Black's Law Dictionary

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.

One who holds an estate in lands for the period of his own life or that of another certain person.

To raise; to take up. To "lift" a promissory note is to discharge its obligation 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.

Goods cast into the sea tied to a buoy, so that they may be found again by the owners, are so denominated. When goods are cast into the sea in storms or shipwrecks, and remain ther

To tie or bind. Bract, fol. 369b. To enter into a league or treaty. Spelman.

In old English law. A liege-woman; a female subject. Reg. Orig. 312b.

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

Lat Ligeance; allegiance.

Co. Litt. 129. Allegiance is, as it were, the essence of law; It is the chain of faith.

7 Coke, 10. Natural allegiance is restrained by no barriers, reined by no bounds, compressed by no limits.

In old records. A liege.

A window or opening in the wall for the admission of light Also a privllege or easement to have light admitted into one's building by the openings made foi that purpose, without ob

A small vessel used in loading and unloading ships and steamers. The Mamie (D. C.) 5 Fed. 818; Reed v. Ingham, 26 Eng. Law & Eq. 167.

The business of transferring merchandise to and from vessels by means of lighters; also the compensation or price demanded for such service. Western Transp. Co. v. Hawley, 1 Daly (

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 night, at dangerous points of a coast, shoala, etc. They are usually erected by

A commission authorized by congress, consisting of two Officers of the navy, two Officers of the corps of engineers of the army, and two civilians, 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

A vessel serving the purpose of a light-house, usually at a place where the latter could not well be built.

A person bound to another by a solemn tie or engagement. Now used to express the relation of a subject to bis sovereign.

Sticks and stones are not contained under the name of "arms." Bract, fol. 144b.

A right of cutting fuel in woods; also a tribute or payment due for the same. Jacob.

Timber fit for building. Du Fresne.

In old English law. A copy, exemplification or transcript of a court roll or deed. CowelL

A member of the human body. In the phrase "Ilfe and limb," the latter term appears to denote bodily integrity in general; but in the definition of "mayhem" it refers only to those

In Roman law. An officer who had charge of a harbor or port. Dig. 50, 4, 18, 10; Cod. 7, 16, 38.

n. A bound; a restraint; a circumscription ; a boundary. Casler v. Connecticut Mut. Lu Ins. Co., 22 N. Y. 429. v. To mark out; to define; to fix the extent of. Thus, to limit an es

Bestriction or circumspection ; settling an estate or property; a certain time allowed by a statute for litigation. In estates. A limitation, whether made by the express words of t

A limitation in law, or an estate limited, is an estate tobe holden onir during the continuance of the condition under which it was granted, upon the determination of which the est

The restriction by statute of the right of action to certain periods of time, after the accruing of the cause of action, beyond which, except in certain specified cases, it will no

In old practice. A certain time prescribed by statute, within which a man was required to allege himself or his ancestor to have been seised of lands sued for by a writ of assize.

The restriction or circumscription of an estate, in the conveyance by which it is granted, in respect to the interest of the grantee or its duration; the specific curtailment or co

This term includes any estate in the same property created or contemplated by the conveyance, to be enjoyed after the first estate granted expires or is exhausted. Thus, in a gift

An administration of a temporary character, granted for a particular period, or for a special or particular purpose. Holthouse.

A company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited by the number of shares he has taken, so that he cannot be called on to contribute beyond the amount of his shares.

A divorce from bed and board ; or a judicial separation of husband and wife not dissolving the marriage tie. Divortium dicitur a divertendo, qula vir divertitur ab uxore. Co.. Litt

An executor whose appointment is qualified by limitations as to the time or place wherein, or the subject-matter whereon, the office is to be exercised; as distinguished from one w

An estate of inheritance in lands, which is clogged or confined with some sort of condition or qualification. Such estates are base or qualified fees, conditional fees, and fees-ta

This term is ambiguous, and the books sometimes use it without due precision. It is sometimes carelessly employed instead of "special." The true distinction between courts is betwe

The liability of the members of a joint-stock company may be either unlimited or limited; and, if the latter, then the limitation of liability is either the amount, if any, unpaid

A tenant for life, in tail, or by the curtesy, or other person not having a fee-simple in his absolute disposition. As to limited "Company," "Divorce," "Executor," "Fee," "Jurisdic

A partnership consisting of one or more general partners, jointly and severally responsible as ordinary partners, and by whom the business is conducted, and one or more special par

Enamel. Du Cange.

In old English law. A flax plat, where flax is grown. Du Cange.

An ion of court See Inns of Court.

In descents. The order or series of persons who have descended one from the other or ali from a common ancestor, considered as placed in a line of succession in the order of their

Lat. A line; line of descent. See Line. —Linea obliqua. In the civil law. The oblique line. More commonly termed "linea transversalis." —Linea reeta. The direct line ; the vertical

Race; progeny; family, ascending or descending. Lockett v. Lockett, 94 Ky. 289, 22 S. W. 224.

That which comes in a line; especially a direct line, as from father to son. Collateral relationship is not called "lineal," though the expression "collateral line," is not unusual

That kind of consanguinity which subsists between persons of Whom one is descended in a direct line from the other; as between a particular person and his father, grandfather, grea

See Descent.

In old conveyancing, the kind of warranty which existed when the heir derived title to the land warranted either from or through the ancestor who made the warranty.

In the civil law. The oblique line. More commonly termed "linea transversalis."

