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laesa majestas (lee-za ma-jes-tas). See LESE MAJESTY.

laesio ultra dimidium vel enormis See LAESIO ENORMIS.

laesio enormis (lee-shee-oh i-nor-mis). [Law Latin "excessive loss" or "abnormal loss of more than half"]. 1. The sale of a thing for which the buyer paid less than half of its real value. The seller could rescind the sale, but the buyer could keep the item purchased by paying the full value. Generally, this doctrine was limited to land sales. 2. The injury sustained by one party to an onerous contract when the overreaching party receives twice the value of that party"s money or property, such as a purchaser who pays less than half of the value of the property sold, or a seller who receives more than double the property"s value. If coowner coheirs partition or sell property, laesio enormis may exist when the purchaser pays less than one-fourth of the value rather than one-half. See La. Civ. Code arts. 824, 1406. - Also spelled lesio enormis. - Also termed lesion; enorm lesion; (in full) laesio enormis vel ultra dimidium (lee-shee-oh i-nor-mis vel al-tra di-mid-ee-am); (in Louisiana) lesion beyond moiety. "Lesion (laesio enormis) was the rule, established very late, that a seller could rescind a contract if he had received less than half its real value .... [l]n spite of its imperfections, lesion not only was adopted in all modern civilian systems (French Code Civil 1674-1683), but became the means of testing the validity of contracts generally by their fairness, a principle embodied in the German Civil Code (section 138) and the Swiss Code of Obligations (section 21). Such a test is no more difficult to apply in law than in equity, where it has long been established in our system. As the Romans applied it, it was a clumsy and inadequate way of reaching this result. In modern courts, in civil-law countries, it invests judges with a discretion not very likely to be abused, but sufficient to act as a deterrent to the grosser forms of economic exploitation." Max Radin, Handbook of Roman Law 233-34 (1927).

laesiwerp (lee-za-warp). [Saxon fr. laisus "bosom" + werpire "to surrender"]. A thing surrendered to another"s hands or power; a thing given or delivered.

laet (layt). A person of a class between servile and free.

laga See LAGE.

lagan (lag-an). 1. Goods that are abandoned at sea but attached to a buoy so that they may be recovered. Also termed lagend; lagon; ligan; ligen; logan. Cf. FLOTSAM; JETSAM; WAVESON. 2. Archaic. Wreckage or cargo lying on the seabed.

lage (law or lay). [fr. Saxon lag "law"]. 1. Law. 2. The territory in which certain law was in force, such as danelage, mercenlage, and West-Saxon lage. This term is essentially an obsolete form of the word law. Also termed lagh; laga; lagu. See DANELAW; MERCENLAGE; WEST-SAXON LAW.

lage day (law day). A law day; a juridical day; a day of open court. Also termed lagh day.

lageman (law-man or lay-man). See LEGALIS HOMO.

lagend (lag-and). See LAGAN.

lagging economic indicator See ECONOMIC INDICATOR.

lagging economic indicator An economic indicator (such as new-home sales) that tends to respond to the direction of the economy. Often shortened to lagging indicator.

lagging indicator 1. An index that indicates a major stock-market change sometime after the change occurs. 2. See lagging economic indicator under ECONOMIC INDICATOR.

lagging indicator See INDICATOR.

lagh day See LAGE DAY.

lagon (lag-an). See LAGAN.

lagu See LAGE.

lahman (law-man or lay-man). [Saxon fr. lah "law"]. Archaic. A lawyer. Also termed lagemannus.

laicus (lay-a-kas). [Law Latin]. A layman; one who is not in the ministry.

Laidlaw vacancy Under the National Labor Relations Act, a genuine opening in an employer"s workforce, resulting from the employer"s expanding its workforce or discharging a particular employee, or from an employee"s resigning or otherwise leaving the employment. The opening must be offered to striking workers, in order of seniority, after a strike has been resolved. Laidlaw Corp. v. NLRB, 414 F.2d 99 (7th Cir. 1969).

lairwite (lair-wit). [fr. Saxon lagan "to lie" + wite "a fine"]. A fine for adultery or fornication paid to the lord of the manor; esp., a lord"s privilege of receiving a fine for fornication with the lord"s female villeins. Also termed lairesite; lecherwite (lech-ar-wit); legerwite; leirwita; leyerwite; legenita (la-jen-a-ta); legruita (la-groo-a-ta).

lais gents (lay zhon[ ts]. pl. [Law French]. Laymen; a jury.

laissez-faire (les-ay-fair). [French "let (people) do (as they choose)"]. 1. Governmental abstention from interfering in economic or commercial affairs. 2. The doctrine favoring such abstention. - laissez-faire, adj.

laity (lay-a-tee). Collectively, persons who are not members of the clergy.

lake 1. A large body of standing water in a depression ofland or basin supplied from the drainage of an extended area; esp., a natural depression in the surface of the earth containing a reasonably permanent body of water that is substantially at rest.

