LEXINGTON LEY DEN. 



455 



Cincinnati ; Ion. 84 18' W.; lat. 38 6' N. The 

 place derived its name from the circumstance that 

 some hunters were engaged on the spot in laying out a 

 town (1775), when a messenger arrived with the news 

 of the battle of Lexington, and they immediately decid- 

 ed to commemorate that event by giving the ,name to 

 the place. Population, in 1830, 5699. The staple 

 manufactures of the place are cordage and bagging. 

 Transylvania university, at Lexington, was incorpo- 

 rated in 1798, and organized anew in 1818. In 1830, 

 it had 143 under-graduates, 62 in the preparatory de- 

 partment, 200 medical students, and 19 law students. 



LEXINGTON, a small town in Massachusetts, 

 about twelve miles north-west of Boston, and six 

 south-east of Concord, is remarkable, in the history 

 of the American revolution, as the place where the 

 first British blood was shed in armed resistance to 

 the mother country. On the evening of April 18, 

 1775, a detachment of British troops was sent from 

 Boston, by general Gage, for the purpose of seizing 

 some provincial stores at Concord. Notice of this 

 movement having been communicated to the inhab- 

 itants on the route, the militia of Lexington, about 

 seventy men in number, were hastily drawn up on 

 the common, by which the road to Concord passes. 

 The British commander, colonel Smith, having com- 

 manded them to disperse without effect, ordered his 

 men to fire. Seven Americans were killed, and 

 three wounded, and the company dispersed, several 

 of the militia discharging their muskets as they 

 retreated. The British troops then pushed on to 

 Concord, the Americans retiring beyond the river 

 which flows by the village. One hundred men were 

 detached to destroy the bridge, across which the 

 colonists had retired ; they were, however, repulsed 

 by the latter, and, at noon, the whole detachment 

 took up the march for Boston. The militia of the 

 neighbouring towns had meanwhile been collected, 

 and began to hang upon the rear of the British with 

 an irregular but destructive fire from every favour- 

 able position. At Lexington, the British were 

 relieved by a reinforcement of 1000 men, but were 

 still pursued in the same galling manner till their 

 arrival at Charlestown, in the evening. (See Phin- 

 ney's History of the Battle at Lexington, Boston, 

 United States, 1825.) A simple monument of gran- 

 ite, bearing the names of those who fell, was erected 

 at Lexington, by the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

 in 1799. 



LEX LOCI CONTRACTUS (conflict of laws). 

 It is a general doctrine, that every government has 

 jurisdiction of persons within its territories, and also 

 of acts done within them. It follows, that all con- 

 tracts made, and obligations assumed, have an im- 

 plied reference to the laws of the place of the trans- 

 action, unless it appear otherwise on the face of the 

 contract. Some contracts, however, have reference 

 to different places for their execution, as a bill of 

 lading for a foreign voyage, a foreign bill of exchange 

 and many others. Such contracts necessarily refer 

 to the laws of other countries than that in which 

 the contract is made, in respect to the acts contem- 

 plated to be done abroad. The manner of execution 

 of the contract must, in this respect, be governed by 

 the foreign Jaws. But, for the purpose of ascertain- 

 ing the meaning of the parties, regard is necessarily 

 had to the language, laws, and customs of the place 

 where it is made. In neighbouring territories sub- 

 ject to different jurisdictions, where there is much 

 business and intercourse between the inhabitants of 

 the different territories, as is, or, at least, formerly 

 was the case in the different provinces of Holland 

 and the Netherlands, and the territories bordering 

 upon them, questions frequently arise as to the code 

 of laws which is applicable to particular acts of the 



parties, or provisions of contracts. Many questions 

 have arisen in those countries, for instance, respect- 

 ing the obligations and rights arising on the marriage 

 contract, where the parties were married in one 

 province or country, and afterwards removed to 

 another. As to rights of property, consequent 

 immediately upon a marriage, the laws of the place 

 of marriage prevail ; but it will often happen that 

 these laws clash with those^of the quarter to which 

 the parties remove, and, in such cases, the general 

 rule is, to give the laws of the place of the contract 

 the preference, as far as is practicable. But it will 

 sometimes happen that it is quite impossible to give 

 them entire effect. The French law, for instance, 

 makes the law of marriage, to many purposes, a 

 pecuniary copartnership, and its provisions and 

 remedies are adapted to this construction, and there 

 is no difficulty in enforcing the rights of the wife 

 under it. But in Britain and the United States, it is 

 quite otherwise,, as the wife's personal property, and 

 the use of her real estate, go to the husband, and her 

 legal rights are in a great degree suspended during 

 the marriage. If, therefore, parties, married in 

 France, remove to Britain or the United States, 

 whatever respect might be paid to the French law, 

 and the rights and obligations, as to property, arising 

 on the marriage contract under that law, the laws of 

 Britain or the United States, supply no forms of pro- 

 ceeding, and remedies adapted to such a construction 

 of the contract. As to the acts done and the man- 

 agement of their property after their removal, there- 

 fore, they must be governed by the laws of the 

 country of their residence. This question, as to tiie 

 code of laws which is applicable, arises in relation 

 to the adjustment of general average losses on 

 vessels and their cargoes, it being a rule that such 

 losses are to be adjusted at the port of delivery of 

 the goods ; and, where this is a foreign port, the 

 adjustment is necessarily made according to the laws 

 there prevailing. The implied contract between the 

 parties to a bill of lading, to contribute to such aver- 

 age, where the contribution accrues abroad, has refer- 

 ence to the laws of the foreign port as to the propor- 

 tion of the contribution. 



LEY, or LEES ; a term usually applied to any 

 alkaline solution made by levigating ashes that con- 

 tain an alkali. Soaplees is an alkali used by soap- 

 boilers, or potash or soda in solution, and made 

 caustic by lime. Lees of wine are the refuse, or sedi- 

 ment deposited from wine standing quiet. 



LEYDEN (Lugdunum Batavorum) ; a large and 

 beautiful city in the government of South Hol- 

 land, situated on a branch of the Rhine, with 3000 

 houses and 28,600 inhabitants ; Ion. 4 29' E. 

 lat. 52 9' N. It has wide streets (the one called 

 Broad Street is among the finest in Europe), and 

 numerous canals. The university of Leyden, formerly 

 very celebrated, was founded in 1575, and is distin- 

 guished for its botanical garden, anatomical theatre 

 observatory, and valuable library with 60,OOO 

 volumes and 14,000 manuscripts. The number of 

 students, in 1827, was 323. The Annales Acad. 

 Lugd. Bat. are still continued. Cabinets of philo- 

 sophical, surgical, chemical instruments, and one for 

 natural history, belong to the university. Among 

 the buildings, the principal are St Peter's church, 

 with the tombs of Boerhaave, Peter Camper, and 

 Meerman, and the stadthouse. which contains Luke 

 of Leyden 's excellent picture of the last judgment. A 

 fine view of the whole city is enjoyed from the 

 ancient castle, considered, traditionally, a Roman 

 work. The printing establishments formerly consti 

 tuted an important branch of the industry of Leyden, 

 but are much less extensive at present. The city 

 lias woollen manufactures, and considerable inland 