Co. Litt. 158. A right line is a test of itself, and of an oblique; law is a line of right.

The right line is always preferred to the collateral. Co. Litt. 10; Broom, Max. 529.

The direct line ; the vertical line. In computing degrees of kindred and the succession to estates, this term denotes the direct line of ascendants and descendants. Where a person

A collateral, transverse, or oblique line. Where two persons are descended from a third, they are called "collaterals," and are said to be related in the collateral line, (linea tr

A margin or fixed limit of credit, granted by a bank or merchant to a customer, to the full extent of which the latter may avail himself in his dealings with the former, but which

In military law and usage, an act is said to he done, or an injury sustained, "in the line of duty," when done or suffered in the performance or discharge of a duty incumbent upon

In surveying and conveyancing. Boundary lines and their terminating points, where an angle is formed by the next boundary line.

A unit in a connected series; anything which serves to connect or bind together the things which precede and follow it. Thus, we speak of a "link in the chain of title."

See Line.

Lat. In the civli law. To be clear, evident or satisfactory. When a judex was in doubt how to decide a case, he represented to the prætor,' under oath, sibi non liquere, (that it w

It Is clear or apparent; it appears. Satis liquet, it sufficiently appears. 1 Strange, 412.

To adjust or settle an indebtedness; to determine an amount to be paid; to clear up an account and ascertain the balance; to fix the amount required to satisfy a judgment. Midgett

Ascertained; determined ; fixed; settled; made clear or manifest. Cleared away; paid; discharged. —Liquidated account. An account whereof the amount is certain and fixed, either by

An account whereof the amount is certain and fixed, either by the act and agreement of the parties or by operation of law; a sum which cannot be changed by the proof; it is so much

See Damages.

A debt is liquidated when it is certain what is due and how much is due. Roberts v. Prior, 20 Ga. 562.

A demand la a liquidated one if the amount of it has been ascertained—settled—by the agreement of the parties to it, or otherwise. Mitchell v. Addison. 20 Ga. 53.

The partner who upon the dissolution or insolvency of the firm, is appointed to settle lip accounts, collect assets, adjust claims, and pay debts. Garretson v. Brown, 185 Pa. 447,

The act or process of settling or making clear, fixed, and determinate that which before was uncertain or unascertained. As applied to a company, (or sometimes to the affairs of an

A person appointed to carry out the winding up of a company. —Official liquidator. In English law. A person appointed by the judge in chancery, in whose court a joint-stock company

This term, when used in statutes forbidding the sale of liquors, refers only to spirituous or intoxicating liquors. Brass v. State, 45 Fla. 1, 34 South. 307; State v. Brittain, 89

One who carries on the business of selling intoxicating liquors, either at wholesale or retail, and irrespective of whether the liquor sold is produced or manufactured by himself o

A house where spirituous liquors are kept and sold. Wooster v. State, 6 Baxt. (Tenn.) 534.

Under the excise laws of New York, a certificate of payment of the tax imposed upon the business of liquorselling, entitling the . holder to carry on that business, and differing f

The name of an Italian coin, of the value of about eighteen cents.

Lat. A controversy or dispute; a suit or action at law. —Lis alibi pendens. A suit pending elsewhere. The fact that proceedings are pending between a plaintiff and defendant in one

A suit pending elsewhere. The fact that proceedings are pending between a plaintiff and defendant in one court in respect to a given matter is frequently a ground for preventing th

A controversy moved or begun. By this term is meant a dispute which has arisen upon a point or question which afterwards forms the issue upon which legal proceedings are instituted

A suit pending; that legal process, in a suit regarding land, which amounts to legal notice to all the world that there is a dispute as to the title. In equity the filing of the bi

A docket or calendar of causes ready for trial or argument or of motions ready for hearing.

Included in a list; put on a list, particularly on a list of taxable persons or property.

This word is used in some of the states to designate the persons appointed to make lists of taxables. See Rev. St. Vt. 538.

Cat In the civil law. To cast the burden of a suit upon another; particularly used with reference to a purchaser of property who, being sued in respect to it by a third person, giv

Lat. To make a suit his own. Where a judex, from partiality or enmity, evidently favored either of the parties, he was said litem suam facere. Calvin.

Lat. Pending the suit Fleta, 11b. 2, c. 54, § 23.

Letters. A term applied in old English law to various instruments in writing, public and private. —Literæ dimissoriae. Dimissory letters, (q. v.) —Literæ humaniores. A term includi

According to language; following expression in words. A literal construction of a document adheres closely to its words, without making differences for extrinsic circumstances; a l

In Roman law. A species of written contract, in which the formal act by which an obligation was superinduced on the convention was an entry of the sum due, where it should be speci

In the civil law. Written evidence.

The Pisan letter. A term applied to the old character in which the copy or the Pandects formerly kept at Pisa, in Italy, was written. Spelman.

Pertaining to polite learning; connected with the study or use of books and writings. The word "literary," having no legal signification, is to be taken in its ordinary and usual m

In copyright law. An original result of mental production, developed in a series of written or printed words, arranged for an intelligent purpose, in an orderly succession of expre

See Literary.

In English ecclesiastical law. One who qualifies himself for holy orders by presenting himself as a person accomplished in classical learning, etc., not as a graduate of Oxford, Ca

Ad literaturam ponere means to put children to school. This liberty was anciently denied to those parents who were servile tenants, without the lord's consent. The prohibition agai