• legal ethics

    legal ethics, principles of conduct that members of the legal profession are expected to observe in their practice. They are an outgrowth of the development of the legal profession itself. (Read Peter Singer’s Britannica entry on ethics.) Practitioners of law emerged when legal systems became too

  • legal fiction

    legal fiction, a rule assuming as true something that is clearly false. A fiction is often used to get around the provisions of constitutions and legal codes that legislators are hesitant to change or to encumber with specific limitations. Thus, when a legislature has no legal power to sit beyond a

  • Legal Framework Order (Pakistan [1970])

    Pakistan: Military government: He also issued a Legal Framework Order (LFO) that broke up the single unit of West Pakistan and reconstituted the original four provinces of Pakistan—i.e., Punjab, Sind, North-West Frontier Province, and Balochistan. The 1970 election therefore was not only meant to restore parliamentary government to the country, it was…

  • Legal Framework Order (Pakistan [2002])

    Pakistan: Reinstated constitution: …in a document called the Legal Framework Order (LFO). In addition to extending Musharraf’s term, the LFO expanded the president’s powers and increased the number of members of both houses of the legislature. Parliamentary elections followed in October under the limitations imposed by the LFO, and Musharraf’s adopted political party,…

  • legal glossator (medieval jurist)

    legal glossator, in the Middle Ages, any of the scholars who applied methods of interlinear or marginal annotations (glossae) and the explanation of words to the interpretation of Roman legal texts. The age of the legal glossators began with the revival of the study of Roman law at Bologna at the

  • legal hypothec (law)

    hypothec: Legal hypothecs are rights given to married women over the property of their husbands, and to children and incapacitated individuals over the property of their guardians. This is to protect them against any mismanagement by the husband or guardian of their own or common property.

  • legal incidence (economics)

    government economic policy: Incidence of taxation and expenditure: …usual to distinguish between the legal incidence of a tax and its effective, or final, incidence. The legal incidence is on the person or company who is legally obliged to pay the tax. Effective, or final, incidence refers to who actually ends up paying the tax; if, for example, the…

  • Legal Marxism (Russian history)

    Pyotr Berngardovich Struve: …France) was a liberal Russian economist and political scientist.

  • legal maxim (law)

    legal maxim, a broad proposition (usually stated in a fixed Latin form), a number of which have been used by lawyers since the 17th century or earlier. Some of them can be traced to early Roman law. Much more general in scope than ordinary rules of law, legal maxims commonly formulate a legal

  • legal medicine

    medical jurisprudence, science that deals with the relation and application of medical facts to legal problems. Medical persons giving legal evidence may appear before courts of law, administrative tribunals, inquests, licensing agencies, boards of inquiry or certification, or other investigative

  • legal oratory (law)

    oratory: …ceremonial, or, according to Aristotle, forensic, deliberative, or epideictic.

  • legal ownership (trust law)

    property law: Trusts: The basic distinction between legal and equitable ownership is quite simple. The legal owner of the property (trustee) has the right to possession, the privilege of use, and the power to convey those rights and privileges. The trustee thus appears by all counts to be the owner of the…

  • legal paternalism

    paternalism: Paternalism applied to social policy: …own good is known as legal paternalism. Societies may vary in the breadth or manner in which they use the law to restrict the freedom of their constitutive individual or group members, but every society applies some degree of legal paternalism to prohibit acts considered dangerous, risky, or reprehensible. Jeremy…

  • legal personhood

    legal personhood, fundamental aspect of Western law that allows a person, corporation, or other entity to engage in the legal system. A legal person can own property, be sued by or sue others, agree to contracts, and engage in other actions within a legal system. The concept of legal personhood has

  • legal procedure

    procedural law, the law governing the machinery of the courts and the methods by which both the state and the individual (the latter including groups, whether incorporated or not) enforce their rights in the several courts. Procedural law prescribes the means of enforcing rights or providing

  • legal proceeding

    procedural law, the law governing the machinery of the courts and the methods by which both the state and the individual (the latter including groups, whether incorporated or not) enforce their rights in the several courts. Procedural law prescribes the means of enforcing rights or providing

  • legal profession

    legal profession, vocation that is based on expertise in the law and in its applications. Although there are other ways of defining the profession, this simple definition may be best, despite the fact that in some countries there are several professions and even some occupations (e.g., police

