Lex

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 the actions of the members of an organized jural seciety.

In a more limited and particular sense, it was a resolution adopted by the whole Roman "populus" (patricians and plebians) in the comitia, on the motion of a magistrate of senatorial rank, as a consul, a prætor, or a dictator. Such a statute frequently took the name of the proposer; as the lex Falcidia, lex Cornelia, etc.

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

— Lex ÆUa Sentia. The Ælian Sentian law, respecting wills, proposed by the consuls Ælius and Sentius, and passed A. U. C. 756, restraining a master from manumitting his slaves in certain cases. Calvin.

— Lex Æmilia. A law which reduced the official term of the censors at Rome from five years to a year and a half, and provided for the discharge of their peculiar functions by the consuls in the interim until the time for a new census. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 29.

— Lex agraria. 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 appointed to divide among the poorer people what any one had above that extent.

— Lex An-astasiana. 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 price paid with lawful interest. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 369

— Lex Apnleja. 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 as if a partnership existed between them. See Mackeld. Rom/ Law, § 454, note 2.

— Lex Aquilia. 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 "injurious," in the cases of killing or wounding the slave or beast of another. Inst 4, 3; Calvin

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

— Lex Atinia. 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.

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

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

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

— Lex Cornelia. 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.

— Lex Cornelia de falso. 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 assassins and poisoners. Passed by the dictator Sylla. Dig. 48, 8; Calvin.

— Lex Falcidia. The Falcidian law; a law passed on the motion of the tribune P. Falcidius, A. U. C. 713, forbidding a testator to give more in legacies than three-fourths of all his estate, or, in other words, requiring him to leave at least one-fourth to the heir. Inst. 2, 22; Heinecc. Elem. lib. 2, tit. 22.

— Lex Furia Caninia. The Furian Caninian ' law; a law passed in the consulship of P. Furius Camillus and C. Caninius Gallus, A. U. G. 752, prohibiting masters from manumitting by will more than a certain number or proportion of their slaves. This law was abrogated by Justinian. Inst. 1, 7 ; Heinecc. Elem. lib. 1, tit. 7.

— Lex Genncia. A law which entirely forbade the charging or taking of interest for the use of money among Roman citizens', but which was usually and easily evaded, as it did not declare an agreement for interest to be a nullity. See Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 382n.

— Lex Horatii. An important constitutional statute, taking its name from the consul who secured its enactment, to the effect that ali decrees passed in the meetings of the plebians should be laws for the whole people ; formerly they were binding only on the plebians. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 32.

— Lex hostilia de furtis. A Roman law, which provided that a prosecution for theft might be carried on without the owner's intervention. 4 Steph. Comm. (7th Ed.) 118.

— Lex Julia. Several statutes bore this name, being distinguished by the addition of words descriptive of their subject matter. The "lex Julia de adultenis" related to marriage, dower, and kindred subjects. The "lex Julia de cessione bonorum" related to bankrupt-cies.

— Lex Julia majestatis. The Julian law of majesty; a law promulgated by Julius Cæsar, and agnin published with additions by Augustus, comprehending all the laws before enacted to punish transgressors against the state. Calvin.

— Lex Papia Poppaea. The Papian Poppæan law; a law proposed by the consuls Papius and Poppæus at the desire of Augustus, A. U. C. 762, enlarging the Lex Prœtoria, (q. v.) Inst. 3, 8, 2

— Lex Plaetoria. A law designed for the protection of minors against frauds and allowing them in certain cases to apply for the appointment of a guardian. In a somewhat wider and more generic sense, a law (whatever Its origin) or the aggregate of laws, relating to a particular subject-matter, thus corresponding to the meaning of the word "law" in some modern phrases, such as the "law of evidence," "law of wilis," eta

— Lex commissoria. 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 become the absolute property of the creditor. 2 Kent. Comm. 583. This was abolished by a law of Constantine. A law according to which a seller might stipulate that, if the price of the thing sold were not paid within a certain time, the sale should be void. Dig. 18, 3.

