A New Law Dictionary and Institute of the Whole Law

LINEAL CONSANGUINITY-continued. grandfather, great-grandfather, and so upwards in the direct ascending line, or downwards in the direct descending line.

See also title CONSANGUINITY. LINEAL DESCENT. Descent in right line, as where an estate descends from ancestor to heir in one line of succession.

See also title DESCENTS.

LINEAL WARRANTY: See titles COLLATERAL WARRANTY; WARRANTY.

LIQUIDATED DAMAGES are damages, the amount of which is fixed or ascertained, as opposed to unascertained or uncertain, i.e., unliquidated, damages. It is frequently mutually agreed between the parties to a contract that the one shall pay to the other some specified sum of money in the event of a breach of the contract; and in such a case it frequently becomes a nice question whether such sum is to be considered in the nature of a penalty merely for the purpose of covering the damages which one party may sustain in the event of a breach committed by the other, or whether the full sum specified is to be actually paid to the injured party as liquidated or settled damages, without reference to the extent of the injury sustained. See Kemble v. Farren, 6 Bing. 141; Reilly v. Jones, 1 Bing. 202; Ch. on Contr. 863, 864.

And see title DAMAGES.

LIQUIDATION.

Under the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, a person in embarrassment, instead of suffering himself to be made a bankrupt, may (under s. 125) summon a meeting of his creditors and prevail with them by special resolution to declare that his affairs shall be liquidated by arrangement. A trustee is thereupon appointed, with or without a committee of inspection; and when that is done the general provisions of the Act applicable to the proof of debts, &c., in the case of bankruptcy are made applicable to the proof of debts, &c., in the liquidation. The property of the liquidating debtor vests in his trustee, who has the like powers as a trustee in bankruptcy. The close of the liquidation and the discharge of the liquidating debtor depend upon the creditors, who may make a resolution to that effect in a general meeting. The next two sections of the act (s. 126, 127) relate to a debtor making a Composition with his creditors, which avoids both bankruptcy and liquidation, and may be carried by an extraordinary resolution of a majority in number and three-fourths in value of the creditors.

See titles BANKRUPTCY and COMPOSI-
TION.

LIQUIDATOR: See title WINDING-UP.

LIS PENDENS. This phrase denotes a suit or action depending, ie., in course. Inasmuch as every such suit or action would, when decided, naturally affect the land according to its result in whosesoever hands the land might be at the date of the decision, it was enacted by the 2 & 3 Vict. c. 11, 8 7, that no lis pendens, unless or until the same was registered, and duly re-registered, should bind a purchaser or mortgagee not having express notice thereof. By the stat. 13 & 14 Viet. c. 35, s. 17, a special case to which appearances have been entered is made a lis pendens. Lastly, by 30 & 31 Viet. c. 47, s. 2, if a suit or action is not prosecuted in a bona fide manner, the Court may order the registration of it as a lis pendens to be vacated, and that even without the consent of the person registering the same.

LIVERY. During the existence of the feudal tenures and customs, the male heir when he arrived at the age of twenty-one years, or the heir female at the age of sixteen, might sue out a writ of livery or ouster le main; that is, the delivery of their lands out of their guardian's hands; for in the feudal times the lord was entitled to the wardship of the heir, and was called the guardian in chivalry. This wardship consisted in having the custody of the body and lands of such heir till he or she attained the age of twenty-one if a male, or sixteen if a female (2 Inst. 203). This guardianship was not subject to account. See also next title.

LIVERY OF SEISIN. This simply means delivery of the land (traditio). It is of two kinds, being either in deed or in law.

(1.) Livery in deed, i.e., in fact or act, was performed by delivery of a part of the actual thing in lieu, and as a symbol of, the whole, e.g., by delivery of the ring of a door, or of a branch of a tree, or a turf of the ground, accompanied with these or the like words spoken by the feoffor: "Here I deliver you seisin of this house or land" [as the case might be], "in the name of the tenements contained in this deed, and according to the form and effect thereof." And thereupon the feoffce entered upon or took possession of the house or land. A separate livery was wanted for lands in several counties. Livery in deed could only be made to the feoffee personally.

