LEGISLATURE 



3373 



LEIBNITZ 



similar name. Only state and provincial gov- 

 ernments adopt the less dignified terms. Un- 

 der whatever title known, the powers and 

 duties of lawmaking bodies are practically the 

 same, varying only to meet local needs. Legis- 

 latures are exclusively empowered to make 

 laws and to amend and repeal them. 



Usually there are two groups of lawmakers, 

 comprised within two houses variously called 

 senate and house of representatives, assembly 

 and house of commons, or similar terms; these 

 are independent of each other in a few minor 

 respects but are distinctly related bodies for 

 the passage of laws and a unit in the general 

 scheme of government. One house alone can- 

 not enact a law; the concurrence of both houses 

 upon every detail of a bill is necessary. 



The two houses .of a legislative body in a 

 state or province are usually organized after 

 the manner of the higher lawmaking body of 

 the nation; for example, a state legislature in 

 the American Union finds its admirable pat- 

 tern in the Congress of the United States. The 

 legislative assembly of two Canadian provinces, 

 Quebec and Nova Scotia, is quite similar in 

 each case to the more important Dominion 

 Parliament, each having two houses; the other 

 seven provinces provide for only one house, 

 called the legislative assembly. 



Terms of service of members vary from one 

 year to four, while compensation ranges from 

 a stated sum for each day's actual service to 

 a salary of several thousand dollars per year. 

 In some states the constitution limits the length 

 of a legislative session by depriving members 

 of compensation after forty, fifty or sixty days; 

 another device for shortening a session is a con- 

 stitutional provision that no new bills may be 

 introduced after a stated number of days. 



In cities there is a legislature, although not 

 so called, for a city must have its full comple- 

 ment of local laws, .which are termed ordi- 

 nances; the legislative body is the board of 

 aldermen. In a village the like body is called 

 the common council. E.D.F. 



Consult Ilbert's The Mechanics of Law Making ; 

 Bryce's American Commonwealth. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred in 

 this connection to the following articles in these 

 volumes : 



Alderman Delegate 



Amendment Diet 



Burgesses, House of Duma 



Committee of the Initiative and 



Whole Referendum 



Common Council Junta 



Congress of the United Law 



States Lobby and Lobbying 



Local Option Short Ballot 



Parliament Speaker 



Pure Food Laws Statute 



Representatives, House Veto 



of Zemstvo 

 Senate 



LEGUMINOUS, le gu' minus, PLANTS, or 

 PULSE FAMILY, the second largest family of 

 flowering plants, various members of which 

 are of great economic importance in all parts 

 of the world. Some, such as peas and beans, 

 are valued as food plants. Others are used for 

 medicines, dyes, timber, wood, or ornament. 



All have a strange and interesting power of 

 taking nitrogen from the air by means of bac- 

 teria which live in wartlike growths on their 

 roots. This power of bringing nitrogen to the 

 soil makes many of the legumes valuable as 

 green manure and cover crops for the improve- 

 ment of poor soils. 



About 7,000 species of leguminous plants are 

 known. Most of them, whether trees, shrubs 

 or herbs, bear their seeds in pods, or legumes, 

 hence the family name, which the scientist 

 calls Leguminosae. One large order in this 

 family bears flowers which resemble butterflies 

 and is therefore called Papilionaceae, from the 

 Latin word for butterfly. The common sweet 

 pea belongs to that order. Other legumes bear 

 irregular, spreading petaled flowers; still others 

 bear blossoms small and regular. 



Related SubjectM. The following important 

 members of this great family are treated in these 

 volumes : 



Acacia 



Alfalfa 



Bean 



Broom 



Clover 



Indigo 



Laburnum 



Licorice 



Locust 



Lupine 



Melilot 



Pea 



Peanut 



Sensitive Plant 



Sweet Pea 



Tamarind 



Vetch 



Wistaria 



LEHIGH, lee' hi, RIVER, a river rising in the 

 northeastern part of Pennsylvania near Wilkes- 

 Barre, which after a winding course of 120 miles 

 empties into the Delaware River at Easton. 

 The part of the country through which it flows 

 is rich in coal and iron, and by means of locks 

 and dams the river has been made a navigable 

 outlet for these products. The Lehigh Valley 

 Railroad follows its course for the greater part 

 of the way. 



LEIBNITZ, lipe'nitz, GOTTFRIED WILHELM. 

 Baron von (1646-1716), a German philosopher 

 and mathematician, famous as the discoverer 

 of differential calculus, was born at Leipzig. 

 He was educated in the universities of Leip- 



