A New Law Dictionary and Institute of the Whole Law

LEGACY DUTY-continued. chargeable with duty as upon an absolute bequest; and after the money is actually invested in real estate, each such person is chargeable as for succession duty (16 & 17 Vict. c. 51, s. 30). No legacy duty is payable upon a fund which is specially provided for the payment of duty.- -" no duty upon duty," (36 Geo. 3 c. 52, s. 21). (Compare SUCCESSION DUTY.)

LEGAL MEMORY. This, as distinguished from living memory, extends as far back as the year of our Lord 1189, being the year in which King Richard I. returned from Palestine. See also title MEMORY OF MAN; also title TIME OUT OF MIND. See also Co. Litt. 114 b; 2 Inst. 238; 2 Ves. Sen. 511; 2 & 3 Will. 4 c. 71, s. 1.

LEGITIMATION.

The making legitimate or lawful, as where children are born bastards, the act by which they are made legitimate is called legitimation, which in Scotland may be effected by the subsequent marriage of the parents (Cowel; Tomlins). But when an attempt was made in the Parliament of Merton to introduce the like law into England, the barons of Parliament replied, "NOLUMUS leges Angliæ mutare huc usque usitatas atque appro batas," and thus frustrated the attempt. It is the rule of the English law that legitimation depends on the status of the mother when she gives birth to the child, and has no reference (as in Roman Law) to the date of the child's conception: "Pater est quem nuptiæ demonstravit." Under the stat. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 93, a declaration of legitimacy may be obtained in certain

cases.

LEPROSO AMOVENDO. An old obsolete writ that lay for the removal of a leper, or lazar, who obtruded himself upon the company of his neighbours, either in the church or other public place of meeting in a parish. H. N. B. 423; Les Termes de la Ley.

LE ROY LE VEUT. The Royal assent to public bills is given in these words; and to private bills the words are, soit fait comme il est desire, i.e., let it be done as it is desired; but when the Royal denial is given to a bill presented by Parliament, the words in which it is conveyed are le roy s'avisera, i.e., the king will advise upon it.

LÉSION. In French law, upon a sale, it is competent for the purchaser to rescind the contract on account of lésion, i.e., the worsened value of the thing sold, when it exceeds seven-twelfths of the price given.

LESION continued.

A purchaser cannot bargain away his right in this respect, but he must exercise it within two years. In the contract of exchange there is no right of rescission, pour cause de lésion. Code Civil, 1706.

The

LESSOR OF THE PLAINTIFF. lessor of the plaintiff in an action of ejectment was the party who really and in effect prosecuted the action, and was interested in its result. He must at the time of bringing the action have had the legal estate, and the right to the possession of the premises sought to be recovered (7 T. R. 47; 2 Burr. 668; 8 T. R. 2, n.; 1 Ch. Pl. 187). The reason of his having been called the lessor of the plaintiff, arose from the circumstance of the action having been carried on in the name of a nominal plaintiff (called John Doe), to whom he (the real plaintiff) had granted a fictitious lease, and thus had become his lessor.

See title EJECTMENT for the modern process.

LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION. The instrument by virtue of which administrators derive their title and authority to have the charge or administration of the goods and chattels of a person who dies intestate. The ordinary was the person whom the law, in the first instance, appointed to have the charge or administration of the goods and chattels of such deceased person; and the persons who are called administrators were the officers of the ordinary, appointed by him in pursuance of the statute, 13 Edw. I, stat. 1, c. 19. Sometimes, however, letters of administration are granted when a party has actually made a will, but has omitted to appoint any executor, and is therefore said to be quasi intestatus; or when, having made a will, and appointed an executor, the executor dies before the testator, or before he has proved the will, or refuses to act, or is incapable of acting, and in all such cases the administration is granted with the will annexed, and the letters of administration are thence termed letters of administration with the will annexed (cum testamento annexo). See 1 Wms. Executors, 348; Rog. Ecc. Law, 949. See title ADMINISTRATION.

LETTERS OF CREDIT: See title CREDIT, LETTERS OF.

