officer, to have the charge and administration of the good

In Scotch law. Letters are admissible in evidence against the panel, i. e., the prisoner at the bar, in criminal trials. A letter written by the panel is evidence against him; not

In Scotch law. A warrant granted at the suit of a prisoner for citing witnesses in his own defense.

See Fire and Sword.

These words, "marque" and "reprisal," are frequently used as synonymous, but, taken in their strict etymological sense, the latter signifies a "inking in return ;" the former, the

A formal instrument by which an inferior judge of ecolesiastical jurisdiction requests the judge of a superior court to take and determine any matter which has come before him, the

No subject of a nation at war with England can, by the law of nations, come into the realm, nor can travel himself upon the high seas, or send his goods and merchandise from one pl

Letters subscribed by the relatives of a person who had been slain, declaring that they had received an assythment, and concurring in an application to the crown for a pardon to th

In Scotch practice. A process by which a party not residing within the jurisdiction of an inferior court may be cited to appear before It Bell.

Open letters, as distinguished from letters close. An instrument proceeding from the government, and conveying a right, authority, or grant to an individual, as a patent for a trac

A formal communication in writing, sent by a court in which an action is pending to a court or judse of a foreign country, requesting that the testimony of a witness resident withi

The formal instrument of authority and appointment given to an executor by the proper court, upon the admission of the will to probate, empowering him to enter upon the discharge o

Tbe act of awarding a contract; e, g, a construction contract or contract for carrying the mails.

Fr. 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,

Letters issued and signed by the kings of France, and countersigned by a secretary of state, authorising the Imprisonment of a person. Abol-lished during the revolution of 1789.

In old French law. A league, consisting of fifteen hundred paces. Spelman. In old English law. A league or mile of a thousand paces. Domesday; Spelman. A privileged space around a

Lat For the sake of lightening the ship; denotes a purpose of throwing overboard goods, which renders them subjects of general average.

Rising up and lying down. A term applied to cattle. 3 Bl. Comm. 9. The Latin equivalent of "levant et eouchant."

L. Fr. Ris ing up and lying down. A term applied to trespassing cattle which have remained long enough upon land to have lain down to rest and risen up to feed; generally the space

Lat. A writ of execution directing the sheriff to cause to be made of the lands and chattels of the judgment debtor the sum recovered by the judgment Pentland v. Kelly, 6 Watts & S

A writ formerly directed to the sheriff for the levying of damages, which a disseisor had been condemned to pay to the disseisee. Cowell — Levari facias quando vicecomes returaa-vi

An old writ directed to the sheriff for levying the remnant of a partly-satisfied debt upon the lands and tenements or chattels of the debtor. Cowell.

Lat. An expression used in the Roman law, and applied to the trial of wreck and salvage. Commentators disagree about the origin of the expression; but all agree that its general me

An embankment or artificial mound of earth constructed uiong the margin of a river, to confine the stream to its natural channel or prevent inundation or overflow. State v. New Orl

A municipal subdivision of a state (which may or may not be a public corporation) organized for the purpose, and charged with the duty, of constructing and maintaining such levees

That which may be levied. That which is a proper or permissible subject for a levy; as, a "leviable interest" in land. See Bray v. Ragsdale, 53 Mo. 172.

In Roman law. A husband's brother; a wife's brother-in-law. Calvin.

Lat. Light; slight; trifling. Levis culpa, slight fault or neglect. Levissima culpa, the slightest neglect. Levis nota, a slight mark or brand. See Brand v. Schenectady & T. R. Ch,

Degrees of kindred within which persons are prohibited to marry. They are set forth in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus.

n. In practice. A seizure; the raising of the money for which an exechtion has bcen issued. —Equitable levy. The lien in equity created by the filing of a creditors' bili to subjec

A court formerly existing in the District of Columbia. It was a body charged with the administration of the ministerial and financial duties of Washington county. It was charged wi

In criminal law. The assembling of a body of men for the purpose of effecting by force a' treasonable object; and all who perform any part, however minute, or however remote from t

To raise; execute; exact; collect; gather; take up; seise. Thus, to levy (ralse or collect) a tax; to levy (raise or set up) a nuisance; to levy (acknowledge) a flne; to levy (inau

Llcontlousness; an offense against the public economy, when of an an open and notorious character; as by frequenting houses of ill fame, which is an indictable offense or by some g

Lat. In the Roman law. Law; a law; the law. This term was often used as the synonym of jus, in the sense of a rule of civll conduct authoritatively prescribed for the government of

Law delights In equity. Jenk. Cent p. 36, ease 69.

