FINANCE, INDUSTRY, TRANSPORTATION. 



489 



Judgment Note. A note in the usual form, -with the 

 addition of the power to confess judgment if not paid. 



Jurisdiction. The authority by which judicial offi- 

 cers take cognizance of and decide causes. 



Landlord. A proprietor of lands occupied by an- 

 other, which latter party is termed the tenant. 



Lapse. A forfeiture of the right of presentation to a 

 church by the neglect of the patron to present. The 

 word is also applied where a testamentary gift falls by 

 the death of its object in the lifetime of the testator. 



Larceny. The wrongful and unlawful taking and 

 carrying away by one person of the personal goods of 

 another, with the felonious intention of converting 

 them to his own use. 



Law. This word signifies generally an inflexible rule 

 of action. The law of England is composed of written 

 laws or statutes, and unwritten laws, or the customs of 

 the realm. The latter is also termed the common law. 



Law of Nations. A system of rules or principles 

 deduced from the law of nature, and intended for the 

 regulation of the mutual intercourse of nations. 



Leading Question. A question put or framed in 

 such a form as to suggest the answer sought to be 

 obtained. Such a question is not allowed to be put to a 

 witness, except on cross-examination. 



Lease. A conveyance or demise of lands of tene- 

 ments for life, or years, or at will, but always for a less 

 term than the party conveying has in the premises. 



Lease and Release. The form of conveyance, until 

 recently commonly used for conveying land; but a 

 lease, commonly called a lease for a year, is no longer 

 necessary; the release alone being now as effectual as a 

 lease and release were formerly. 



Leasehold. Lands held on lease, which (however 

 long the term) are censidered as chattels real, and go to 

 the next of kin, and not to the heir, on the death of the 

 owner intestate. 



Legacy. A gift or bequest of money, goods, or other 

 personal property by will. The person to whom it is 

 given is styled the legatee ; and, if the gift is of the 

 residue, after payment of debts and legacies, he is then 

 styled the residuary legatee. 



Lessor and Lessee. The person who grants a lease 

 is called the lessor, the party to whom it is granted, the 

 lessee, and the person to whom either of them assigns, 

 the assignee. 



Letters of Administration. The instrument granted 

 by the Probate Court under which administrators de- 

 rive their title to administer the goods and chattels of 

 an estate. 



Letters (or Power) of Attorney. A writing, under 

 seal, empowering another person to do any act insteai 

 of the person granting the letter. It may be either 

 general or special ; the attorney represents his principal 

 in the matters prescribed by 'the letter until it be re- 

 voked. 



Letters of License. An instrument whereby credit- 

 ors grant to their debtor time for the payment of his 

 debts, and bind themselves not to molest him until that 

 time has expired. 



Levy. The seizing of goods or chattels by a sheriff 

 under an execution is called a levy. 



Ledger. Book of accounts. 



Letters of Credit. A letter authorizing the holder 

 to receive money on account of the writer. 



Legal Debts.' Debts that are recoverable in a court 

 of common law. 



Legal Tender. That which the law authorizes to be 

 tendered in payment of debts. Strictly speaking, it is 

 the exact amount of the debt in current funds. It is 

 not a legal tender to demand change. 



Letter of Advice. A letter of information concern- 

 ing a shipment of goods or of the drawing of a draft. 



Libel. A malicious defamation, expressed either in 

 printing or writing, or by signs, pictures, etc., tending 

 either to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or the 

 reputation of one who is alive, and thereby exposing 

 him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule. 



Lien. A qualified right which a person has in or to 

 a thing in his possession, arising from a claim upon the 

 owner. Liens are of two kinds, particular or general. 



Limited Liability. The limitation of the liability of 

 shareholders in a company to the amount unpaid upon 

 their shares, introduced by recent Acts, and applicable 

 to all companies registered thereunder; such compa- 

 nies are bound to use the word " Limited " in their title 

 after the word " Company." 



fjneal Descent. That which goes from father to 

 JK, from SOB. to grandson, and so on. 



Liquidated Damages. Damages, the amount of 

 which is fixed or ascertained. 



Liability. Debt or claim against a person. 



License. Legal permission to sell goods or to do 

 certain things. 



Liquidate. To pay off, as debts ; to settle or adjust 

 accounts. 



Lighterage. A charge for conveying goods to or 

 from a vessel in a harbor. 



Limit. A set figure, at which one's trade is to be 

 made or closed. 



Liquidation. When employed by speculators, this 



In a market where both processes are extensively car- 

 ried on, it is called " evening up.*' 



Loan. To deliver to another for temporary use ; the 

 thing lent. 



Long. One who has property bought in anticipation 

 of a rise in price. Hence, for a trader to be "long " of 

 stocks or grain presupposes him to be a "bull." Also 

 usedadjectively. 



Long Market. A market that is overbought, the 

 volume of open contracts to buy property for future 

 delivery being in dangerous excess of the probable de- 

 mand. 



Lunatic. One who has had understanding, but, by 

 grief, disease, or other accident, has lost the use of his 

 reason generally, though he may have lucid intervals. 



Magna Charta. The great charter of English lib- 

 erties granted by, or rather extorted from, King John, 

 at Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the 

 15th of .June, 1215, and afterwards confirmed bv Henry 

 III. 



Maihem or Mayhem. The violently depriving an- 

 other of the use of such of his members as may render 

 him less able, in fighting, either to defend himself or to 

 annoy his adversary. 



Malice Prepense. Malice aforethought; i. e., delib- 

 erate, predetermined malice. 



Mandamus. A writ commanding the completion or 

 restitution of some right, or the performance of a duty. 



Manor. A territorial domain, held partly by the lord 

 and partly by his tenants ; it must have continued from 

 time immemorial, and have annexed to it a Court 

 Baron, with at least two suitors. 



Manslaughter. The unlawful killing of another, but 

 without malice. 



Manumission. The making a bondman free. 



Marque and Reprisal (Letters of). Commissions 

 granted to individuals to lit out privateers in time of 

 war ; not used in the late war, and abandoned by all the 

 great powers at the Congress of Paris, 1856. 



Master of the Rolls. An assistant of the Lord 

 Chancellor, who hears and decides the cases assigned to 

 him, at his own court in the Rolls Yard. He holds his 

 office by patent for life. 



Maturity. Bills, or notes, when due, are said to be at 

 their maturity. 



Maxims in Law. Certain proverbial axioms, which 

 form part of the general custom or common law of the 

 land. As, "No man is bound to criminate himself." 

 "Conditions against law are void." "It is fraud to 

 conceal fraud," etc., etc. 



Malfeasance. An act which one has no right to do. 



Mandatory. One to whom business is intrusted or 

 charge given. 



Manifest. A list of articles comprising a vessel's 

 cargo. 



Manufacture. The process of converting raw ma- 

 terial into articles of use and sale. 



Margin. A sum of money deposited with a broker, 

 in stock transactions, to protect him against loss by the 

 depreciation of stocks held by him for another party. 

 Also the difference between the value of securities de- 

 posited as collateral and the amount loaned upon them. 



Marine. Relating to the sea. 



Maritime Law. Law relating to harbors, ships, and 

 seamen. 



Mart. A place of public sale ; a market. 



Maximum. The highest figure. 



Merger. The sinking of a smaller estate into a 

 greater, whereby the former is utterly extinguished and 

 destroyed. It takes place when two estates meet to- 

 gether, without any intermediate estate between them, 

 to both of whieh estates the same individual is en- 

 titled in one and the same right as where a tenant for 

 life afterwards acquires the fee simple. 