  • legal rights

    animal rights: Animals and the law: …thing then possesses his own legal rights and remedies. Parallels have frequently been drawn between the legal status of animals and that of human slaves. “The truly striking fact about slavery,” the American historian David Brion Davis has written, is the

  • legal separation (marriage)

    separation, in law, mutual agreement by a husband and a wife to discontinue living together. A legal separation does not dissolve the marriage contract but merely adjusts the couple’s obligations under it in light of their desire to live separately. Practically, however, separation is often a

  • Legal Tender Act (United States [1862])

    Legal Tender Cases: …government in 1862 passed the Legal Tender Act, authorizing the creation of paper money not redeemable in gold or silver. About $430 million worth of “greenbacks” were put in circulation, and this money by law had to be accepted for all taxes, debts, and other obligations—even those contracted prior to…

  • Legal Tender Cases (United States [1871])

    Legal Tender Cases, two legal cases—Knox v. Lee and Parker v. Davis—decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 1, 1871, regarding the power of Congress to authorize government notes not backed by specie (coin) as money that creditors had to accept in payment of debts. To finance the American Civil

  • Legal Training and Research Institute (law school, Japan)

    legal education: Civil-law countries: …Examination for entrance to the Legal Training and Research Institute. Like his German counterpart, the Referendar, the Japanese student at the institute is paid by the state. The bulk of the work consists of practical exercises and discussions, lectures on legal topics, and visits to institutions of concern to lawyers…

  • Legalism (Chinese philosophy)

    Legalism, school of Chinese philosophy that attained prominence during the turbulent Warring States era (475–221 bce) and, through the influence of the philosophers Shang Yang, Li Si, and Hanfeizi, formed the ideological basis of China’s first imperial dynasty, the Qin (221–207 bce). The three main

  • Legaliteti (political party, Albania)

    Albania: World War II: … (Balli Kombëtar) and the pro-Zog Legality Party (Legaliteti)—the communists seized control of the country on November 29, 1944. Enver Hoxha, a college instructor who had led the resistance struggle of communist forces, became the leader of Albania by virtue of his post as secretary-general of the party. Albania, which before…

  • Legality Party (political party, Albania)

    Albania: World War II: … (Balli Kombëtar) and the pro-Zog Legality Party (Legaliteti)—the communists seized control of the country on November 29, 1944. Enver Hoxha, a college instructor who had led the resistance struggle of communist forces, became the leader of Albania by virtue of his post as secretary-general of the party. Albania, which before…

  • legality warranty

    insurance: Warranties: The implied warranty of legality, however, may not be waived. Under this warranty, if the voyage itself is illegal under the laws of the country under whose flag the ship sails, the insurance is void.

  • Legally Blonde (film by Luketic [2001])

    Linda Cardellini: Career: …Witherspoon in the romantic comedy Legally Blonde. She went on to portray Velma Dinkley in the live-action comedy Scooby-Doo and its sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. When Scooby-Doo was released, Cardellini recalled with pride that people did not recognize her as playing Velma. “That’s the fun part of it, being…

  • Legally Blonde 2 (film by Herman-Wurmfeld [2003])

    Regina King: …movies, appearing in the comedies Legally Blonde 2 (2003) and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) and winning praise for her role as a backup singer and lover of Ray Charles in the biopic Ray (2004). King played a character in season six (2007) of the TV series 24…

  • Legaré, Hugh Swinton (United States official)

    Hugh Swinton Legaré was a U.S. lawyer, a conservative Southern intellectual who opposed the attempts of South Carolina’s radicals to nullify the Tariff of 1832. Legaré studied for a year under Moses Waddel before going on to become the valedictorian of his class at South Carolina College (now the

  • Legaspi (Philippines)

    Legaspi, chartered city, southeastern Luzon, Philippines, near an inlet on Albay Gulf. Founded about 1639, it was named for Miguel López de Legazpi, conquistador and first Spanish governor-general of the Philippines. The city lies at the southern base of the active Mayon Volcano, the 1815 eruption

  • legate (Roman official)

    legate, official who acted as a deputy general to governors of provinces conquered by ancient Rome in the 2nd and 1st centuries bc, during the period of the republic. In the latter part of the 1st century bc, Julius Caesar initiated the practice of appointing legates to command legions in the army.