(2.) Livery in law, i.e., constructive or implied delivery of the actual thing. This was done off the land but in sight of it, the feoffor saying these or the like words: "I give you yonder land, enter and take possession;" and if the feoffee thereupon or at any time thereafter during the life of

LLOYD'S BONDS. These are acknowledgments by a borrowing company under its seal of a debt incurred and actually due by the company to a contractor or other person for work done, goods supplied, or otherwise, as the case may be, with a covenant for payment of the principal and interest at a future time. These are valid securities, if issued bona fide, and not a mere device for evading the provisions of the Acts regarding companies forbidding them to borrow money, unless in re-payment of the existing debt of the company. See Godefroi and Shortt, 39.

LOCAL ACT OF PARLIAMENT. Such an Act as has for its object the interest of some particular locality; as the formation of a road, the alteration of the course of a river, the formation of a public market in a particular district, &c. See 1 M. & W. 520.

LOCAL ACTION. An action is termed local when all the principal facts on which it is founded are of a local nature, as where possession of land is to be recovered, or damages for an actual trespass, or for waste affecting land, or for any other kind of injury affecting real property, because in such a case the cause of action relates to some particular locality, which usually also constitutes the venue of the action. But under the Judicature Act, 1873, there is to be no local venue for the trial of any action (Sch. r. 28).

See also titles TRANSITORY ACTION;
VENUE.

LOCUS IN QUO. The place in which the cause of action arose, or where anything is alleged to have been done, in pleadings is so called (1 Salk. 94). The phrase is almost peculiar to actions of trespass quare clausum fregit.

LODGER: See title ELECTORAL FRAN

CHISE.

LODGING-HOUSES. The keeper of a lodging-house is not liable (as an innkeeper) for the loss of the goods brought by a lodger to her house, provided she be not guilty of a positive misfeasance. Holder v. Soulby, 8 C. B. (N.S.) 254.

LODGINGS. A person who lets lodgings impliedly warrants that they are

LODGINGS-continued.

reasonally fit for habitation (Smith v. Marable, 11 M. & W. 5). Since the stat. 34 & 35 Vict. c. 79, a lodger's goods caunot be distrained for the rent owing from his landlady to the superior landlord. A contract for mere lodgings is always determinable upon notice by either party to the other, a week's notice being that usually given in the absence of any special agreement; and this rule is not altered although the rent should not be paid by the week, but by longer periods. Right v. Darby, 1 T. R. 159.

LONG PARLIAMENT, ACTS OF. This Parliament assembled in 1640-1, and was never formally dissolved. The stat 4 Edw. 3, c. 14, had enacted that Parliament should meet every year or oftener if need were; but this Act, which had been little regarded by any sovereign, was most egregiously disregarded by Charles I. Accordingly, the Long Parliament now enacted its famous Triennial Bill, providing that Parliament, if not actually then sitting, should be ipso facto dissolved at the expiration of three years from the first day of its session, and the chancellor was to issue new writs within three years from the dissolution; and in case no such writs were issued within that time, the peers were to assemble of themselves at Westminster and to issue writs to the sheriff's requiring them to summon representatives of the Commons; and in case the Peers failed to do so, the sheriffs of their own accord, or (in their default) the electors themselves, were to proceed to the new elections. This Triennial Act was repealed upon the restoration of Charles II., and is to be distinguished from the Triennial Act so called par éminence (6 W. & M. c. 2).

The other legislative Acts of the Long Parliament were the following:

(1.) They annulled the judgment against Hampden in the case of Ship Money, and declared ship-money and also the taxes of Charles I. on foreign merchandise illegal; (2.) They abolished the Court of Star Chamber; also, the Court of High Commission; also, the Court of the President and Council of the North; also, the Court of the President and Council of Wales; also, the Courts of the Duchy of Lancaster and of the County Palatine of Chester;

(3.) They declared it illegal to impress his majesty's subjects, or to compel them to go out of the country to serve in foreign

wars;

(4.) They passed an Act declaring that they could not be dissolved without their own consent;

(5.) They abolished Episcopacy and established Presbyterianism;

LONG PARLIAMENT, ACTS OF-contd. (6.) They deprived the king of the control of the militia and forces, and assumed that control to themselves, and eventually they laid nineteen propositions before the king, of which the principal were the following:

(a.) That privy councillors and officers of state should be approved in Parliament;

(b.) That the education and marriage of

the king's children should be
under the control of Parliament:
(c.) That the militia and forces and all
fortresses and magazines should
be given up to the nominees of
Parliament;

(d.) That all judges should hold office
during good behaviour; and,
(e.) That all popish lords should be de-
prived of their votes.

LORD CHANCELLOR: See title CHANCELLOR.