— Lex regia. The royal or imperial law. A law enacted (or supposed or claimed to have been enacted) by the Roman people, constituting the emperor a source of law, conferring the legislative power upon him, and according the force and obligation of law to the expression of his mere will or pleasure. See Inst. 1, 2. 6; Gaius, 1, 5 ; Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 48; Heinecc. Rom. Ant. 1. 1, tit. 2, §§ 62
—67; 1 Kent, Comm. 544, note.

— Lex Prœtoria. The præ-torian law. A law by which every freedman who made a will was commanded to leave a moiety to his patron. Inst 3, 8, 1. The term has been applied to the rules that govern in a court of equity. Gills Ch. pt 2. Other specific meanings of the word in Roman jurisprudence were as follows: Positive law, as opposed to natural. That system of law which descended from the Twelve Tables, and formed the basis of all the Roman law. The terms of a private covenant; the condition of an obligation. A form of words prescribed to be used upon particular ocoa-sions. In medieval jurisprudence. A body or collection of various laws peculiar to a given nation or people; not a code in the modem sense, but an aggregation or collection of laws not codified or systematized. See Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 98. Also a similar collection of laws relating to a general subject, and not peculiar to any one people.

— Lex Alamannpmm. 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 Baiuvariornm, (Baioriornm, or Boiorum.) The law of the Bavarians, a barbarous nation of Europe, first collected (together with the law of the Franks and Alemanni) by Theodoric I., and finnily completed and promulgated by Dagobert. Spelman.

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

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

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

— Lex Bur-gnndionnm. 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.

— Lex Dan-orum. The law of the Danes; Dane-law or Dane-iage. Spelman.

— Lex Francornm. The law of the Franks ; promulgated by Theodoric I., son of Clovis I., at the same time with the law of the Alemanni and Bavarians. Spelman. This was a different collection from the Salic law.

— Lex F risionum. The law of the Frisians, promulgated about the middle of the eighth century. Spelman.

— Lex Gothica. The Gothic law, or law of the Goths. First promulgated in writing, A. D. 466. Spelman.

— Lex Longobardorum. The law of the Lombards. The name of an ancient code of laws among that people, framed, probably, between the fifth and eighth centuries. It continued in force after the incorporation of Lombardy into the empire of Charlemagne, and traces of its laws and institutions are said to be still discoverable in some parts of Italy.

— Lex mercatoria. The law-merchant. That system of laws which is adopted by all commercial nations, and constitutes a part of the law of the land.

— Lex Rhodia. The Rhodian law, particularly the fragment of it on the subj'ect of jettison, (de jactu,) preserved in the Pandects. Dig. 14, 2, 1; 3 Kent. Comm. 232, 233

— Lex Salica. The Salic law, or law of the Salian Franks, a Teutonic race who settled in Gaul in the fifth century. This ancient code, said to have been compiled about the year 420, embraced the laws and customs of that people, and is of great historical value, in connection with the origins of feudalism and similar subjects. Its most celebrated provision was one which excluded women from the inheritance of landed estates, by an extension of which law females were always excluded from succession to the crown of France. Hence this provision, by itself, is often referred to as the "Salic Law."

— Lex talionis. The law of retaliation ; which requires the infliction uppn a wrongdoer of the same injury which he has caused to another. Expressed in the Mosaic law by the formula, "an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth," etc. In modem international law, the term describes the rule by which one state may inflict upon the citizens of another state death, imprisonment, or other hardship, in retaliation for similar injuries imposed upon its own citizens.

— Lex Wallensica. The Welsh law ; the law of Wales. Blount.

— Lex Wisigo-thorum. The law of the Visigoths, or Western Goths who settled in Spain; first reduced to writing A. D. 466. A revision of these laws was made by Egigas. Spelman. In old English law. A body or collection of laws, and particularly the Roman or civil law. Also a form or mode of trial or process of law, as the ordeal or battel, or the oath of a party with compurgators, as in the phrases legem facere, legem vadiare, etc. Also used in the sense of legal rights or civil rights or the protection of the law, as in the phrase legem amittere.

— Lex Angliae. The law of England. The common law. Or, the curtesy of England.

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

— Lex apostata. A thing contrary to law. Jacob.

