or the contingency did not happen. The recent statute, 1 Vict., c. 26, sect. 33, has modified the old rule, and directs that when legacies are bequeathed to a child or other issue of the testator who shall die in his lifetime, leaving issue, and such issue shall be living at the testator's death, the legacies shall not lapse unless a contrary intention appears upon the face of the will, but shall take effect as if the legatee had died immediately after the testator. The rules by which gifts of legacies are construed are derived from the civil law, or rather are a part of that law, which prevails in the ecclesiastical courts; for although the court of chancery has concurrent jurisdiction over legacies with the ecclesiastical courts, yet to prevent confusion it follows the same general rules. If however a legacy be charged upon or made payable out of real estate, then, as the ecclesiastical court has no concurrent jurisdiction, courts of equity are not bound to follow the same rules as to the construction of such gifts as in the case of personal estate. The questions involved in the law relating to legacies are so numerous that it is quite impossible even to notice them in an article of this description, and as they are chiefly of a technical nature, the reader is referred to the various treatises on that branch of the law. those who were sent by them to administer the provinces of which the government was reserved to the emperors, were called legates. Under the republic the senators who had occasion to visit the provinces on their own business used to obtain what was called a legatio libera,' that is, the title and considera tion of a legatus, or public functionary, with the sole object of thereby furthering their private interests. These lega tiones are said to have been called liberæ, or free, because those who held them had full liberty to enter or leave the city, whereas all other public functionaries whose duties were exercised beyond the limits of the city could not enter Rome till they had laid aside their functions; or because a senator could not go beyond a certain distance from Rome unless he obtained permission in the form of a legatio. Cicero, who on one occasion inveighs vehemently against the legatio libera, could defend it when it suited his purpose, and in a letter to Atticus (i. 1.) he expresses his intention to visit Cisalpine Gaul in this capacity for the purpose of furthering his election as consul. At the present day a legate signifies an ambassador, or nuncio, of the pope. They are of the highest class of ambassadors. [AMBASSADOR; NUNCIO.] There are several kinds of papal legates, legatus a latere, Generally speaking an executor cannot be compelled to legatus natus, &c. Legates a latere are sent on the highest pay legacies until after the expiration of twelve months missions to the principal foreign courts, and as governors from the decease of the testator, and not even then unless of provinces of the Roman dominion, thence called legations. the assets should be realized and the debts paid or provided Legatus natus is a person who holds the office of legate as for; but as the rule is only for the general convenience of incident and annexed to some other office, and is, as we executors, if it should appear that all the debts of the testa- should say, a legate ex officio. As this office or title extor are paid, the executor may be compelled to pay the empted the holder from the authority of the legates a lalegacy before the twelve months have expired. It may be tere, it was earnestly sought after by the bishops. The stated however as a general rule, that legacies are payable archbishop of Canterbury was formerly a legatus natus, twelve months after the death of a testator, and with in- and there are now three or four German bishoprics permaterest from that time at 4 per cent., unless the testator has nently invested with the privileges of the office. Legates of made some special provision as to time of payment and a lower rank than cardinals are called nuncii apostolici. interest. The rule as to the twelve months is taken from the Roman law. It has already been stated in this work [EXECUTOR], that an action at law does not lie for a legacy, until after the executor has admitted that he has assets in his hands sufficient to make the payment, or in the case of a specific legacy, has assented to it. But the law may perhaps be more correctly stated thus: Where a specific legacy consists of some determinate chattel, whether real, as a lease for years, or personal, as a particular horse, the legatee, after assent by the executor to the legacy, may take possession of it, or sue for it by action at law; but where the specific legacy consists of money, &c., and in all cases of general and of demonstrative legacies, no action at law lies unless the executor has, for some new consideration beneficial to himself, expressly promised payment. As a general rule therefore it may be stated that the remedies by legatees against executors are afforded by the courts of equity. (Roper On Legacies; Williams On Executors.) On the subject of legacies (legata) under the Roman law, Gaius (ii., 192-255) and the Digest, lib. xxx., xxxi., xxxii., De Legatis et Fidei commissis,' are the authorities. This is one of the subjects on which the Roman jurisconsuits have most successfully exercised their sagacity and diligence. LEGATE (from the Latin Legátus). This word had various significations among the Romans. The legates were the chief assistants of the proconsuls and proprætors in the administration of the provinces. The number of legates differed according to the quality of the governor whom they accompanied; their duties consisted in hearing inferior causes and managing all the smaller affairs of the government. They appear to have been chosen and appointed by the governor, though at the first institution of the office it would seem they were selected by the senate, as advisers to the governor, from the wisest and most prudent