Lex terrae

The law of the land. The common law, or the due course of the common law; the general law of the land. Bract. fol. 175. Equivalent to "due process of law."

In the strictest sense, trial by oath; the privilege of making oath. Bracton 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 terrae amittant.) Bract. fol. 292b. Lex uno ore omnes alloquitur. The law addresses all with one [the same] mouth or voice. 2 Inst. 184. Lex vigilantibus, non dormientibus, subvenit. Law assists the wakeful, not the sleeping. 1 Story, Cont. § 629.

The law of the land. The phrase is used to distinguish this from the civil or Roman law.