— Lex apparens. 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. Called "apparent" because the plaintiff was obliged to make his right clear by the testimony of witnesses, bsfore he could obtain an order from the court to summon the defendant Spelman.

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

— Lex commnnis. The common law. See Jus Commune.

— Lex datraisnia. 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 was used among the old Romans, as well as the Normans. Cowell.

— Lex et consnetndo parliamenti. 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 itself and the suitors therein are governed. May, Pari. Pr. (6th Ed.) 38-61.

— Lex et consuetudo regui. The law and custom of the realin. One of the names of the common law. Hale, Com. Law, 52.

— Lex imperatoria. The Imperial or Roman law. Quoted under this name, by Fleta, lib. 1, c. 38, § 15; Id. lib. 3, c. 10, § 3.

— Lex judicialis. An ordeal

— Lex manifesta. Manifest or open law; the trial by del or ordeal. The same with lex apparens, (q. v.) In King John's charter (chapter 38) and the articles of that charter (chapter 28) the word "mamfestam" is omitted.

— Lex uou scripta. The unwritten or common law, which includes general and particular customs, and particular local Jaws.

— Lex sac-ramentalis. Purgation by oath.

— Lex scripta. Written law ; law deriving its force, not from usage, but from express legislative enactment ; statute law. 1 Bl. Comm. 62, 85.

— Lex terræ. The law of the land. The common law, or the due course of the common law ; the general law of the land. Bract, fol. 17b. Equivalent to "due process of law." In the strictest sense, trial by oath; the privilege of making oathBracton uses the phrase to denote a freeman's privilege of being sworn in court as a juror or witness, which jurors convicted of perjury forfeited, (legem terras amittant.) Bract, fob 292b. In modern American and English jurisprudence. A system or body of laws, written or unwritten, or so much thereof as may ba applicable to a particular case or question, considered as being local or peculiar to a given state, country, or jurisdiction, or as being different from the laws or rules relating to the same subject-matter which prevail In some other place.

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

— Lex fori. The law of the forum, or court: that is, the positive law of the state, country, or jurisdiction of whose judicial system the court where the suit is brought or remedy sought is an integral part. "Remedies upon contracts and their incidents are regulated and pursued according to the law of the place where the action is instituted, and the lex loci has no application." 2 Kent, Comm. 462. "The remedies are to be governed by the laws of the country where the suit is brought; or, as it is compendiously expressed, by the lex fori." Bank of United States v. Don-nally, 8 Pet. 361, 372, 8 L. Ed. 974. "So far as the law affects the remedy, the lex fori, the law of the place where that remedy is sought, must govern. But, so far as the law of the construction, the legal operation and effect, of the contract, is concerned, it is governed by the law of the place where the contract is made." Warren v. Co.pelin, 4 Mete. (Mass.) 594, 507. See Lex Loci Contractus.

— Lex loci. The law of the place. This may be of the following several descriptions: Lex loci contractus, the law of the place where the contract was made or to be performed ; lex loci actus, the Jaw of the place where the act was done ; le loci rei sitæ, the law of the place where the subject-matter is situated ; lex loci domicilii, the law of the place of domicile.

— Lex loci contractns. The law of the place of the contract. The local law which governs as to the nature, construction, and validity of a contract. See Pritchard v. Norton, 106 U. S. 124, 1 Sup. Ct. 102, 27 L. Ed. 104 ; Gibson v. Connecticut F. Ins. Co. (C. C.) 77 Fed. 565.

— Lex loci delictus. The law of the place where the crime took place.

— Lex loci rei sitæ. The law of the place where a thing is situated. "It is equally settled in the law of ali civilized countries that real property, as to its tenure, mode of enjoyment, transfer, and descent, is to be regulated by the lex loci r"i sitae." 2 Kent, Comm. 429.

— Lex loci solutionis. The law of the place of solution ; the law of the place where payment or performance of a contract is to ba made.

— Lex ordinandi. The same as lex fori, (q_. v.)

— Lex rei sitæ. The law of the place of situation of the thing.

— Lex situs. Modern law Latin for "the law of the place where property is situated." The general rule is that lands and other immovables are governed by the lex situs; i. e., by the law of the country in which they are situated. Westl. Priv. Int. Law, 62.