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 394 LIAS LIBEL for the preservation of peace; the edict of Roussillon (1564), which fixed the beginning of the year at Jan. 1 ; and the ordinance of Moulins (1566), to reform the administration of justice. He gave up the seals of office in 1568, and retired to the country. His modera- tion had drawn upon him the enmity and sus- picion of the Catholic party, especially as his wife and family had all become Protestants. A troop sent to protect him at the period of the St. Bartholomew massacre being mistaken for assassins, he commanded the door to be op- ened to them, saying that his time would come whenever God pleased. His complete works, embracing Latin poems, harangues, memoirs addressed to the king and the parliament, and a political testament, were edited by Dufey (4 vols., Paris, 1824). A new edition of his poems was published in Paris in 1857. LIAS, an English provincial name for a group of strata lying at the base of the Jurassic for- mation, and more or less intermingled with the overlying oolite ; but in the Jura the two for- mations are distinct, the oolite reposing un- conformably upon the lias. Over a consider- able portion of Europe it is found in alterna- ting beds of clay, sandstones, and limestones, which altogether attain a thickness of 500 to 1,000 ft. The Jimestones have a peculiar ap- pearance, lying in thin strata of a bluish or grayish color within, and light brown without where exposed to the weather. (See GEOLOGY, vol. vii., p. 697.) The formation is especially interesting in Europe for the variety of fossils it affords, the most extraordinary among which are the huge reptiles, the ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus of several species. The limestones abound also in corallines, and in a great variety of shells. The fish are all of extinct genera. LIBAXIUS, a Greek sophist and rhetorician, born in Antioch in A. D. 314, died there toward the close of the same century. He taught rhetoric at Constantinople, where his school drew such vast numbers of students that his rivals caused him to be expelled from the city as a sorcerer. He went to Mcomedia, where he taught for five years, but returned finally to Antioch. He was highly esteemed by the emperors Julian, Valens, and Theodo- sius. He was a pagan, but maintained friendly relations with many Christians, including St. Basil and St. Chrysostom, who were his pupils. He was a voluminous author, and many of his orations and other compositions are extant, but there is no complete edition of them. LIBANUS, Mount See LEBANON. LIBAU, a seaport of Russia, in the govern- ment of Courland, on the Baltic and on the river Libau, 121 m. W. S. W. of Riga ; pop. in 1867, 9,090. It has four churches, a syna- gogue, a theatre, a hospital, an orphan home, two poorhouses, and a lighthouse. The in- creasing shallowness of the port has of late considerably reduced its commerce, but it still remains the most important commercial town of Courland. LIBEL, in law, has one meaning in criminal law, or as a ground for civil action, and quite another as one of the processes of legal remedy. In both senses the word is derived from the Latin libellus, which means literally a little book, but was used for any brief writing. In the Roman criminal law the phrase was libellus famosus. In our law a libel may be defined as any published defamation. In The People u. Croswell, 3 Johnson's Cases, 354, occurs the following definition of a libel, which has been often commended: U A censorious or ridicu- lous writing, picture, or sign, made with a mis- chievous and malicious intent toward govern- ment, magistrates, or individuals." We pro- pose to consider : 1, what this defamation must be ; 2, what the publication ; 3, what the pun- ishment or remedies ; 4, what may be the de- fence. Before proceeding to these topics, it may be well to remark, however, that libel is distinguished in law from slander, by the fact of publication ; for while libel is published defamation, slander is only spoken defama- tion. (See SLANDER.) As to the requisite defamation, it need not charge any crime, nor anything which must affect a man's business or pecuniary interest, or indeed accuse him of any moral obliquity. It is quite enough if it holds him up to ridicule. One reason for this is, that a man has a right to a respectable po- sition in society, and is injured by anything which tends to degrade him in the opinion of his neighbors. But the reason most commonly given by courts and text writers is, that the essence of the offence of libel lies in its being dangerous to the public peace ; and defamation which only makes its object ridiculous is quite as likely to make him angry and stir him to break the peace, as if it affected his pecuni- ary interests or exposed him to legal measures. On the same foundation rests the distinction between libel and slander; because the law considers that words, which while spoken only are fleeting and transitory, become fixed and vested by publication, and capable of indefinite diffusion, and therefore their capacity of mis- chief is vastly increased ; hence, while libel is indictable, slander is not. The defamation may be of the dead, provided it have a tenden- cy to stir up to revenge or violence any living friends of the deceased. A defamatory publi- cation regarding a foreign ruler or government may be libellous, from its tendency to disturb amicable relations between the two countries ; and the common law took notice of and pun- ished libels on the government of the country, but it may be doubted if this doctrine is admis- sible in the United States. So it has been held that a publication is a libel which consists only of defamation of the Christian religion, of mo- rality, or of decency. The publication may consist of any act or acts which put the defa- mation into distinct and apprehensible form ; thus, not only printing it in any form is suffi- cient, but painting it, as on a sign, or drawing it, as in a caricature. Nor need the name of