KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

709

LEGES NATURE

LEGATION

for their adoption. Heinecc. Ant. Rom. lib. 1, tit. 2.— Legem habere. To be capable of giv ing evidence upon oath. Witnesses who had been convicted of crime were incapable of giv ing evidence, until 6 & 7 Vict. c. 85.— Legem jubere. In Roman law. To give consent and authority to a proposed law; to make or pass it. Tayl. Civil Law, 9.— Legem pone. To propound or lay down the law. By an extreme ly obscure derivation or analogy, this term was formerly used as a slang equivalent for pay ment in cash or in ready money..— Legem scis cere. To give consent and authority to a pro posed law; applied to the consent of the peo ple.— Legem vadiare. In old English law. To wage law; to offer or to give pledge to make defense, by oath, with compurgators. Legem terrse amittentes, perpetuazn infamise notam inde merito incurrunt. Those who lose the law of the land, then justly incur the ineffaceable brand of in famy. 3 Inst. 221. At Rome, the leges (the decrees of the people in a strict sense) were laws which were proposed by a magis trate presiding in the senate, and adopted by the Roman people in the cornitia centuriata Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 31. —Leges Anglise. The laws of England, as distinguished from the civil law and other for eign systems— Leges non scriptse. In Eng lish law. Unwritten or customary laws, in cluding those ancient acts of parliament which were made before time of memory. Hale, Com. Law, 5. See 1 Bl. Comm. 63, 64.— Leges scriptse. In English law. Written laws ; stat ute laws, or acts of parliament which are orig inally reduced into writing before they are en acted, or receive any binding power. Hale, Com. Law, 1, 2.— Leges sub graviori lege. Laws under a weightier law. Hale, Com. Law, 46, 44.— Leges tabellarise. Roman laws reg ulating the mode of voting by ballot, (taiella.) 1 Kent, Comm. 232, note. LEGES. Lat. Laws. comitiorum. The laws of England are threefold,—common law, customs, and de crees of parliament. Leges figendi et refigendi consuetudo est periculosissima. The practice of fixing and refixing [making and remaking] the laws is a most dangerous one. 4 Coke, pref. Leges huxnanae nascuntur, vivunt, et moriuntur. Human laws are born, live, and die. 7 Coke, 25; 2 Atk. 674; 11 C. B. 767; 1 Bl. Comm. 89. Leges naturae perfectissim.se sunt et immutabile*s; human! vero juris condi tio semper in infinitum decurrit, et nihil est in eo quod perpetuo stare possit. Leges humanse nascuntur, vivunt, mo riuntur. The laws of nature are most per fect and immutable; but the condition of human law is an unending succession, and there is nothing in it which can continue perpetually. Human laws are born, live, and die. 7 Coke, 25. Leges Angliae sunt tripartita,—jus commune, consuetudines, ao decreta

his representatives and to exercise his ju risdiction in countries where the Roman Catholic Church is established by law. An embassy; a diplomatic minister and his suite; the persons commis sioned by one government to exercise diplo matic functions at the court of another, in cluding the minister, secretaries, attaches, interpreters, etc., are collectively styled the "legation" of their government. The word also denotes the official residence of a foreign minister LEGATION. LEGATORY. The third part of a free man's personal estate, which by the custom of London, in case he had a wife and chil dren, the freeman might always have dispos ed of by will. Bac. Abr. "Customs of Lon don," D. 4. Legatos violare contra jus gentium est. 4 Coke, pref. It is contrary to the law of nations to injure ambassadors. A legacy; a gift left by a deceased person, to be executed by the heir. Inst. 2, 20, 1. In old English law. A legacy given to the church, or an accustomed mortuary. Cowell. Legatum morte testatoris tantum con* fiimatur, sicut donatio inter vivos tra ditione sola. Dyer, 143. A legacy is con firmed by the death of a testator, in the same manner as a gift from a living person is by delivery alone. In Roman law. A legacy to A. B. of any article or articles that A. B. liked to choose or select out of the testator's estate. If A. B. died after the testator, but before making the choice or selection, his representative (hceres) could not, prior to Justinian, make the selection for him, Dut the legacy failed altogether. Justinian, however, made the legacy good, and enabled the representative to choose. Brown. Legatus regis vice fungitur a quo des tinatur et honorandus est sicut ille cujus vicem gerit. 12 Coke, 17. An ambassador fills the place of the king by whom he is sent, and is to be honored as he is whose place he fills. law. Occurring in various legal phrases, as fol lows: — Legem amittere. To lose one's law; that is, to lose one's privilege of being admitted to take an oa*vh.— Legem facere. In old English law. To make law or oath.— Legem ferre. In Roman law. To propose a law to the people LEGATUM. Lat. In the civil law. LEGATUM OPTIONIS. LEGEM. Lat. Accusative of lex, LEGATOR. One who makes a will, and leaves legacies