Lambeth degree (lam-bath). A degree conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury, rather than by a university, as authorized under the Ecclesiastical Licenses Act of 1533 (25 Hen. 8, ch. 21). The degrees were conferred in music, theology, law, and medicine.

Lamb-Weston rule The doctrine that, when two insurance policies provide coverage for a loss, and each of them contains an other-insurance clause creating a conflict in the order or apportionment of coverage both of the other-insurance clauses will be disregarded and liability will be prorated between the insurers. Lamb-Weston, Inc. v. Oregon Auto. Ins. Co., 341 P.2d 110 (Or. 1959).

lame duck An elected official serving out a term after a successor has been elected.

lame-duck amendment See TWENTIETH AMENDMENT.

lame-duck session A post-election legislative session in which some of the participants are voting during their last days as elected officials. See LAME DUCK.

lame-duck session See SESSION (I).

Lammas See quarter day under DAY.

lammas land See LAND.

lammas land (lam-as). Land over which persons other than the owner have the right of pasturage during winter, from lammas (reaping time) until sowing time.

land (bef. 12c). 1. An immovable and indestructible three-dimensional area consisting of a portion of the earth"s surface, the space above and below the surface, and everything growing on or permanently affixed to it. 2. An estate or interest in real property. "In its legal significance, "land" is not restricted to the earth"s surface, but extends below and above the surface. Nor is it confined to solids, but may encompass within its bounds such things as gases and liquids. A definition of "land" along the lines of "a mass of physical matter occupying space" also is not sufficient, for an owner of land may remove part or all of that physical matter, as by digging up and carrying away the soil, but would nevertheless retain as part of his "land" the space that remains. Ultimately, as a juristic concept, "land" is simply an area of three-dimensional space, its position being dentified by natural or imaginary points located by reference to the earth"s surface. "Land" is not the fixed contents of that space, although, as we shall see, the owner of that space may well own those fixed contents. Land is immoveable, as distinct from chattels, which are moveable; it is also, in its legal significance, indestructible. The contents of the space may be physically severed, destroyed or consumed, but the space itself, and so the land", remains immutable." Peter Butt, Land Law 9 (2d ed. 1988).

land agent See LAND MANAGER.

land agent See LAND MANAGER.

land bank 1. A bank created under the Federal Farm Loan Act to make loans at low interest rates secured by farmland. 2. A program in which land is retired from agricultural production for conservation or tree-cultivation purposes. Also termed soil bank. See FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK.

land boundary The limit of a landholding, usu. described by linear measurements of the borders, by points of the compass, or by stationary markers. See FORTY; LEGAL DESCRIPTION.

land boundary See BOUNDARY.

land certificate A document entitling a person to receive from the government a certain amount of land by following prescribed legal steps. It contains an official description of the land, as well as the name and address of the person receiving the entitlement, and is prima facie evidence of the truth of the matters it contains. Also termed land warrant.

land contract See contract for deed under CONTRACT.

land contract See contract for deed.

land cop The sale of land evidenced by the transfer in court of a rod or festuca as a symbol of possession. The seller handed the rod to the reeve and the reeve handed it to the purchaser. The conveyance occurred in court to provide better evidence of the transfer and to bar the claims of expected heirs.

land court A court having jurisdiction over landrelated matters including: (1) exclusive original jurisdiction of applications for registration ofland titles and related questions, writs of entry and petitions to clear title to real estate, petitions to determine the validity and extent of municipal zoning ordinances, bylaws, and regulations, and proceedings for foreclosure and redemption from tax titles; (2) original concurrent jurisdiction of declaratory judgment proceedings, shared with the supreme judicial, superior, and probate courts; and (3) original concurrent equity jurisdiction in land- related matters, except for cases of specific performance ofland contracts. Land courts today exist in the United States in Massachusetts and Hawaii.

land court See COURT.

land damages See just compensation under COMPENSATION.

land damages See just compensation under COMPENSATION.

land department A federal or state bureau that determines factual matters regarding the control and transfer of public land. The federal land department includes the General Land Office headed by the Secretary of the Interior. See DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

land description See LEGAL DESCRIPTION.

land district See DISTRICT.

land district A federally created state or territorial division containing a U.S. land office that manages the disposition of the district's public lands.

land flip A transaction in which a piece of property is purchased for one price and immediately sold, usu. to a fictitious entity, for a much higher price, to dupe a lender or later purchaser into thinking that the property is more valuable than it actually is.