  • legate (Roman Catholicism)

    legate, in the Roman Catholic Church, a cleric sent on a mission, ecclesiastical or diplomatic, by the pope as his personal representative. Three types of legates are recognized by canon law. A legatus a latere (a legate sent from the pope’s side, as it were) is a cardinal who represents the pope

  • legati (Roman official)

    legate, official who acted as a deputy general to governors of provinces conquered by ancient Rome in the 2nd and 1st centuries bc, during the period of the republic. In the latter part of the 1st century bc, Julius Caesar initiated the practice of appointing legates to command legions in the army.

  • legatio (Roman diplomat)

    diplomacy: Rome: For larger responsibilities a legatio (embassy) of 10 or 12 legati (ambassadors) was organized under a president. The legati, who were leading citizens chosen for their skill at oratory, were inviolable. Rome also created sophisticated archives, which were staffed by trained archivists. Paleographic techniques were developed to decipher and…

  • legation (Italian administrative division)

    legation, major administrative division of the Papal States ruled by a cardinal legate during the 18th and 19th centuries. In the mid-19th century, on the eve of Italian unification, there were four such legations: Bologna (including Ferrara and Romagna), Urbino (covering the Marche), Perugia

  • legatus (Roman official)

    legate, official who acted as a deputy general to governors of provinces conquered by ancient Rome in the 2nd and 1st centuries bc, during the period of the republic. In the latter part of the 1st century bc, Julius Caesar initiated the practice of appointing legates to command legions in the army.

  • legatus a latere (diplomacy)

    legate: A legatus a latere (a legate sent from the pope’s side, as it were) is a cardinal who represents the pope on some special assignment with such powers as are delegated to him. Nuncios, pronuncios, and internuncios are sent to countries that have diplomatic relations with…

  • legatus Augusti pro praetore (Roman official)

    North Africa: Administration and defense: …entrusted the army to a legatus Augusti of praetorian rank. Although the province was not formally divided until 196, the army commander was de facto in charge of the area later known as the province of Numidia and also of the military area in southern Tunisia and along the Libyan…

  • legazione (Italian administrative division)

    legation, major administrative division of the Papal States ruled by a cardinal legate during the 18th and 19th centuries. In the mid-19th century, on the eve of Italian unification, there were four such legations: Bologna (including Ferrara and Romagna), Urbino (covering the Marche), Perugia

  • Legazpi (Philippines)

    Legaspi, chartered city, southeastern Luzon, Philippines, near an inlet on Albay Gulf. Founded about 1639, it was named for Miguel López de Legazpi, conquistador and first Spanish governor-general of the Philippines. The city lies at the southern base of the active Mayon Volcano, the 1815 eruption

  • Legazpi, Miguel López de (Spanish governor of Philippines)

    Miguel López de Legazpi was a Spanish explorer who established Spain’s dominion over the Philippines that lasted until the Spanish-American War of 1898. Legazpi went to New Spain (Mexico) in 1545, serving for a time as clerk in the local government. Although Ferdinand Magellan had discovered the

  • Legba (Fon mythology)

    African religions: Mythology: To the Fon of Benin, Legba is such a trickster. He is a troublemaker who disrupts harmony and sows turmoil, but he is revered as a transformer and not viewed as evil. Like other tricksters, Legba presides over divination. Called the “linguist,” he translates for humans the otherwise cryptic messages…

  • LegCo (Hong Kong government)

    Hong Kong: Constitutional framework: Legislative authority rests with a Legislative Council (LegCo), whose 70 members (increased from 60 for the 2012 legislative elections) serve a four-year term; the chief executive, however, can dissolve the council before the end of a term.

  • Legdan (khan of Mongolia)

    Ligdan was the last of the paramount Mongol khans (ruled 1604–34). Ligdan was a member of the Chahar royal family in which the Mongol supreme khanate was vested. He lived at a time when the Mongols were abandoning their traditional shamanism to convert to Tibetan Buddhism. He had Buddhist temples

  • Legend (film by Scott [1985])

    Ridley Scott: …grim, dark, polluted future; and Legend (1985), an allegorical fairy tale. Both Alien and Blade Runner are widely regarded as classics.