LETTER OF LICENCE. A letter or written instrument which used sometimes to be given by creditors to their debtor who had failed in trade, &c., allowing him longer time for the payment of his debts, and protecting him from arrest in the meantime (Tomlins). But now imprison

for electing a bishop, is a letter which the king sends to the dean and chapter, together with his usual licence to proceed to elect a bishop on the avoidance of a bishopric, which letter contains the name of the person whom he would have them elect. A letter missive in Chancery is a letter from the Lord Chancellor to the defendant in a suit in Equity, informing him that the bill has been filed against him, and requesting him to appear to it. Such a letter is the step taken in a Chancery suit to compel a defendant's appearance to a bill when such defendant is a peer or a peeress, being thought a milder or more complimentary mode of procedure than serving such a defendant with a subpoena in the first instance. 1 Dan. Ch. Pr. 366-9.

LETTERS PATENT. Letters by which the king makes his grants, whether of lands, honours, franchises, or anything else. They are so called because they are not sealed, but are exposed to open view, with the great seal pendant at the bottom, and they are usually directed or addressed by the king to all his subjects at large; and herein they differ from certain other letters of the king, sealed also with his great seal, but directed to particular persons and for particular purposes, which therefore not being proper for public inspection are closed up and sealed on the outside, and are therefore called letters close (literæ clausa), and are recorded in the close rolls in the same manner as the others are in the patent rolls.

See also title PATENTS.

LETTERS OF REQUEST. Are the formal instrument by which an inferior judge of ecclesiastical jurisdiction requests the judge of a superior Court to take and determine any matter which has come before him. And this he is permitted to do in certain cases by the authority of an exception to the stat. 23 Hen. 8, c. 9, which exception is to the effect, that a person may be cited in a Court out of his own diocese, when any bishop or other inferior judge, having jurisdiction in his own right, or by commission, makes request or instance to the archbishop or bishop, or other superior, to take, hear, examine, or determine the matter before him; but this is to be done in cases only where the law, civil or canon, doth affirin execution of such request of jurisdiction

LETTERS OF REQUEST-continued. to be lawful and tolerable. Upon this exception it has been held that the Dean of the Arches is bound, ex debito justitia, to receive letters of request without the consent of the party proceeded against; but this power of requesting the decision of a superior Court is generally employed at the desire of the parties. Roger's Ecc. Law, 789; 2 Lee, 312, 319; Hob. 185.

LEVANT AND COUCHANT. These words are thus used by law writers:-If lands were not sufficiently fenced to keep out cattle, they would occasionally stray thereon; but the landlord could not distrain them as damage feasant till they had been lerant and couchant on the land, that is, had been long enough there to have lain down and risen up to feed, which in general is held to be one night at least. Gilb. Dist. 47.

LEVARI FACIAS.

A writ of execution directed to the sheriff, commanding him to levy or make of the lands and chattels of the defendants the sum recovered by the judgment. Excepting in the case of outlawry, however, this writ has been completely superseded in practice by the writ of elegit. 1 Arch. Prac. 693; Tidd.

LEVY (levare). To exact, to raise, to collect, to gather together, &c. Thus a sheriff is commanded by a writ to levy a certain sum upon the goods and chattels of the debtor, i.e., to collect a certain sum by appropriating the goods and chattels to that purpose.

LEX DOMICILII: See title DOMICILE.

LEX FORI. This phrase denotes the law of the forum or court in which an action or suit is proceeding. It regulates everything pertaining to procedure and evidence, including the forms of practice, the times for commencing and proceeding with actions, the requisites of pleading, and such like. It sometimes overrides or excludes the Lex loci actus seu contractus, whence there arises a CONFLICT OF LAWS (see Lerous v. Brown, 12 C. B. 801). But of necessity it agrees in all cases with the Lex loci rei sita. See Story on Conflict of Laws, and Forsyth's Cases and Opinions.

LEX LOCI ACTUS VEL CELEBRATIONIS: See next title.

LEX LOCI CONTRACTUS-continued. According to the former of these two senses, it is the Lex loci solutionis, according to the latter of them it is the lex loci actus, and it is desirable that these two phrases should be used for distinction's sake, when anything is to turn on the distinction. The former phrase, namely, the Lex loci solutionis, regulates the mode of recovery upon the contract, and the latter phrase, viz., the Lex loci actus, regulates the formalities or, ceremonies requiring to be observed upon entering into a contract. In each case the law of the place denoted by the phrase is to be singly regarded, unless, indeed, pro majori cautelâ.

