KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

712

LESTAGIUM

LETTER

LESTAGIUM.

Lastage or lestage; a du

turned by the emperor to a question of law submitted to him by the magistrates. 4. A commission, patent, or written in strument 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 at torney, letter missive, letter of credit, let ters 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 lan guage 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 compensa tion. 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 em ploys of the post-office, whose duty it is to car ry letters from the post-office to the persons to whom they are addressed.— Letter missive. In English law. A letter from the king or queen to a, dean and chapter, containing the name of the person whom he would have them elect as bishop. 1 Steph. Comm. 666. A request ad dressed to a peer, peeress, or lord of parlia ment against whom a bill has been filed desiring the defendant to appear and answer to the bill. In civil-law practice. The phrase "letters mis sive," or "letters dimissory," is sometimes used to denote the papers sent up on an appeal by the judge or court below to the superior tribu nal, otherwise called the "apostles," (q. v )•— Letter of advocation. In Scotch law. The process or warrant by which, on appeal to the supreme court or court of session, that tribu nal assumes to itself jurisdiction of the cause, and discharges the lower court from all further proceedings in the action. Ersk. Inst. 732. — Letter of credence. In international law. The document which accredits an ambassador, minister, or envoy to the court or government to which he is sent; i. e., certifies to his appoint ment and qualification, and bespeaks credit for his official actions and representations.— Letter of exchange. A bill of exchange, (q. v.)— Letter of license. A letter or written instru ment given by creditors to their debtor, who has failed in trade, etc , allowing him longer time for the payment of his debts, and protect ing him from arrest in the mean time. Tom lins; Holthouse.— Letter of marque. A com mission given to a private ship by a government to make reprisals on the ships of another state; hence, also, the ship thus commissioned. U. S. v. The Ambrose Light (D. C.) 25 Fed. 408; Gibbons v. Livingston, 6 N. J. Law, 255 —Let ter of recall. A document addressed by the executive of one nation to that of another, in forming the latter that a minister sent by the former has been recalled.— Letter of recre dentials. A document embodying the formal action of a government upon a letter of recall of a foreign minister. It, in effect, accredits him back to his own government It is address ed to the latter government, and is delivered to the minister by the diplomatic secretary of the state from which he is recalled.— Letters close. In English law. Close letters are grants of the king, and, being of private concern, they are thus distinguished from letters patent.— Let ters of absolution. Absolvatory letters, used in former times, when an abbot released any of his brethren ab omnia subjeetione et ohedten tia, etc., and made them capable of entering

ty laid on the cargo of a ship. Cowell

IESWES. Domesday; Co. Litt, 46. A term often inserted in old deeds and conveyances. Cowell. LET, v. In conveyancing. To demise or lease. "To let and set" is an old expression. In practice. To deliver. "To let to bail" is to deliver to bail on arrest. In contracts. To award to one of sev eral persons, who have submitted proposals therefor, the contract for erecting public works or doing some part of the work con nected therewith, or rendering some other service to government for a stipulated com pensation. Letting the contract is the choosing one from among the number of bidders, and the formal making of the contract with him. The letting, or putting out, is a different thing from the in vitation to make proposals; the letting is subse quent to the invitation. It is the act of award ing the contract to the proposer, after the pro posals have been received and considered. See Eppes v. Railroad Co., 35 Ala. 33, 55. In the language of judicial orders and decrees, the word "let" (in the imperative) imports a positive direction or command. •Thus the phrase "let the writ issue as pray ed" is equivalent to "it is hereby ordered that the writ issue," etc. See Ingram v. Laroussini, 50 La. Ann. 69, 23 South. 498. LET, n. In old conveyancing. Hindrance; obstruction ; interruption. Still occasionally used in the phrase "without any let, suit, trouble," etc. In practice. To admit a party as a matter of favor; as to open a judgment and "let the defendant in" to a defense. In Scotch law. A deadly weapon. See State v. Godfrey, 17 Or. 300, 20 Pac. 625, 11 Am. St. Rep. 830. In Spanish law. An advo cate. White, New Recop. b. 1, tit. 1, c. 1, i 3, note. LETTER. 1. One of the arbitrary marks or characters constituting the alpha bet, 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 writ ing from one person to another at a dis tance. U. S. v. Huggett (C. C.) 40 Fed. 640; U. S. v. Denicke (C. C.) 35 Fed. 409. 3. In the Imperial law of Rome, "letter" or "epistle" was the name of the answer re Pastures. LET IN. LETHAL WEAPON. LETRADO.