  • legend (literature)

    legend, traditional story or group of stories told about a particular person or place. Formerly the term legend meant a tale about a saint. Legends resemble folktales in content; they may include supernatural beings, elements of mythology, or explanations of natural phenomena, but they are

  • Legend (album)

    Bob Marley: Legacy: Legend (1984), a retrospective of his work, became the best-selling reggae album ever, with international sales of more than 12 million copies.

  • Legend of Bagger Vance, The (film by Redford [2000])

    Robert Redford: …War (1988), The Horse Whisperer, The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), and Lions for Lambs (2007) garnered lukewarm reviews, but Ordinary People, A River Runs Through It (1992), and Quiz Show (1994) are regarded as minor masterpieces. The latter film, which dramatized a 1950s quiz-show scandal, earned four Oscar nominations,…

  • Legend of Good Women (work by Chaucer)

    Legend of Good Women, dream-vision by Geoffrey Chaucer, written in the 1380s. The fourth and final work of the genre that Chaucer composed, it presents a “Prologue” (existing in two versions) and nine stories. In the “Prologue” the god of love is angry at Chaucer for writing about so many women who

  • Legend of La Llorona, The (novel by Anaya)

    Rudolfo Anaya: The novel The Legend of La Llorona (1984) is about La Malinche, an enslaved Indian who became the mistress, guide, and interpreter of the conquistador Hernán Cortés. Anaya’s other fictional works included The Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas (1985), Alburquerque (1992; the title gives the original spelling of…

  • Legend of Lylah Clare, The (film by Aldrich [1968])

    Robert Aldrich: The 1960s: The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968), which offered a harsh look at Hollywood, was widely panned, though it later developed a cult following for its campiness. The controversial The Killing of Sister George (1968) is an adaptation of the Frank Marcus play about an aging…

  • Legend of Mir 3 (game)

    Internet: Social gaming and social networking: …a virtual sword used in Legend of Mir 3. Although attempts were made to involve the authorities in the original dispute, the police found themselves at a loss prior to the murder because the law did not acknowledge the existence of virtual property. In South Korea violence surrounding online gaming…

  • Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, The (work by Tolkien)

    J.R.R. Tolkien: Other works: … (1982) and Roverandom (1998), and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (2009), two narrative poems drawn from northern legend and written in the style of the Poetic Edda. The Fall of Arthur (2013) is an unfinished verse exploration of Arthurian legend inspired by the Middle English Morte Arthure.

  • Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The (story by Irving)

    The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, short story by Washington Irving, first published in The Sketch Book in 1819–20. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” have been called the first American short stories. The protagonist of the story, Ichabod Crane, is a Yankee schoolteacher who

  • Legend of St. Elizabeth, The (work by Liszt)

    oratorio: Oratorio after 1750: …von der heiligen Elisabeth (The Legend of St. Elizabeth; 1873), combine devotional and theatrical elements on the grandest scale. Italian oratorio remained in abeyance after the 18th century, and Slavic composers produced few oratorios. Perhaps the only French oratorio of major importance is L’Enfance du Christ (1854) by Hector…

  • Legend of St. Francis (frescoes by Giotto)

    Giotto: The Assisi problem: …real disagreement only over the Legend of St. Francis. The main strength of the non-Giotto school lies in the admittedly sharp stylistic contrasts between the St. Francis cycle and the frescoes in the Arena Chapel at Padua, especially if the Assisi frescoes were painted 1296–c. 1300 and those of the…

  • Legend of Tarzan, The (film by Yates [2016])

    Margot Robbie: …War, and portrayed Jane in The Legend of Tarzan. But her most notable role that year—and the one for which she is perhaps most widely known—was that of Harley Quinn, the psychotic girlfriend of the Joker (Jared Leto) in the supervillain movie Suicide Squad.

  • Legend of the Demon Cat (film by Chen Kaige [2017])

    Chen Kaige: …the Mountain) and Kûkai (2017; Legend of the Demon Cat), a fantasy set during the Tang dynasty. In addition, Chen codirected Chang jin hu (2021; The Battle at Lake Changjin), about a military campaign in the Korean War; hugely popular, the war epic set records at the Chinese box office.

  • Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (film by Snyder [2010])

    Zack Snyder: Career: …big-budget action film trajectory with Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, an animated adventure film for children about warrior owls, based on a fantasy book series by author Kathryn Lasky. The following year he cowrote, produced, and directed the dark fantasy action film Sucker Punch, about an institutionalized…

  • Legend of the True Cross (frescoes by Gaddi)

    Agnolo Gaddi: …Croce in Florence illustrating the “Legend of the True Cross” (see photograph). In these frescoes Agnolo sacrificed expression for design, and his overall concern with optical unification of the composition replaces Giotto’s concentration on figures, thereby revealing the new approach toward painting of the International Gothic style. Between 1383 and…

  • Legend of the True Cross, The (work by Piero della Francesca)

    Piero della Francesca: Mature period: The narrative cycle The Legend of the True Cross was completed by 1466. Its simplicity and clarity of structure, controlled use of perspective, and aura of serenity are all typical of Piero’s art at its best. Contemporary with the Arezzo cycle are a fresco of the Magdalen in…

  • Legend of Zelda, The (electronic game)

    The Legend of Zelda, electronic action-adventure game franchise in which players take on the role of a young adventurer named Link, who often must assist a princess named Zelda in stopping the evil Ganon (in his monstrous pig form, Ganondorf in his human form) from cursing the magical land of

  • Legend of Zorro, The (film by Campbell [2005])

    Antonio Banderas: Later films: The Legend of Zorro and Pain and Glory: In 2005 Banderas starred in The Legend of Zorro, a sequel to The Mask of Zorro. The following year he directed his second film, El camino de los ingleses (Summer Rain), an adaptation of an Antonio Soler novel about a group of teenage boys who have a memorable summer vacation.…

  • Legend, John (American musician)

    John Legend is an American singer-songwriter and pianist who achieved success in the early 21st century with his fusion of R&B and soul music. He also was a sought-after session musician. Legend was the first African American man to win all four major North American entertainment awards (EGOT:

  • Legenda aurea (work by Jacob de Voragine)

    St. George: …de Voragine’s Legenda aurea (1265–66; Golden Legend) repeats the story of his rescuing a Libyan king’s daughter from a dragon and then slaying the monster in return for a promise by the king’s subjects to be baptized. George’s slaying of the dragon may be a Christian version of the legend…

  • Legenda de origine (work by Peter of Todi)

    Seven Holy Founders: …mention the seven, the 14th-century Legenda de origine (ascribed to Peter of Todi, Servite prior general from 1314 to 1344), the Seven Holy Founders were originally Florentine merchants. They joined together, living a penitential life, and were members of the Society of St. Mary at a time when Florence was…

  • Legenda Mlodej Polski (work by Brzozowski)

    Stanisław Brzozowski: …noted in his critical work Legenda Młodej Polski (1910; “The Legend of Young Poland”).

  • Legenda S. Silvestri (apocryphal work)

    Donation of Constantine: …Donation was based on the Legenda S. Silvestri (Latin: “The Legend of St. Sylvester”), a 5th-century account of the relationship betwen Pope Sylvester I and the emperor Constantine. It begins with the tale of the conversion of Constantine to Christianity after Sylvester I miraculously cured him of leprosy. Constantine then…

  • Légende d’un peuple, La (poem by Fréchette)

    Louis-Honoré Fréchette: …liberal nationalism, Fréchette then wrote La Légende d’un peuple (1887; “The Story of a People”), his famous cycle of poems that was an epic chronicle of Canadian history. Other works include Poésies choisies (1908; “Selected Poems”); the prose stories in Originaux et détraqués (1892; “Eccentrics and Lunatics”) and Le Noël…

  • Légende de la mort, La (work by Luzel)

    Celtic literature: Prose: …concerning an ankou (“death”), as La Légende de la mort (1893; Dealings with the Dead). Traditional and literary elements combined indistinguishably in many stories. When Breton writers did not depend on folk legends for material, they fictionalized their own life stories. The many improving religious works published were not at…

  • Légende des siècles, La (poem by Hugo)

    Victor Hugo: Exile (1851–70) of Victor Hugo: …of the gigantic epic poem La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Centuries), whose second and third installments appeared in 1877 and 1883, respectively. The many poems that make up this epic display all his spiritual power without sacrificing his exuberant capacity to tell a story. Hugo’s personal mythology…

  • Légende et les aventures héroïques, joyeuses, et glorieuses d’Ulenspiegel et de Lamme Goedzak au pays de Flandres et ailleurs, La (work by Coster)

