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Lastage or lestage: ll. duty iaid on the cargo of a ship. (Jewell

LESW]-IS. Pastures. Domesday; Co. Litt. -11). A term often inserted in aid deeds and conveyances. Cowell.

LET, 12. In conveyancing. To demise or iease. "To let and set" is an old expression.

In practice. To deliver. "To let to bail" is to deliier to bail an arrest.

In contracts. To award to one of several a -sons, who have submitted proposals therefor, the contract for erecting public works or diiing some pnrt of the work connected thereryith, or rendering some other sei-\ ice to government for a stipulated compensarion.

Letting the contract is the choosing one from among the number of bidders, and the formal making of the contract with him. The letting, or putting out. is a different thing from the in- vitation to make proposals; the letting is subse- quent to the invitation. It is the act of award- im the C0!]ll‘flCI. to the proposer. after the pro-

nsnis have Iicen received and consi See

ppes v. Railroad Co., 35 Ala. 33,

In the iimguagc of judicial orders and decr-i-es, the word "let" (in the imperative) inipiirts a positive (ii1‘E(‘llO)J or coiniuand. Thus the phrase "let the writ issue as pray- ed" is equlnalent to "it is hereby ordered that the \\rit issue." etc. See Ingram v. Laroussiui, 50 La Ann. 69, 23 South. 498.

LET, n. In old conveyancing Hindrance; obstruction; interruption. Still occasionally used in the phrase "mthout any lot, suit. trouliie," etc.

LET IN. In practice. To admit a party as 11 matter of favor: as to open 11 judgment and "let the defendant in" to 3 defense.

LETHAL WEAPON. In Scotch law. A deadly weapon. See State v. Godfrey. 17 Or. 300. 20 Fat‘. 625, 11 Am. St. Rep. 830.

LETRADO. In Spanish law. An advocate. \\ hiie, .\'ew R/econ. b. 1, tit. 1, c. 1. I 3, note.

LETTER. 1. One of the in-hltrnry

marks or characters constituting the alpha- het, and used in written language as the representatives of sounds or articulations of the human organs of speech. Severai or the ielters of the English alphabet have a special significance in jurisprudence, us ab- nreviations and otherwise, or are employed as numerals.

2. \ dispatch or epistle; ll, written or prinied message: 11 communication in Writing from one per-soii to another at a distance. U. S v. l'Iu-:_:ctt (C. C.) 40 Fed. 640; U. S. v. Denicke (C C) Fed. -100.

3. In the imperial law or Rome, ‘‘letter'' or "eplstle" was the name of the answer re-

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LETTER

tu.rned by the emperor to a question or law submitted to him by the magistrates

4. A cummiision, pate-iit, or written instrument eoiitaming or attesting the grant of some punci-, uuthurlt)", or right. The word appears in this generic sense in many coinpoiinrl phrases known to commercial law and jurisprudence; e. 11.. letter of attorney, ietter rnissiie, letter of credit, letters patent. The plural is Err-qiieurly used.

5. Metapliorically, the vcrlial expression; the strict iiterai meaning. The letter of a ststute, as distinguished from its spir means the strict and exact forte of the iam- guage eriiployed, as disnn-,‘;uisiic(l from the generai purpose and policy or the law.

6. [le who, being the owner of a tliiiig, lets it out to another for hire or coinpeiisation. Story. liailm. § 369.

—Letter-book. A book in which a merchant or trader Lceps cop‘ s of letters sent by him to his corresponded —Letter-carrier. An enl- ployé of the post-uflice, whose duty it is to carry letters from the post-office to the persons to whom they are addressed.—I.ettex- nuissive. in Ilnglish law. A letter from the hi 7 or queen to o. dean and chapter, cuntaining the niirne of the person whom he would ave them elect as hishop. I Steph. Comm. Gbli. A request addIl’S.'~‘e(i to u prer. pet-ress, or lord of parlia- ment nguinst whom a bill has been filed desiring the defr-nilnnt to appear and nnswer to the hill. In civil-law practice. The phrase "letters missive." or "letters dimissory," is sometimes used to denote the papers sent up on an appeal by the judge or court hciow to the superior trihunui, uthrrwise called the "apostles." (q. 1:.)- Letter of udvncntion. In Sciitr-h law. The process or warrant by which, on appeal to the supreme court or court of session, that trih nsl assumes to itself jurisdiction of the c-irisn. and discharges the lower court from all further priiceeilings in the action. Ersk. Inst. T32. —Le-tter of credence. In international law. The document which accredits an ambassador, minister, or envoy to the court or government to nliich he is sent: 1'. e., certifies to his appoint- ment rind qualification, and hespcaks credit for his official actions and representatinns.—Letter of exchange. A bill of exchange, ((1. i2.)— Letter of license. A letter or written instru- ment given by creditors to their dehtor, who has failed in trade, rtc.. nilowing him longer time for the paynii-nt of his dehts, and protecting him finm arrest in the mean time. nin- li s: I]oithouse.—-Letter ul marque. A com- mission given to a private ship by a government to ninire reprisals on the ships of another state; home, also, the ship thus commissioned U. 9 v. The Amlirn. Light. C. i-‘ed. 4 .. Gihhons v. Liiingstcn, 6 N. J. Law, 255.—I4etter of recall. A document nddressed by the executive of one nation to that of another, in- forming the latter that a minister sent by the former has been recslIed.—Letter ol recredentials. A document embodying the for-niiii action of s government upon £L letter of recrll of 11 foreign minister. It. in eiicct accredits him hack to his own government. nddi‘essed to the latter izovei-nment, and is delivered to the minister by the diplornntlc secretary of the state from which he is rccaiied.—Letters clnse. In English law. Close letters are grants of the ki and, being of private concern, they are thus di iiiguisiind from letters pntent.—I.etters of alisulntion. .-Xhsnlratory letters, used in former times, when an irhho_t reiexised any or his brethren ab umniiz siibjcctirme et 0bEdl_t'IL' tia, etc., and made them capable of entering

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