of their own body. The word legatus also signified a military officer who was next in rank to the general or commander-in-chief in any expedition or undertaking, and in his absence had the chief command. (Cæsar, De Bell. Civ., ii., 17.) The word legatus is also often used to denote a person sent by the Roman state to some other state or sovereign power on matters that concerned the public interest: in this sense the word corresponds pretty nearly to our ambassador or envoy, except that the motives for sending a legatus, or legate, seem to have been occasional only, and the legates do not appear ever to have been permanent resident functionaries in a foreign community. Under the emperors LEGEND (from the Latin word legendum, a thing to be read) is used commonly in the sense of fabulous or doubtful narratives, such as the exploits of heroes of the middle times, between history and fiction, tales of superstition, or other subjects, in which credulity and imposture find free room for exercise. Thus legends have come to signify that which is usually rather matter of tradition than of written evidence. In our old authors the word occurs in its simple meaning. Legend is also used technically to denote the words encircling a coin; to writing on tablets the word inscription is applied, which is also used instead of legend where a sentence, instead of encircling, occupies the place of a device on the coin. LEGENDRE, ADRIEN MARIE, an analyst, whose name must follow those of Lagrange and Laplace in the enumeration of the powerful school which existed in France at the time of the Revolution, was born at Paris in 1751, and died there January 10, 1833. No authentic account of his personal life has yet been published: so that we can only now say that it was passed in strenuous and successful exertions for the advancement of mathematical science and of its applications. He never filled any political post, or took any marked part in public matters: he was, we believe, no favourite of any government, and his scientific fame did not procure him more than a very moderate competency. The writings of M. Legendre consist of various papers in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, and several separate writings of which we shall give a slight account. The first appearance of Legendre as a mathematician was (A.D. 1782) as the writer of two papers, one on the motion of resisted projectiles, the other on the attraction of spheroids, which gained prizes from the academies of Berlin and Paris, and a place in the former as the successor of D'Alembert. In a memoir on double integrals, published in the volume for 1788 (though presented at the end of 1799), he digested a method of transforming an integral with two variables to one depending upon other variables, which he applied to the question of the attraction of spheroids. He was the first who extended the solution of this question by the aid of modern analysis: it being not a little remakable, that this problem in the year 1773 required the power of Legrange to show that even as much could be done with it by the modern analysis as had been effected with the antient methods by Newton and Maclaurin. Various other me moirs by Legendre refer either to points of the integral cal culus, or to his geodetical operations. In 1787 he was appointed one of the commissioners for connecting the observatories of Greenwich and Paris by a chain of triangles. Cassini de Thury had memorialized the British government on the expediency of this step: the execution of which was committed to General Roy on the English side, and to Legendre, Cassini, and Méchain on the French. Much of the work was completed in 1787, and a memoir of Legendre, published in the volume for that year, upon some theore. tical points, contains one of those simple and beautiful theorems which carry the name of their inventors with them for ever. It is the celebrated proposition relative to the spherical excess [TRIGONOMETRY] of a small spherical triangle. An account of the actual triangles constructed in his survey is contained in the volume for 1788. When the grand French arc of the meridian was completed, Laplace and Legendre were employed to deduce the form of the spheroid which agreed most nearly with all the observations. In the construction of the large trigonometrical tables (which still remain unpublished) he contributed some simplifying theorems. In 1806 he published his Nouvelles Méthodes pour la Détermination des Orbites des Comètes, in which he gives a method the peculiarity of which then was that it allowed of the correction of the original observations at any part of the process. It may be doubtful whether the method itself was an improvement upon those which were then in use; and if it were, it is still superseded by others posterior to it. But this tract is further remarkable by its containing the first proposal to employ the me thod of least squares. [LEAST SQUARES, METHOD OF.] Whether Legendre had seen the hint of Cotes or not, he made a proposal of great ingenuity, and introduced, as a matter of practical convenience, a method which was afterwards shown by Laplace to be entitled to confidence on the strictest grounds of principle. Legendre applied himself at an early period of his life to the development of those integrals on which the determination of the arcs of an ellipse and hyperbola depend. In the Memoirs of the Academy for 1786 are two papers on the subject written by him. His Exercices du Calcul Integral,' published in 1811, contain, among other matters of high curiosity, an extended view of the same subject. He continued to devote himself assiduously to the cultivation of this new branch of science, and in 1825 and 1826 he produced the two volumes of his Traité des Fonctions Elliptiques et des Integrales Euleriennes,' containing a digested system, with extensive tables for the computation of the integrals. The work was hardly published when the discoveries of MM. Abel and Jacobi appeared. These