    Charles de Coster: …de Flandres et ailleurs (1867; The Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegl). Freely adapting the traditional tales of the folk heroes Till Eulenspiegel (Ulenspiegel) and Lamme, he set his story in the 16th century, at the height of the Inquisition; the hero’s father is burned at the stake as a heretic,…

  • Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth, Die (work by Liszt)

    oratorio: Oratorio after 1750: …von der heiligen Elisabeth (The Legend of St. Elizabeth; 1873), combine devotional and theatrical elements on the grandest scale. Italian oratorio remained in abeyance after the 18th century, and Slavic composers produced few oratorios. Perhaps the only French oratorio of major importance is L’Enfance du Christ (1854) by Hector…

  • Légendes épiques, Les (work by Bédier)

    Joseph Bédier: Les Légendes épiques, 4 vol. (1908–13), presents his theory on the origins of the old French epic poems, the chansons de geste. He marshals convincing evidence in support of his belief that they were originally composed by the troubadours on themes provided by the monks…

  • Legendre, Adrien-Marie (French mathematician)

    Adrien-Marie Legendre was a French mathematician whose distinguished work on elliptic integrals provided basic analytic tools for mathematical physics. Little is known about Legendre’s early life except that his family wealth allowed him to study physics and mathematics, beginning in 1770, at the

  • Legends (Czech literature)

    Czech Republic: Literature of the Czech Republic: …the Czech era, notably the Legends about Wenceslas I (Václav), prince of Bohemia (ruled 921–929), and his grandmother, Saint Ludmila, probably from the 10th century. The Old Church Slavonic language, used for a while along with Latin, fell out of use after 1097, when the last Slavonic monastery in Bohemia…

  • Legends of Holy Women (work by Bokenam)

    Osbern Bokenam: …of a verse collection entitled Legends of Holy Women.

  • Legends of the Fall (novel by Harrison)

    Jim Harrison: …his most famous work was Legends of the Fall (1979; films 1990 and 1994), a collection of three novellas about a Montana rancher and his three sons, the latter of whom all love the same woman.

  • Legends of the Fall (film by Zwick [1994])

    Anthony Hopkins: Hannibal Lecter, Richard M. Nixon, and John Quincy Adams: …patriarchs in Howards End (1992), Legends of the Fall (1994), and Meet Joe Black (1998) as well as storied adventurers in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and The Mask of Zorro (1998).

  • Legends of the Jews (work by Ginzberg)

    Louis Ginzberg: …best-known works are his seven-volume Legends of the Jews (1909–38) and his three-volume Commentary on the Palestinian Talmud (1941; in Hebrew). Into the first he gathered all the folklore in Jewish tradition bearing on Scripture and traced these legends to their sources. The second work, of which only the commentary…

  • Legends of the Lost with Megan Fox (American television series)

    Megan Fox: She later hosted Legends of the Lost with Megan Fox (2018), a television miniseries that explored popular ancient sites. Fox’s movie credits from 2019 included Zeroville, a mystery dramedy that was directed by and starred James Franco. In 2020 she appeared in the family film Think Like a…

  • Léger, Fernand (French painter)

    Fernand Léger was a French painter who was deeply influenced by modern industrial technology and Cubism. He developed “machine art,” a style characterized by monumental mechanistic forms rendered in bold colours. Léger was born into a peasant family in a small town in Normandy. He served a two-year

  • Léger, Jules (Canadian diplomat and statesman)

    Jules Léger was a Canadian diplomat and statesman who served as governor-general, a largely ceremonial position, from 1974 to 1979. Léger studied at the University of Montreal and at the Sorbonne and worked for a time as a journalist. Thereafter, he took a position in the Department of External

  • Léger, Marie-René-Auguste-Aléxis Saint- (French poet)

    Saint-John Perse was a French poet and diplomat who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960 “for the soaring flight and evocative imagery of his poetry.” He studied at the universities of Bordeaux and Paris and in 1914 entered the diplomatic service. He went to China and was successively

  • Léger, Saint (French bishop)

    Ebroïn: Leodegar (or Léger), bishop of Autun, of complicity in Childeric’s murder; the bishop’s tongue and lips were cut off before he was finally executed.

