9,901 articles
Leopold and Loeb
Leopold and Loeb: Nathan Leopold, Jr. and Richard Loeb, wealthy University of Chicago students who kidnapped and murdered Bobby Franks in 1924 as a 'perfect crime,' spared the death penalty by Clarence Darrow.
Léopold Boissier
Léopold Boissier was a Swiss lawyer, diplomat, and University of Geneva law professor who served as president of the International Committee of the Red Cross from 1955 to 1964.
Lèse-majesté
Lèse-majesté (crimen laesae majestatis) is the crime of attacking a sovereign's dignity, from Roman law to modern statutes; Thailand's Section 112 carries three to fifteen years, while most European laws are dormant or repealed.
Lesley Eugene Warren
Lesley Eugene Warren, "The Babyface Killer" (born 1967), American serial killer convicted of murdering three women in North and South Carolina, 1989–1990, confessed to a fourth, on North Carolina death row.
Leslie A. Gardner
Leslie A. Gardner, also known as Leslie Abrams Gardner, is an American jurist who has served as a United States district judge in Georgia since 2014 and as chief judge since 2024.
Leslie Abramson
Leslie H. Abramson, American criminal defense attorney, UCLA Law 1969, known for defending Erik Menendez; cleared by the California State Bar in 1999; author of The Defense Is Ready.
Leslie Arnold
Leslie Arnold, also known as William Leslie Arnold, was an American murderer who killed his parents in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1958. He escaped prison in 1967 and lived as John Vincent Damon.
Leslie E. Kobayashi
Leslie Emi Kobayashi is an American jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the District of Hawaii, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010.
Leslie Isben Rogge
Leslie Isben Rogge, also spelled Ibsen Rogge, is an American bank robber and FBI Ten Most Wanted fugitive #430, first captured via the Internet after surrendering in Guatemala in May 1996.
Leslie Southwick
Leslie Southwick, born 1950 in Edinburg, Texas, is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, appointed by George W. Bush in 2007.
Leslie Van Houten
Leslie Van Houten (born 1949, Altadena, California) is a former Manson Family member convicted in the 1969 LaBianca murders, sentenced to death then seven years to life, denied parole 20-plus times, and released July 11, 2023 after 53 years, the first Manson follower paroled.
Lester Street Massacre
The Lester Street Massacre, also called the Lester Street murders, was the March 2, 2008 killing of six people, including two children, at 722 Lester Street, Memphis, by Jessie Dotson, who received six death sentences.
Lethal autonomous weapon
Lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), also called killer robots, are weapons that select and attack targets without human intervention. Covered here: definition, CCW diplomacy, reported uses, IHL concerns, and state positions.
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is an execution method using intravenous drugs, first used in Texas in 1982 and now the default method in nearly all US death penalty jurisdictions.
Letitia James
Letitia James, 67th Attorney General of New York since 2019, first woman elected to that office; former NYC Public Advocate and council member; secured over $9 billion, sued Trump for fraud, and was federally indicted in 2025, then dismissed.
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.
Letters patent
Letters patent (litterae patentes, open letters) are public legal documents issued under the Great Seal, historically granting lands, offices, titles and monopolies, and still used in the UK for appointments, honours and Royal Assent; the invention patent descends from them via the 1624 Statute of Monopolies.
Lettres de cachet
Lettres de cachet: sealed royal letters of Ancien Régime France, signed by the king and countersigned by a secretary of state, ordering imprisonment, exile, or internment without trial; abolished March 1790.
Levi Bellfield
Levi Bellfield, British serial killer and former nightclub bouncer, is serving whole-life tariffs for murdering Marsha McDonnell, Amélie Delagrange, and Milly Dowler, and attempted murder of Kate Sheedy; later prison confessions remain disputed.
Levin H. Campbell
Levin H. Campbell, also known as Levin Hicks Campbell, is an American jurist and senior judge of the First Circuit, appointed by Nixon in 1972.
Lewis A. Kaplan
Lewis A. Kaplan, born 1944, is a United States district judge for the Southern District of New York, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and on senior status since 2011.
Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Lewis F. Powell Jr. (1907–1998), American Supreme Court associate justice 1972–1987, Nixon appointee succeeding Hugo Black, swing vote of the Burger Court, author of Bakke and McCleskey, and writer of the 1971 Powell memo.
Lewis J. Liman
Lewis J. Liman, born Lewis Jeffrey Liman in 1960, is an American jurist serving as a United States district judge for the Southern District of New York since 2019.
Lewis T. Babcock
Lewis T. Babcock, also known as Lewis Thornton Babcock, is a senior United States district judge for the District of Colorado, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.
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.
Lex specialis
Lex specialis (lex specialis derogat legi generali) is the legal principle that a more specific rule prevails over a general rule on the same subject matter, used in domestic and international law, notably in IHL–human rights and EU norm conflicts.
LGBTQ rights by country or territory
Global overview of LGBTQ rights by country: criminalization (65 UN member states), marriage equality (37 states plus Taiwan), conversion therapy bans, legal gender recognition, UN treaty law, and ranking indices from ILGA, Equaldex, and Our World in Data.
Li Boguang (李柏光)
Li Boguang (李柏光), usually romanized Li Baiguang (1968–2018), was a Chinese human rights lawyer from Hunan who defended evicted farmers and house churches, won the NED 2008 Democracy Award, and died suddenly in a Nanjing military hospital.
Li–Lobanov Treaty (中俄密约)
Li–Lobanov Treaty (中俄密约), Treaty of Mutual Assistance Against Enemies: secret 1896 Sino-Russian defensive alliance signed in Moscow by Li Hongzhang, Lobanov-Rostovsky, and Witte; it committed mutual aid against Japanese attack and granted the Chinese Eastern Railway concession.