Lady

The title pertaining to a peer's Svife, and (By courtesy) to the wife of a

In England, the proper title of any woman whose husband Is higher in rank than baronet or knight, or who is the daughter of a nobleman not lower than an earl, though the title is given by courtesy also to the wives of baronets and knights. Cent. Diet. See Dame; Knight. The word lady Is derived from hloef dig (loaf day), which being applied to the mistress of a bouse came to be softened into the familiar term lady. On that day, it was the custom for the mistress of the manor to distribute bread to her poorer neighbors. Townsend, Manual of Dates, title Lady; 1 Chamb. Book of Days 154.

In English law. The title belonging to the wife of a peer, and (by courtesy) the wife of a baronet or knight, and also in any woman, married or sole, whose father was a nobleman of a rank not lower than that of earl.

— Lady-court. In English law. The court of a lady of the manor.

— Lady day. The 25th of March, the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In paris of Ireland, however, they so designate the 15th of August, the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin.

— Lady's friend. The style of an officer of the English house of commons, whose duty was to secure a suitable provision for the wife, when her husband sought a divorce by special act of parliament. The act of 1857 abolished parliamentary divorces, and this office with them.

In English law. The title belonging to the wife of a peer, and {by courtesy) the wife of a baronet or knight, and also to any woman, married or sole, whose father was a nobleman of a rank not lower than that of earl.

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 belonging to the wife of a knight or of a man of any degree above that of knight, except that it is said not to be applied to the wives of bishops. As to the original application of this expression, which is from the Saxon " loaf day," it may he observed, that heretofore it was the fashion of those families whom God had blessed with affluence to live constantly at their mansions in the country, and that once a week, or oftener, the lady of the manor distributed to her poor neighbors, with her own hands, a certain quantity of bread; but the practice which gave rise to this title is now as httle known as the meaning of it; however, it may be from that hospitable-custom that to this day the ladies in this kingdom serve the meat at their own tables. Encyc. Land. Lady-day. 1. When speaking of ladyday, we ordinarily mean the 25th of March, being the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 2. Sometimes, however, a different meaning is given to the phrase by local custom. (Fawcett L. Sf T. 113.) And, particularly, in parts of Ireland they speak of the 15th of August as lady-day, that day being, in the Roman Catholic Church, the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin. Mozley Sf W. Lady's friend. An officer of the house of commons, whose duty it was, when parliamentary divorces were common, to take care that a husband who sued for a divorce made a suitably moderate provision for his divorced wife, if the house of lords had not provided for it. Wharton. L^SA MAJESTAS. Injured majesty; the crime of high treason; lese majesty. L^SIONE FIDEI. A class of suits or actions for breach of faith in civil contracts, which the clergy, in the reign of Stephen, introduced into the English spiritual courts, were termed suits pro Ic Esione fidei. By means of these suits they took cognizance of many matters of contract which in strictness belonged to the temporal courts; upon the pretence of them belonged more properly to the spiritual than to the lay tribunal. This attempt to turn the ecclesiastical courts into courts of equity, on the ground that such acts were offences against conscience, was checked by the constitutions of Clarendon, a.d. 1164, which provided that such matters should be within the jurisdiction of the king's courts. But the power thus asserted, along with the jurisdiction assumed over express and implied or resulting uses, open or secret, is considered to have oontribtited to the development of the principal branches of modern equitable jurisdiction. Brown; Mozley Sf W.