edgepedia

Private and civil law

780 articles

Land acquisition in India

Land acquisition in India: compulsory state acquisition of private land under eminent domain. Governed by the Land Acquisition Act 1894 until the RFCTLARR Act 2013 (effective 1 January 2014), which added consent, social impact assessment, and market-linked compensation.

Land reform in India

Land reform in India: post-1947 abolition of zamindari intermediaries, tenancy reform, land ceilings, Bhoodan, and regional redistribution (Kerala, West Bengal), now extended to DILRMP land-records digitization.

Land registration

Land registration is the official recording of legally recognized interests in land, usually as part of a cadastral system; a reliable register lets owners sell, let, or mortgage land more easily.

Land tenure

Land tenure: the legal regime defining who can own, lease, or use land, for how long, and under what conditions. Covers feudal origins, freehold, leasehold, and commonhold tenures, customary systems, tenure security, and SDG indicators 1.4.2 and 5.a.1.

Landlord

Landlord: the owner of land or buildings who grants a tenant occupancy for rent. Traces to English feudal tenure; now governed by landlord-tenant law covering leases, habitability, and eviction.

Landlord and Tenant Act 1954

The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 is a UK Act whose Part II gives business tenants in England and Wales security of tenure and a right to renew commercial leases, unless the parties contract out before the lease is granted.

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (1985 c. 70), England and Wales residential landlord-tenant statute in force 1 April 1986: implies section 11 repairing obligations into leases under seven years, limits and regulates service charges (sections 18 to 30), fitness for habitation, insurance rights, and building safety.

Landlord harassment

Landlord harassment is landlord conduct meant to make tenants feel unsafe or leave, via utility shutoffs, lockouts, withheld repairs, or threats. It is a criminal offence under England's Protection from Eviction Act 1977 and regulated by US quiet-enjoyment doctrine and local anti-harassment ordinances.

Landlord–tenant law

Landlord–tenant law governs rental housing relationships: tenancy creation, habitability, deposits, rent increases, and eviction. Covers feudal common-law origins, US implied warranty of habitability, and England's Renters' Rights Act 2025 reforms effective 1 May 2026.

Lange v Atkinson

Lange v Atkinson, New Zealand defamation case series (1997-2000): former PM David Lange sued Joe Atkinson and ACP; courts extended qualified privilege to political discussion, later superseded by Durie v Gardiner.

Lanham Act

The Lanham Act, also the Trademark Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq.), is the primary U.S. federal trademark statute, signed July 5, 1946, establishing national registration, infringement, and dilution protection.

Law 200 of 1936

Law 200 of 1936, known in Colombia as the Ley de Tierras, was a land law of President Alfonso López Pumarejo allowing extinction of dominion over idle rural land.

Law applicable to divorce and legal separation regulation

Rome III, Council Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010, sets uniform EU conflict-of-laws rules on which national law governs divorce and legal separation, adopted via the first enhanced cooperation by 17 Member States, with limited spousal choice of law and public policy safeguards.

Law of India

Law of India: a common law system under a written constitution, with nineteenth-century codes (Transfer of Property Act 1882) and religion-based personal laws governing Hindu, Muslim and Christian succession rather than a uniform civil code.

Law of obligations

Law of obligations: the private-law field governing duties owed between persons, covering contract, tort, and restitution. Rooted in Justinian's Roman classification and shared by civil and common law systems, it pairs every obligor's duty with an obligee's right.

Law of Property Act 1925

Law of Property Act 1925 (1925 c. 20) is the cornerstone English land law statute consolidating conveyancing law, passed 9 April 1925 with five companion Acts; it reduced estates to freehold and leasehold and remains in amended force.

Law of succession

The law of succession is the branch of private law governing how a person's property passes to others at death, covering inheritance, the order successors take, and estate administration.

Law of succession in South Africa

South African law of succession: how estates pass by will (Wills Act 1953) or intestate succession (Act 81 of 1987), administered under the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965 by the Master of the High Court, with customary succession reshaped by Bhe.

Lawfare

Lawfare, from "law" and "warfare", is the use of law as a weapon of conflict, a term popularized by Charles Dunlap around 2001; it spans military strategy, SLAPP litigation against critics, and contested political prosecutions.

Leahy v Attorney-General (NSW)

Leahy v Attorney-General (NSW), also cited as Attorney-General (NSW) v Donnelly, is a 1959 Privy Council decision upholding NSW testamentary gifts to religious orders under s 37D Conveyancing Act and limiting trustee selection to non-contemplative orders.

Lease administration

Lease administration is the ongoing management of a signed commercial lease, covering critical dates, rent billing, CAM reconciliation, and obligations, increasingly a compliance function under IFRS 16.

Leaseback

Leaseback, also sale and leaseback or sale-leaseback: a transaction where an owner sells property or equipment and immediately leases it back from the buyer, releasing capital while keeping use of the asset; governed by ASC 842 and IFRS 16 sale-accounting tests.

Leasehold estate

Leasehold estate: a nonfreehold property interest giving exclusive possession of land for a fixed term, also called a term of years; distinct from freehold, with assignment versus sublease rules and UK leasehold reform context.

Leasehold islands

A leasehold island is an island held under lease rather than owned outright, with lessees getting possession and use rights for terms of 30 to 99 years.

Legal effects of adoption in Canada

A Canadian adoption order makes the child, in law, the child of the adoptive parents, ending the legal parent-child relationship with the birth parents, including inheritance rights.

Legal effects of adoption in the United States

In the United States, a decree of adoption creates a legal parent-child relationship with an adoptive parent and generally ends the prior legal parent-child relationship, except in stepparent or second-parent adoptions.

Legal guardian

Legal guardian: a court-appointed fiduciary who makes personal or property decisions for a ward, a minor or incapacitated adult. Covers Roman and common law origins, duties, oversight, US foster-care guardianship statutes, and comparisons with adoption and custody.

Legal liability

Legal liability is the state of being legally answerable for a wrong or a debt, so a court can require payment of damages or another sanction.

Legal remedy

A legal remedy, also known as judicial relief, is the means by which a court enforces a right or redresses its violation, through damages, injunctions, or declaratory judgment.

Legal responses to agunah

Legal responses to agunah: measures freeing Jewish women (agunot) denied a get. Covers halakhic evidence leniencies, Israeli rabbinical court sanctions law, New York Get statutes, prenuptial agreements, and denominational solutions.