land forces See UNITED STATES ARMY.

land grant A donation of public land to an individual, a corporation, or a subordinate government.

land improvement See IMPROVEMENT.

land lease See ground lease under LEASE.

land manager Oil & gas. A person who, usu. on behalf of an oil company, contracts with landowners for the mineral rights to their land. Also termed exploration manager; land agent; landman.

land office A government office in which sales of public land are recorded.

land patent See PATENT (2).

land patent An instrument by which the government conveys a grant of public land to a private person.

land revenue Revenue derived from lands owned by the Crown in Great Britain. Since, over the years, crown lands have been largely granted to subjects, they are now transferred within very narrow limits. See Crown land under LAND.

land revenue See REVENUE.

land sales contract See contract for deed under CONTRACT.

land sales contract See contract for deed.

land scrip A negotiable instrument entitling the holder, usu. a person or company engaged in public service, to possess specified areas of public land. See SCRIP (1).

land tax See property tax.

land tax See property tax under TAX.

Land Titles and Transfer Act An 1875 statute establishing a registry for titles to real property, and providing for the transfer of lands and recording of those transfers. 38 & 39 Vict., ch. 87. The act is analgous in some respects to American recording laws, such as those providing for a registry of deeds. A system of title registration superseded this registry system in 1925.

land trust See TRUST.

land trust certificate An instrument granting the holder a share of the benefits ofproperty ownership, while the trustee retains legal title. See land trust under TRUST.

land waiter A customhouse officer with the responsibility of examining, tasting, weighing, measuring, and accounting for merchandise landing at any port.

land warfare See WARFARE.

land warrant See LAND CERTIFICATE.

land, law of See LAW OF THE LAND.

landcheap A customary fine paid in money or cattle when any real property within a manor or borough was transferred.

land-conservation agreement See land-conservation easement under EASEMENT.

land-conservation easement See EASEMENT.

land-conservation easement An easement arising from an agreement between a landowner and a land trust to provide for the protection of the land in its natural state while perhaps also allowing the property to be used for agricultural or low-impact recreational activities. The easement runs with the land. Also termed land-conservation agreement; land-preservation easement.

landed 1. (Of a person) having an estate in land. 2. (Of an estate, etc.) consisting of land.

landed estate See ESTATE (1).

landed estate An interest in real property, esp. suburban or rural land, as distinguished from real estate situated in a city. - Also termed landed property.

landed property See landed estate under ESTATE (1).

landed security See SECURITY.

landed security A mortgage or other encumbrance affecting land.

landed servitude See servitude appurtenant.

landed servitude See servitude appurtenant under SERVITUDE (2).

landed-estates court English law. A statutorily established tribunal to dispose of encumbered real estate more promptly and easily than could be accomplished through the ordinary judicial machinery. This type of court was first established in Ireland by acts of 11 & 12 Vict., ch. 48 and 12 & 13 Vict., ch. 77. The purpose of the court was to enable the owner, or any lessee of an unexpired term of 63 years or less, of encumbered land to apply to commissioners to direct a sale. The court served as a court of record and was called the Incumbered Estates Court. A later act abolished that court and created a new permanent tribunal called the Landed Estates Court. 21 & 22 Vict., ch. 72.

landed-estates court See COURT.

landefricus (lan-da-fri-kas). A landlord or lord of the soil.

landegandman (lan-da-gand-man or lan-da-gand-man). A customary or inferior tenant of a manor.

land-gavel (land-gav-al). A tax or rent issuing from land. Also spelled landgable; land-gabel; land-gafol. See GAVEL (1), (2).

landhlaford (land-[h]lav-ard). A proprietor of land; a lord of the soil.

landholder One who possesses or owns land.

landing 1. A place on a river or other navigable water for loading and unloading goods, or receiving and delivering passengers and watercraft. 2. The termination point on a river or other navigable water for these purposes. 3. The act or process of coming back to land after a voyage or flight.

landing law A law prohibiting the possession or sale of fish or game that have been taken illegally.

landlocked 1. Surrounded by land, with no way to get in or out except by crossing the land of another <because the tract was landlocked, the buyer claimed an easement of necessity across the seller"s property>. 2. (Of a country) surrounded by other nations, with no access to major navigable waterways <the landlocked nation had always been at a mercantile disadvantage to its seafaring neighbors>.

landlord (bef. 12c). 1. At common law, the feudal lord who retained the fee of the land. Sometimes shortened to lord. 2. One who leases real property to another. Also termed (in sense 2) lessor.

landlord"s hypothec See HYPOTHEC.