KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

732

LITERATE

LITISPENDENCE

on his or their part, vested in another person. "9 Amer. Law Reg. 44.. And see Keene v. Wheatley, 14 Fed. Cas. 192; Palmer v. De Witt, 32 N. Y. Super. Ct. 552. A distinction is to "be taken between "literary property" (which is the natural, common-law right which a per son has in the form of written expression to which he has, by labor and skill, reduced his thoughts) and "copyright," (which, is a statu tory monopoly, above and beyond natural prop erty, conferred upon an author to encourage and reward a dedication of his literary prop erty to the public.) Abbott. LITERATE. In English ecclesiastical law. One who qualifies himself for holy or ders by presenting himself as a person ac complished in classical learning, etc., not as a graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, etc po nei'e" means to put children to school. This liberty was anciently denied to those parents who were servile tenants, without the lord's consent. The prohibition against the educa tion of sons arose from the fear that the son, being bred to letters, might enter into holy orders, and so stop or divert the services which he might otherwise do as heir to his father. Paroch. Antiq. 401. LITERIS OBLIGATIO. In Roman law. The contract of nomen, which was constitut ed by writing, (scripturd.) It was of two kinds, viz.: (1) A re in personam, when a transaction was transferred from the day book (adversaria) into the ledger (codex) in the form of a debt under the name or heading of the purchaser or debtor, (nomen;) and (2) a persond in personam, where a debt already standing under one nomen or heading was transferred in the usual course of novatio from that nomen to another and substituted nomen. By reason of this transferring, these obligations were called "nomina transcripti tia." No money was, in fact, paid to con stitute the contract. If ever money was paid, then the nomen was arcanum, (i. e., a real contract, re contractus,) and not a nomen proprium. Brown. LITIGANT. A party to a lawsuit; one engaged in litigation; usually spoken of ac tive parties, not of nominal ones. LITIGARE. Lat To litigate; to carry on a suit, (htem agere,) either as plaintiff or defendant; to claim or dispute by action; to test or try the validity of a claim by action. LITIGATE. To dispute or contend in form of law; to carry on a suit. LITIGATION. A judicial controversy. A contest in a court of justice, for the pur pose of enforcing a right. LITIGIOSITY. In Scotch law. The pendency of a suit; it is a tacit legal prohi bition of alienation, to the disappointment of LITERATURA. "Ad literaturam

an action, or of diligence, the direct object of which is to obtain i possession, or to acquire the property of a particular subject The ef fect of it is analogous to that of inhibition. Bell. LITIGIOSO. Span. Litigious; the sub ject of litigation; a term applied to property which is the subject of dispute in a pending suit White v. Gay, 1 Tex. 388. LITIGIOUS. That which is the subject of a suit or action; that which is contested in a court of justice. In another sense, "li tigious" signifies fond of litigation; prone to engage in suits. —Litigious church. In ecclesiastical law, a church is said to be litigious where two presen tations are offered to the bishop upon the same avoidance. Jenk. Cent. 11.—Litigious right, N In the civil law. A right which cannot be ex ercised without undergoing a lawsuit Civil Code La. arts. 918, 3556. LITIS iESTIMATIO. Lat The meas ure of damages. LITIS CONTESTATIO. Lat In the civil and canon law. Contestation of suit; the process of contesting a suit by the op posing statements of the respective parties; the process of coming to an issue; the attain ment of an issue; the issue itself. In the practice of the ecclesiastical courts. The general answer made by the defendant, in which he denies the matter charged against him in the libel. Hallifax, Civil Law, b. 3, c 11, no. 9. In admiralty practice. The general is sue. 2 Browne, Civil & Adm. Law, 358, and note. LITIS DENUNCIATIO. Lat. In the civil law. The process by which a purchaser of property, who is sued for its possession or recovery by a third person, falls back upon his vendor's covenant of warranty, by giving the latter notice of the action and demanding his aid in defending it See Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 403. LITIS DOMINIUM. Lat In the civil law. Ownership, control, or direction of a suit. A fiction of law by which the employ ment of an attorney or proctor (procurator) in a suit was authorized or justified, he be ing supposed to become, by the appointment of his principal (dominus) or client, the donv inus litis. Heinecc. Elem. lib. 4, tit 10, {$ 1246, 1247. Litis nomen omnem actionem signif icat, sive in rem, sive in personam sit. Co. Litt. 292. A lawsuit signifies every ac tion, whether it be in rem or in personam. LITISPENDENCE. An obsolete term for the time during which a lawsuit is going OIK