The agrarian law. A law proposed by Tiberius Gracchus, A. U. C. 620, that no one should possess more than five hundred acres of land; and that three commissioners should be appoint

The law of the Alemanni ; first reduced to writing from the customs of the country, by Theodoric, king of the Franks, A. D. 512. Amended and re-enacted by Clotaire II. Spelman —Lex

Law sometimes follows equity. 3 Wils. 119.

One who is an infamous, perjured, or outlawed person. Bract, lib. 4, c. I9.

A law which provided that a third person who purchased a claim or debt for less than its true or nominal value should not be permitted to recover from the debtor more than the pric

The law of England. The common law. Or, the curtesy of England.

9 Coke, 22a. The law of England does not suffer an absurdity.

Co. Litt. 123. The law of England roles that the offspring shall always follow the condition of the father, never that of the mother.

2 Inst. 218. The law of England cannot be changed but by parliament.

A law giving to one of several joint sureties or guarantors, who had paid more than his proportion of the debt secured, a right of action for reimbursement against his co-sureties

A thing contrary to law. Jacob.

In old English and Norman law. Apparent or manifest law. A term used to denote the trial by battel or duel, and the trial by ordeal, "lex" having the sense of process of law. Calle

The Aquilian law; a celebrated law passed on the proposition of the tribune C. Aquilius Gallus, A. U. C. 672, regulating the compensation to be made for that kind of damage called

The Atilian Jaw; a law of Rome proposed by the tribune L. Atilius Regulus, A. U. C. 443, regulating the appointment of guardians.

The Atinian law; a law declaring that the property in things stolen shonid not be acquired by prescription, (usucapione.) Inst. 2, 6, 2; Adams, Rom. Ant. 207.

2 Inst. 315. The law of England is a law of mercy.

The barbarian law. The laws of those nations that were not subject to the Roman empire were so called. Spelman.

2 Inst. 689. A beneficial law affords a remedy for a similar case.

The Brehon or Irish law, overthrown by King John. See Brehon Law.

The law of the ancient Britons, or Marches of Wales. Cowell.

The law of the Burgundians, a barbarous nation of Europe, first compiled and published by Gundebald, one of the last of their kings, about A. D. 500. Spelman.

A statute which introduced and authorized new and more simple methods of instituting actions at law.

A law relating to the form and prosecution of actions for the recovery of specific chattels other than money. See Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 203.

A law prohibiting gifts or donations of property beyond a certain measure, except in the case of near kinsmen.

The law will more readily tolerate a private loss than a public evil. Co. Litt. 152.

A law which abolished the ancient guardianship of adult women by their male agnate relations. See Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 615.

The law of the county, or that administered in the county court before the earl or his deputy. Spelman.

A law by which a debtor and creditor might agree (where a thing bad been pledged to the latter to secure the debt) that, if the debtor did not pay at the day, the pledge should bec

The common law. See Jus Commune.

The law admits no proof against that which it presumes. Lofft, 573

The Cornelian law ; a law passed by the dictator L. Co.rnelius Sylla, providing remedies for certain injuries, as for battery, forcible entry of another's house, etc. Calvin.

The Co.melian law respecting forgery or counterfeiting. Passed by the dictator Sylla. Dig. 48, 10; Calvin. —-Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis. The Cornelian law respecting ass

The law of the Danes; Dane-law or Dane-iage. Spelman.

The proof of a thing which one denies to be done by him, where another affirms it; defeating the assertion of his adversary, and showing it be against reason or probability. This w

Co. Litt. 107. The law cannot be defective in dispensing justice.

The law provides for the future, the judge for the past.

2 Inst. 240. The law always abhors delays.

The law of the domicile. 2 Kent, Comm. 112, 433.

Law is from everlasting. A strong expression to denote the remote antiquity of the law. Jenk. Cent. p. 34, case 66.

Law is the dictate of reason. Jenk. Cent p. 117, case 33. The common law will judge according to the law of nature and the publlc good.

Law is a rule of right. Branch, Princ.

Law is the perfection of reason, which commands what is usefni and necessary, and forbids the contrary. Co. Litt. 319b; Id. 97b.

Law is a sacred sanction, commanding what is right, and prohibiting the contrary. 2 Inst 587.

Law is the safest heimet; under the shield of the law no one is deceived. 2 Inst. 56.

The law and custom (or usage) of parliament. The houses of parliament constitute a court not only of legislation. but also of justice, and have their own rules, by which the court

The law and custom of the realin. One of the names of the common law. Hale, Com. Law, 52.