LORD MAYOR. The chief officer of the Corporation of the City of London is so called. The origin of the appellation of "Lord," which the Mayor of London enjoys, is attributed to the fourth charter of Edward III., which conferred on that officer the honour of having maces, the same as royal, carried before him by the serjeants. He is annually nominated and elected by the livery from amongst such of the aldermen as have served the office of sheriff. In his character of chief magistrate of the City, the Lord Mayor presides at the Court of Aldermen in the Inner Chamber, the Court of Common Council, and the Court of Common Hall; and as such issues his precept for the holding of any of these courts. He is also nominally President of the Court of Aldermen in the Outer Chamber (or Lord Mayor's Court). He is chairman of every committee which he attends; also of the commissioners of sewers, and has power to summon them to a public meeting whenever he thinks proper (11 Geo. 3, c. 29, s. 6). The corporation provide the Lord Mayor with the Mansion House, which they keep in repair at their own expense, and annually grant a sum of money amounting to nearly £8000, and also provide various officers at their own expense to support the dignity of the office. Pulling's Laws and Customs of the City and Port of London.

LORD MAYOR'S COURT. This is a Court of Record, of Law and Equity, and is the chief court of justice within the corporation of London. Its legal style is "The Court of our Lady the Queen, holden before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in the Chamber of the Guildhall of the City of

LORD MAYOR'S COURT-continued. London." In legal consideration and in conformity with the style of the Court, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen are supposed to preside; but the recorder is in fact the acting judge. All persons, as well freemen as non-freemen, not being under any general incapacity which would disable them from suing in the superior Courts at Westminster, may sue in this Court. As a Court of Common Law it has cognizance of all personal and mixed actions arising within the City and liberties. without regard to the amount of the debt or damages sought to be recovered; and if the gist of the action arise within the City, the residence of the plaintiff or defendant therein is immaterial. Emmerson's City Courts; Pulling's Laws and Customs of the City and Port of London, 177, 2nd ed.; Brandon on Foreign Attachments, and Notes of Practice.

See also title ATTACHMENT, FOREIGN. LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL. The lords spiritual compose one of the constituent parts of our Parliament, and consist of two archbishops and twenty-four bishops; and by the Act of Union with Ireland (39 & 40 Geo. 3, c. 67) four Irish lords spiritual, taken from the whole body by rotation of sessions, were added, who ranked next after the spiritual lords of Great Britain; but under the stat. 32 & 33 Vict. c. 42, these Irish lords spiritual have ceased. The lords temporal consist of all the peers of the realm, by whatever title of nobility distinguished, and form another constituent part of our Parliament.

See also title PEERS.

The fundamen

LORD AND VASSAL. tal maxim of all feudal tenure is this: that all lands were originally granted out by the sovereign, and are therefore holden either mediately or immediately from the Crown. The grantor was called the proprietor or lord, being he who retained the dominion or ultimate property of the feod or fee; and the grantee, who only had the use and possession, according to the terms of the grant, was styled the feudatory or vassal, which was only another name for the tenant or holder of the lands.

See titles ESTATES; FEUDAL SYSTEM;
TENURE.

LORD'S DAY: See title SUNDAY.
LOT. Certain duties, tolls, assessments,
or impositions are frequently so termed.
See title LoT AND SCOT.

LOT AND SCOT (Sax. llot, a chance or lot, and sceat, a part or portion). Certain duties which must be paid by those who claim to exercise the elective franchise within certain cities and boroughs before

LOT AND SCOT-continued. they are entitled to vote. It is said that the practice became uniform to refer to the poor-rate as a register of "scot and lot" voters, so that the term, when employed to define a right of election, meant only the payment by a parishioner of the sum to which he was assessed on the rate. Rog. on Elec. 198, 6th ed.; 1 Dongl. 129.

See also title ELECTORAL FRANCHISE. LOTTERY. Lotteries have been frequently resorted to both by states and by individuals for the purpose of raising money, but they are proscribed by the morality and industry of England. They were declared a nuisance and prohibited by 10 & 11 Will. 3, c. 17; and even foreign lotteries are forbidden by the 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 66, to be advertised in England. For an instance in which these laws have been put in force see Allport v. Nutt, 1 C. B. 974; and see title WAGERING.

