780 articles
Legal separation
Legal separation, also called judicial separation, is an arrangement in which spouses live apart while remaining legally married, offered in England and Wales and most US states as an alternative to divorce.
Legitimacy (family law)
Legitimacy in family law is a child's legal status based on parents' marriage at birth, historically tied to the marital presumption of paternity, legitimation by subsequent marriage, inheritance rights, and twentieth-century reforms abolishing illegitimacy distinctions.
Legitime
Legitime (legitima portio, legitime, forced share): the legally reserved minimum portion of an estate owed to close family despite a will, rooted in Roman law's legitimata and querela inofficiosi testamenti, and today the basis of forced heirship in civil law countries.
Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc.
Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc., 88 F. Supp. 2d 116 (S.D.N.Y. 1999), the Pepsi Harrier jet case: Judge Kimba Wood held a TV ad offering a fighter jet for 7,000,000 Pepsi Points was a joke, not an offer, and affirmed on statute of frauds grounds.
Letter of intent
Letter of intent (LOI), also called term sheet or memorandum of understanding: a preliminary document recording main deal terms before a binding contract, used in M&A, real estate, and employment; mostly non-binding except exclusivity, confidentiality, and expense clauses.
Letters of administration
Letters of administration are a probate court order appointing an administrator to collect assets, pay debts, and distribute a deceased person's estate when no will exists.
Lex loci contractus
Lex loci contractus is a choice-of-law rule under which a contract's validity and obligations are decided by the law of the place where it was formed.
License
License (law): permission from an authority or owner allowing a licensee to do what would otherwise be prohibited. Unlike a lease, a license creates no property interest, is usually revocable and non-assignable, and covers land use and IP.
Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants
Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants (1994), the "hot coffee case": Stella Liebeck, 79, won a product liability verdict after third-degree burns from 180-190°F coffee; $160,000 compensatory plus $2.7 million punitive, cut to $480,000, settled confidentially.
Lien
Lien: a security interest or legal right a creditor acquires in a debtor's property to secure a debt, without transferring ownership. Also legal lien, common-law lien. Covers categories (legal, equitable, statutory, maritime, tax), possessory character, and priority rules.
Limitation of liability clause
A limitation of liability clause is a contract term capping a party's damages, typically through a monetary cap or exclusion of certain damages, standard in software agreements.
Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd
Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd [1991] 2 AC 548, House of Lords case establishing unjust enrichment at common law and first recognising the change of position defence, where solicitors recovered stolen money gambled at a casino.
Lis pendens
Lis pendens (Latin, "suit pending"): a court's control over property in litigation and the recorded notice of pendency clouding real property title, or the doctrine barring parallel identical lawsuits. Sources: Cornell Wex, Florida § 48.23, Carner v. Singer.
List of the largest stations in Australia
The list of the largest stations in Australia ranks the country's biggest cattle and sheep stations, all covering more than 4000 km², mostly on pastoral lease.
Littlehampton libels
The Littlehampton libels (1920–1923) were anonymous obscene letters sent to residents of Littlehampton, Sussex, involving neighbours Edith Swan and Rose Gooding, four trials, a miscarriage of justice against Gooding overturned on appeal, and Swan's eventual 12-month prison sentence.
Lord of the manor
Lord of the manor: holder of a lordship of the manor, an incorporeal hereditament in England and Wales law; not nobility, no statutory rights, saleable, with manorial rights over minerals, sport, and markets preserved since 1926.
Loss of consortium
Loss of consortium is a tort claim, usually by a spouse, for the loss of intangible relationship benefits such as companionship, affection, and society after a tortfeasor injures or kills the claimant's partner; governed state by state, historically husband-only, extended to wives after Hitaffer (1950).
Loyd Jowers trial
The Loyd Jowers trial, King v. Jowers (1999), was a Memphis wrongful-death civil suit in which a jury found Jowers and "others, including government agencies" conspired to kill Martin Luther King Jr.; the Justice Department later deemed Jowers's claims fabricated.
Mabo v Queensland (No 2)
Mabo v Queensland (No 2), also called the Mabo decision, is the 1992 High Court of Australia case that recognized native title in Australian common law and rejected terra nullius, entitling the Meriam people to the Murray Islands and leading to the Native Title Act 1993.
Mahalwari
Mahalwari system: British Indian land revenue settlement begun in 1822 under Holt Mackenzie, treating a village or village group (mahal) as one unit with collective revenue responsibility, mainly in Punjab, United Provinces, and Central Provinces.
Maharaj Libel Case
The Maharaj Libel Case of 1862, tried in Bombay, pitted Pushtimarg leader Jadunathji Maharaj against reformist journalist Karsandas Mulji of Satyaprakash over published sexual-misconduct charges; the defendants successfully defended the Rs 50,000 libel suit.
Mahr (مهر)
Mahr (مهر), also called sadaq, is the dower a Muslim husband must settle on his wife as part of the marriage contract, becoming her exclusive property.
Mahr enforcement in secular courts
Mahr enforcement in secular courts is the treatment of the Islamic dower, a payment promised to a Muslim wife, as a civil contract that courts can order paid.
Maiden and married names
Maiden and married names: the birth surname versus the surname adopted at marriage. Covers coverture, Lucy Stone and the Lucy Stone League, U.S. trends, and laws in Quebec, Greece, France, Japan, and South Africa.
Maintenance pending suit
Maintenance pending suit is a court order requiring one spouse to make periodical payments to the other while divorce, nullity, or judicial separation proceedings are still pending.
Malpractice
Malpractice, or professional negligence, is a tort in which a professional breaches a duty of care, causing harm; medical malpractice requires proving duty, breach, causation, and damages, with roots in the Code of Hammurabi and modern US litigation dating to about 1840.
Mamzer
Mamzer (Hebrew ממזר): in Jewish law, a child of a forbidden union punishable by karet or death, chiefly incest or adultery; barred from marrying ordinary Jews, a status inherited for all generations, still operative in Orthodox and Israeli rabbinic practice.
Mandatory rules and public policy in contract conflict of laws
Mandatory rules and public policy in contract conflict of laws are limits in the EU's Rome I Regulation that let courts displace the law parties choose for a contract.
Marriage certificate
A marriage certificate, also called a certificate of marriage, is the official government record created after a marriage ceremony is performed and filed; it serves as proof of marriage for banks, insurers, and agencies.
Marriage in England and Wales
Marriage in England and Wales: legally recognised unions under 1836-era and Marriage Act 1949 rules, requiring 29-day notice, approved venues or registered religious buildings, with 2025 to 2026 reforms proposing officiant-based overhaul.