  • legerdemain (entertainment)

    magic, theatrical representation of the defiance of natural law. Legerdemain, meaning “light, or nimble, of hand,” and juggling, meaning “the performance of tricks,” were the terms initially used to designate exhibitions of deception. The words magic and conjuring had no theatrical significance

  • leges (law history)

    Roman law: Written and unwritten law: …which consisted of leges (singular lex), or enactments of one of the assemblies of the whole Roman people. Although the wealthier classes, or patricians, dominated these assemblies, the common people, or plebeians, had their own council in which they enacted resolutions called plebiscita. Only after the passage of the Lex…

  • Leges Barbarorum (Germanic law)

    Anglo-Saxon law: …the so-called barbarian laws (leges barbarorum) of continental Europe, it made up the body of law called Germanic law. Anglo-Saxon law was written in the vernacular and was relatively free of the Roman influence found in continental laws that were written in Latin. Roman influence on Anglo-Saxon law was…

  • Leges Henrici (English legal treatise)

    retributive justice: History of retribution: …England’s Henry I penned his Leges Henrici, which redefined offenses as crimes against the king or government and thus shifted the focus of justice away from concern for victims. Instead of harming victims, crimes came to be viewed as transgressions against an amorphous “king’s peace.” By declaring himself the true…

  • Leges Rusticae (Byzantine legal code)

    Farmer’s Law, Byzantine legal code drawn up in the 8th century ad, probably during the reign of Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717–741), which focused largely on matters concerning the peasantry and the villages in which they lived. It protected the farmer’s property and established penalties for

  • Legg cutter (machine)

    tea: Rolling: In the Legg cutter (actually a tobacco-cutting machine), the leaf is forced through an aperture and cut into strips. The crushing, tearing, and curling (CTC) machine consists of two serrated metal rollers, placed close together and revolving at unequal speeds, which cut, tear, and twist the leaf.…

  • Legg-Calvé-Perthes syndrome (bone disorder)

    avascular necrosis: Other risk factors: …head, which is known as Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease, and the second is osteonecrosis occurring in children, which is associated with a slipped capital femoral epiphysis.

  • Legge, James (Scottish scholar)

    Wang Tao: …Wang met the Scottish scholar James Legge, whom he aided in his monumental translation of the Five Classics of Confucianism. During this 10-year period, Wang spent two years with Legge in Europe, where he became acquainted with Western thought and institutions.

  • Legge, Walter (British record producer)

    Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: In 1953 Schwarzkopf married Walter Legge, artistic director for a recording company and a founder of the London Philharmonic. Working with her husband, she recorded the major Mozart operas, Richard Strauss’s songs, and works by J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, and Hugo Wolf. She also appeared in a…

  • Legge, William, 2nd earl of Dartmouth (British statesman)

    William Legge, 2nd earl of Dartmouth was a British statesman who played a significant role in the events leading to the American Revolution. Legge was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Oxford. In 1750 he succeeded his grandfather as earl of Dartmouth and later entered on a

  • Leggett, Anthony J. (British physicist)

    Anthony J. Leggett is a British physicist, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2003 for his seminal work on superfluidity. He shared the award with the Russian physicists Alexey A. Abrikosov and Vitaly L. Ginzburg. Leggett received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Oxford in 1964. In

  • Leggett, Sir Anthony James (British physicist)

    Anthony J. Leggett is a British physicist, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2003 for his seminal work on superfluidity. He shared the award with the Russian physicists Alexey A. Abrikosov and Vitaly L. Ginzburg. Leggett received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Oxford in 1964. In

  • Legh, Gerard (English writer)

    heraldry: Early writers: …Ferne, Blazon of Gentrie (1586), Gerard Legh, The Accedens of Armorie (1562), and John Guillim, A Display of Heraldrie (1610), not only perpetuate the nonsensical natural history of olden days but are largely responsible for erroneous beliefs about heraldic charges having definite symbolic meanings and their being granted as rewards…

  • Leghari, Farooq (president of Pakistan)

    Nawaz Sharif: Second term as prime minister: Farooq Leghari unexpectedly resigned from his post after bitterly accusing Sharif of attempting to grab sole power. The twin exits of the president and of the chief justice appeared to be another major triumph for Sharif.

  • Leghorn (Italy)

    Livorno, city, Toscana (Tuscany) regione, central Italy. It lies on the Ligurian Sea at the western edge of a cultivated coastal plain and is enclosed east and south by a circle of low hills, the Livornesi Hills. Originally a small fishing village, it first became important when it was given by the