* LOUAGE. This is the contract of hiring and letting in French Law, and may be either (1) of things, or (2) of labour. The varieties of each are the following:

(1.) Letting of things,

(a.) Bail à loyer, being the letting of houses;

(b.) Bail à ferme, being the letting of lands;

(2.) Letting of labour,

(a.) Loyer, being the letting of personal service;

(b.) Bail à cheptel, being the letting of animals.

LOYER: See title LOUAGE.

LUNACY is the common legal designation of insanity, or the state of being non compos mentis. The law takes notice of three degrees of lunacy : (1) Lunacy which exempteth in crime; (2) Lunacy which excuseth in contract; and (3) Lunacy which placeth the party and his property under the protection of the Crown.

Criminal lunacy may be either total or partial. And if total, than either natural (dementia naturalis), in which case it is termed idiocy, or accidental (dementia accidentalis), which may be either permanent or intermittent (i.e., accompanied with "lucid intervals") or wilfully brought on by the party himself (dementia affectata), e.g., in the case of drunkenness (see that title). If the lunacy be partial, then the criminal definition of it is that given in R. v. M Naghten (10 Cl. & F. 200), where the judges advised the House of Lords to this effect, that notwithstanding the party did the act complained of with a view, under the influence of insane delusion, of redressing or avenging some supposed grievance or injury, or of producing some

LUNACY-continued.

public benefit, he was nevertheless punishable according to the nature of the crime committed, if he knew, at the time of committing such crime, that he was acting contrary to law.

With reference to contract law the rule is, that a lunatic is liable for necessaries, and generally also on contracts executed of which he has had the advantage, notwithstanding they may not be for necessaries at all (Molton v. Camroux, 4 Ex. 17); but that on all other contracts he is not liable at all, not even although at the time of contracting he betrayed no signs of lunacy, and the other contracting party was ignorant thereof.

With reference to the Chancellor and Lords Justices' jurisdiction in lunacy, this jurisdiction extends generally to persons not capable of managing their own affairs, and therefore are properly deemed of unsound mind, non compos mentis. This jurisdiction is now most commonly exercised under the Lunacy Regulation Act, 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 70), or where the property is of small amount, under the Lunacy Regulation Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 86).

MAGNA CHARTA. The great charter of English liberty granted by, or rather extorted from, King John, and afterwards, with some alterations, confirmed in Parliament by Henry III. and Edward I. It was called Magna Charta on account of its great importance, and partly in contradistinction to another charter (Carta de Foresta), which was granted about the same time. The provisions of this charter extend not only to the administration of justice (regulating the various jurisdictions, temporal and ecclesiastical), but also to the personal liberty of the subject, the limits of taxation of his property, the rights of foreign merchants within the realm, as well during peace as in times of war, and also the liberties and privileges of the church. It contains also numerous provisions of a purely temporary nature, intended to remedy the prevailing abuses of

the times.

MAIHEM, or MAYHEM-continued. in fighting, either to defend himself, or to annoy his adversary: e.g., the cutting off, or disabling, or weakening a man's hand or finger, striking out his eye or foretooth, or depriving him of those parts the loss of which in all animals abates their courage, are considered as mayhems: hence, to do a person such an external injury as merely detracts from his personal appearance is not considered as mayhem, because it does not weaken him, but only disfigures him. 1 Hawk. c. 44.

MAINPRISE (from the Fr. main, hand, and prendre, to take). One of the means of remedying the injury of false imprisonment was by a writ called a writ of mainprise, directed to the sheriff (either generally, when any man was imprisoned for a bailable offence, and bail had been refused: or specially, when the offence or cause of commitment was not properly bailable below), commanding him to take sureties for the prisoner's appearance, usually called mainpernors, and to set him at large. Mainpernors differ from bail, in that a man's bail may imprison or surrender him up before the stipulated day of appearance; whereas mainpernors can do neither, but are simply sureties for his appearance at the day; bail are only sureties that the party be answerable for the special matter for which they stipu late; mainpernors are bound to produce him to answer all charges whatsoever. The word mainprise is used in various ways; thus when a man is committed to those who undertake he shall appear at the appointed day (i.e., to his mainpernors), he is said "to be let to mainprise;" and a man who may be so mainprised or delivered to mainpernors is said to be mainpernable. Where an offence was not bailable, the justices were frequently, by Act of Parliament, directed "to commit such offender or offenders to the common gaol of the county, there to remain without bail or mainprise." 43 Eliz. c. 2, s. 4; Dyer, 272 (31); 4 Inst. 179.

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