LEX LOCI REI SITE. This phrase denotes the law of the place of the situation of the property, as does also the phrase Lex loci situs; but the former phrase is exclusively applicable (and ought to be confined) to real property, including leaseholds, and the latter to personal property exclusive of leaseholds. There are also certain differences between the two laws expressed by the two respective phrases; thus, the Lex loci rei sita is a paramount law, and regulates the devolution of lands whether upon a testacy or an intestacy; it also determines what shall be the forum, so that it is never in conflict with the Lex fori; and lastly, it completely disregards the Lex domicilii. The Lex loci situs, on the other hand, is different in all these three respects, being subsidiary to the Lex domicilii, being frequently in conflict with the Lex fori, and having absolutely no influence upon the devolution of property.

LEX LOCI SITUS: See the preceding title.

LEX LOCI SOLUTIONIS: See title LEX LOCI CONTRACTUS.

LEX MERCATORIA: See title LAW MERCHANT.

LIBEL. This word is commonly used in two senses, 1st, in the Court of Arches, and some few other Courts, as meaning a formal allegation in the nature of a pleading, containing the substance of the plaintiff's complaint. But, 2ndly, and more commonly, it signifies some malicious defamation of any person expressed otherwise than by mere words (see title SLANDER) as by writing, print, figures, signs, or any other symbols. Malice is an essential requisite to constitute any writing a libel, and the truth of defamatory writings is not at Common Law any justification of them, but under the Act 6 & 7 Vict. c. 96, it is competent for the defendant to plead

LIBEL-continued.

the truth of the libel, and that it was published for the public good.

Previously to the year 1792, the functions of the jury in actions or prosecutions for libel were confined to finding the fact of publication merely, or the absence of that fact (Dean of St. Asaph's Case, 21 St. Tr. 847); but since that year, and in virtue of Fox's Libel Act, 1792 (32 Geo. 3, c. 60), the jury now find a mixed verdict of libel or no libel, returning generally the verdict of guilty or not guilty, in which both law and fact are blended. The functions of the judge, which were formerly very large, have been correspondingly diminished, and are now confined to points arising incidentally in the trial, and which require to be summarily disposed of, but including amidst such matters a rather important defence in actions of this sort, namely, PRIVILEGE, as to which see that title.

LIBERATE. A warrant which used formerly to issue out of Chancery under the great seal to the Treasurer, Chamberlain, and Barons of the Exchequer, &c., for the payment of any yearly pension or other sum of money granted under the great seal. Sometimes it was directed to the sheriff for the delivery of land or goods taken upon forfeiture of a recognizance; and sometimes to a gaoler for the delivery of a prisoner who had put in bail for his appearance. It was most in use for the delivery of goods on an extent; for until the liberate no property in the goods passed to the conusee in the recognisance. Tomlins.

The

LIBERTY: See title FRANCHISE. LIBERTY TO HOLD PLEAS. liberty of having a Court of one's own; thus, certain lords had the privilege of holding pleas within their own manors.

LICENCE. A licence is a mere permission to do an act, which if done without that permission would (a), with respect to land, be a trespass quare clausum fregit; and (b), with respect to goods, be a tort in respect of the goods, whether a conversion of them or a detainer of them from the true owner.

As a general rule, licences in respect of land are revocable at the will of the grantor; for they confer no interest in the land; but where the licence is something more than a licence, in other words, where it is accompanied with a grant, it is irrevocable while the grant continues (Wood v. Leadbitter, 13 M. & W. 844), no matter whether it is made by deed or parol. Moreover, a licence is irrevocable when the licensee, acting upon it, has executed works of a permanent and expensive cha

LICENCE-continued.

racter. Winter v. Brockwell, 8 East, 308; Bankart v. Tenant, L. R. 10 Eq. 141.

Where a licence is revocable, it may be revoked in various ways, namely, either (1) by an express withdrawal of it; or, (2), by any other act adverse to its continuance. Wallis v. Harrison, 4 M. & W.

538.

Similarly, where the licence is in respect of goods.

By the C. L. P. Act, 1852, Sched. B. 44, the defendant licensee may plead that he did the act complained of by the leave and licence of the plaintiff; and the plaintiff may then take issue on that plea (Barnes v. Hunt, 11 East, 451), or may (in a fit case) new assign (Kavanagh v. Gudge, 7 M. & G. 316), or may reply specially. Price v. Peek, Bing. N. C. 380.

LIE. To subsist, to exist, to be sustainable, &c. Thus, the phrase, “an action will not lie," signifies that an action cannot be sustained, or that there is no ground upon which to found the action.

