Letter

He who, being the owner of a

He who, being the owner of a thing, lets it out to another for hire or compensation. Story, Bailm. § 369. See Hm-

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. Several of the letters of the English alphabet have a special significance in jurisprudence, as ab-Dreviations and otherwise or are employed as numerals.
2. A dispatch or epistle; a written or printed message; a communication in writing from one person to another at a distance. U. S. v. Huggett (C. Ct) 40 Fed. 640; U. S. v. Denicke (C. C.) 65 Fed. 409.
3. In the Imperial law of Rome, "letter" or "epistle" was the name of the answer returned by the emperor to a question of law submitted to him by the magistrates.
4. A commission, patent, or Written instrument containing or attesting the grant of some power, authority, or right. The word appears in this generic sense in many compound phrases known to commercial law and jurisprudence; e. p„ letter of attorney, letter missive, letter of credit, letters patent. The plural is frequently used.
5. Metaphorically, the verbal expression; the strict literal meaning. The letter of a statute, as distinguished from its spirit, means the strict and exact force of the language employed, as distinguished from the general purpose and policy of the law.
6. He who, being the owner of a thing, lets it out to another for hire or compensation. Story, Bailm. § 369.
-Letter-book. A book in which a merchant or trader keeps copies of letters sent by him to his correspondents.

— Letter-carrier. 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.

— Letters of correspondence. 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 so one from a third party found in his possession. Bell.

— Letters of fire and sword. See Fire and Sword.

— Letters of request. 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, thereby waiving or remitting his own jurisdiction. This is a mode of beginning a suit originally in the court of arches, instead of the consistory court

— Letters of safe conduct. 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 place to another, without danger of being seized, unless he has letters of safe conduct, which, by divers old statutes, must be granted under the great seal, and enrolled in chancery, or else are of no effect; the sovereign being the best judge of such emergencies as may deserve exemption from the general law of arms. But passports or licenses from the ambassadors abroad are now more usually obtained, and are allowed to be of equal validity. Wharton.

— Letters of slaius, or slanes. 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 the offender. These or other evidences of their concurrence were necessary to found the application Bell.

— Letters rogatory. 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 within the jurisdiction of the latter court may be there formally taken under its direction and transmitted to the first court for use in the pending action. This process was also in use, at an early period, between the several states of the Union. The request rests entirely upon the comity of courts towards each other. See Union Square Bank v. Reichmann. 9 App. Div 596, 41 N. Y. Supp. 6O2.

— Letters testamentary. The formal instrument of authority and appointment given to an executor by the proper court, empowering him to enter upon the discharge of his office as executor. It corresponds to letters of administration granted to an administrator. As to letters of "Administration," "Advice," "Attorney," "Credit," "Horning," "Recommendation," see those titles. As to "Letters Patent," see Patent.

A written communication from one person to another.

In English law. Letter missive: a letter sent by the Lord Chancellor to a peer, defendant in the court of Chancery, requesting his appearance, together with a copy of the bill; a letter from the king to a dean and chapter naming the person whom he would have them elect as bishop. Letter of license: a written instrument given by creditors to a debtor who has failed, allowing him longer time for the payment of his debts in the meantime.

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. Several of the letters of the English alphabet have a special significance in jurisprudence, as abbreviations and otherwise, or are employed as numerals, 2. A dispatch or epistle; a written or printed message; a communication in writing from one person to another at a distance. 3. In the imperial law of Rome, “letter” or “epistle” was the name of the answer returned by the emperor to a question of law submitted to him by the magistrates. 4. A commission, patent, or written inatrument containing or attesting the grant of some power, authority, or right. The word appears in this generic sense in many compound phrases known to commercial law and jurisprudence; e. g., letter of attorney, letter missive, letter of credit, letters patent. The plural is frequently used. 5. Metaplhorically, the verbal expression; the strict literal meaning. The letter of a statute, as distinguished from its spérit, means the strict and exact force of the language employed, as distinguished from the general purpose and policy of the law. 6. He who, being the owner of a thing, lets it out to another for hire or compensation. Story, Bailm. § 369.