Latin for Lawyers

L ATIN FOR L AWYERS

LEX AMISSA [L. lex + amitto, amittere / to send away, deport, let go] To be banished or outlawed. To be declared civilly dead. LEX COMMISSORIA The Roman law under which a pledge securing a debt was forfeited upon the failure of a debtor to pay his debts in accordance with their terms. LEX COMMUNIS [L. lex + communis / common, general] The common law. The historical development of law through custom and usage and through the decisions of the courts in England and in the other English-speaking countries, including the United States. Case-derived law and the law of custom and usage, as opposed to the law contained in constitu tions and statutes. See JUS COMMUNE; JUS SCRIPTUM LEX CONTRACTUS [L. lex + contrahere / to draw together, unite, narrow] The law of the contract. The law which governs the contract, which can be the law of the place where the contract was executed, or of the place where the contract is to be performed, or of the place intended or designated by the parties in their agreement. LEX DILATIONES SEMPER EXHORRET The law dislikes all delays. LEX FORI [L. lex + forum, fori / market-place, public square, courthouse, court] The law of the court or forum; the law of the jurisdiction in which an action is commenced or is pending. The lex fori will control all procedural and sub stantive matters required for decision except in those instances in which some principle of conflicts resolution requires the court to look at the law of another jurisdiction. See LEX CONTRACTUS; LEX LOCI CONTRACTUS LEX LOCI [L. lex + locus, loci / place, location] The law of the place. Generally followed by a word or phrase which specifies the place which is intended; e.g., lex loci contractus . If no word is added, the assumption is that lex loci means lex loci contractus . LEX LOCI ACTUS The law of the place in which he acted. LEX LOCI COMMISSI The place where the act was committed.

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