LIEN. A qualified right of property which a person has in or over a thing, arising from such person's having a claim upon the owner of such thing. Thus, the right which an attorney has to keep possession of the deeds and papers of his client until such client has paid his attorney's bill is termed the attorney's lien upon those deeds, papers, &c. There are two sorts of lien, viz., particular and general. A particular lien is the right which a person has to retain the specific thing itself in respect of which the claim arises; a general lien is the right which a person has to retain a thing not only in respect of demands arising out of the thing itself so retained, but also for a general balance of account arising out of dealings of a similar nature. A lien may exist over real and personal property equally; but there is this difference in the two cases, namely, (1), that the lien on personal property is dependent on possession, and ceases when the possession ceases; whereas, (2), the lien on real property is independent of possession, and indeed implies that the person claiming the lien is out of the possession, e.g., in the case of a vendor's lien for unpaid purchase-money, or of a purchaser for his deposit. The lien is, however, in all cases commensurate only with the interest of the person through whom it arises.

See also title STOPPAGE IN TRANSITU. LIFE ESTATE: See title ESTATE.

LIFE RENT. A rent payable to, or receivable by, a person for the term of his or her life, e.g., a jointure rent-charge, a

LIGEANCE: See title ALLEGIANCE.

LIMIT. To mark out, to define, to fix the extent of. Thus, to limit an estate means to mark out or to define the period of its duration, and the words employed in deeds for this purpose are thence termed words of limitation, and the act itself is termed limiting the estate. Thus, if an estate be granted to A. for the term of his natural life the words " term of his natural life" would be the words of limitation, and the estate itself would be limited to A. for

that period. Sometimes very great importance attaches to the words of limitation that are used; for example, the Rule in Shelley's Case is entirely a rule of words; and again, in every conveyance (except by will) of an estate of inheritance, whether in fee tail or fee simple, the word "heirs" is necessary to be used as a word of limitation to make out the estate; for if a grant be made to a man and his seed, or to a man and his offspring, or to a man and the issue of his body, all these are insufficient to confer an estate tail, and only convey an estate for life for want of the word "heirs."

LIMITATION. Confinement within a certain time, &c. The word “limitation," as applied to actions, signifies the period of time which the law gives a man to bring his action for the recovery of any thing; and this period of time within which a man must bring his action in order to recover the thing sought is limited by the legislature in some cases to two years, in some to six years, and so on. The Acts of Parliament which prescribe these limits within which actions must be commenced are thence called the Statutes of Limitation, and the subject generally is termed limitation of actions. These statutes are principally the following:

(1.) 21 Jac. 1, c. 16, for actions on torts and on simple contracts; (2.) 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 42, for actions on specialties;

(3.) 9 Geo. 3, c. 16, for suits by the Crown and

(4.) 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 27, for actions of ejectment and such like.

The statute 37 & 38 Vict. c. 57 (Real Property Limitation Act, 1874), which comes into operation on the 1st of January, 1879, reduces the periods prescribed by the 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 27, supra.

LIMITATION OF ESTATES. The word "limitation" as applied to estates signifies the limits of duration beyond which an estate cannot last, as when an estate is so expressly confined and limited by the words

LIMITATION OF ESTATES-continued. of its creation, that it cannot endure for any longer time than till the contingency happens upon which the estate is to fail; as when land is granted to a man so long as he is lord of the manor of Dale, or while he continues unmarried, or until out of the rents and profits he shall have made £500, and so on. In such cases the estate determines as soon as the contingency happens (i.e., when he ceases to be lord of the manor, marries a wife, or has received the £500), and the next subsequent estate which depends upon such determination becomes immediately vested in possession without any act to be done by him who is next in expectancy. 1 Inst. 234; Litt. 347. See also for further explanation of the phrase "limiting an estate" title LIMIT.

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LIMITED ADMINISTRATION. ministration of a temporary character, granted for a particular period, or for a special or particular purpose, as distinguished from an ordinary administration which is not granted subject to such limitations or conditions. Such, for instance, is an administration durante minore atate, which becomes necessary when an infant has been appointed sole executor, or the person upon whom the right to administration devolves is an infant, in which case administration is granted to some other proper person for a limited period, viz., until the infant attains the full age of twenty-one years, and is capable of taking the burden of the administration upon himself.

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