mathematicians, both then very young, had begun by looking at the subject in another point of view, and had produced results which would have materially simplified a large part of the work of Legendre, it he had had the good fortune to find them. With a spirit which will always be one of the brightest parts of his reputation, Legendre immediately set about to add the new discoveries to his own work; and in 1828 and subsequent years appeared three supplements, in which they are presented in a manner symmetrical with the preceding part of the work, and with the fullest acknowledgment of their value and of the merit of their authors. To Legendre is also due the collection of the results obtained upon the theory of numbers [NUMBERS, THEORY OF], a subject to which he made very remarkable additions. The second edition of his Théorie des Nombres' was published in 1808, and the third in 1830. The best known of Legendre's works is, as might be supposed, his Elements of Geometry, of which Sir David Brewster gave an English translation in 1824, from the eleventh edition: Legendre published his twelfth edition in 1823. Of the finished elegance and power of this very remarkable work it is not easy to speak in adequate terms: and next to the Elements of Euclid, it ought to hold the highest place among writings of the kind. But it would not be difficult to show that much of the rigor of Euclid has been sacrificed, and though those who determine to abandon the latter cannot do better than substitute Legendre's work, we hope that in this country the old Greek will maintain his ground at least until a substitute can be found who shall give equal rigor of demonstration, as well as greater elegance of form. LEGER Lines and Spaces (Leger, Fr., light), the lines and spaces added to the staff when the notes exceed the P. C., No. 837. ordinary compass. The word is often most improperly written Ledger. LEGHORN. [LIVORNO.] LEGION. In a Roman consular army each grand division, corresponding nearly to a modern brigade, was so denominated; and the word indicates a selection of the individuals composing such division. The name is still occasionally given to a body of troops consisting of several regiments or battalions, when raised at a particular place or for a particular service. The strength of a Roman legion varied at different periods. When Romulus divided the citizens of his newlyformed state into three portions or tribes, he also divided the men who were able to bear arms into bodies of 3000 men, and each of these constituted a legion, which was commanded by one or three præfects or tribunes. (Plutarch, in Rom.) Servius Tullius, who, by the enlargement of the city, formed a fourth tribe, is supposed to have raised the strength of the legion to 4000 men. About 150 years afterwards, when Camillus marched against Satricum, he had four legions, each of which consisted of that number of men (Liv., i. 22); but, twenty years later, the strength of the legion is stated to have been 5000 foot and 300 horse. (Liv., viii. 8.) This probably continued to be the general establishment of that body of troops, though particular circumstances might cause it to be occasionally increased. Scipio landed in Africa (Liv., xxix. 24) with two legions, each consisting of 6200 men (though the best commentators suppose that 5200 is meant); and while the Roman army was acting against Perseus in Macedon, each legion contained 6000 foot and 200 horse. (Liv., xliii. 12.) Vegetius, who lived in the fourth century, describes the legion (lib. ii., cap. 6) as a body consisting of 6100 foot soldiers, besides 720 horsemen; but he designates this the antient legion, and his account is probably applicable only to the state of that body in the age of Hadrian and the Antonines. The legion declined under the later emperors, and in the time of Constantine it appears to have consisted of only 1500 men. During the reign of Augustus twenty-five legions were placed permanently on the frontiers of the empire; and in the time of Hadrian the number of legions composing the Roman army was 30, exclusive of the auxiliaries. Their disposition in Italy and the provinces may be seen in Gibbon, vol. i., ch. 1. The legions were denoted by numbers, and they were further designated by the name of the emperor who raised them, or by the name of the place where they were raised, or where they had distinguished them selves. The manner in which the soldiers were elected to serve, in the legions is fully described by Polybius (book vi., ch. 1), who lived in the age of Fabius and Scipio; and it may be presumed that this was in accordance with the prescribed regulations, which however were only followed when the necessities of the state did not compel the magistrates to dispense with them. When an army consisting of four legions was to be raised, the citizens of the proper ages being assembled on an appointed day in the Capitol, the military tribunes drew out the tribes by lot, and from that which was first called they selected four men of nearly equal age and stature: of these the tribunes who were appointed to the first legion chose one; those who were appointed to the second legion chose another; and so on. Afterwards the whole body of the tribunes chose four other men, and of these the tribunes of the second legion first chose one; those of the third legion then chose another; and so on, the tribunes of the first legion taking the last man of the four. In like order the election proceeded, till the required number of men was obtained. Polybius states that, in his time, the horsemen were enrolled before the foot soldiers, but that antiently the former were chosen last. Immediately after the enrolment, the recruits for the legions being made to advance one by one, each was sworn to be obedient to his commanders, and to execute all the orders which he should receive from them to the utmost of his power. When soldiers were to be raised from the allied cities of Italy, notice appears to have been sent by the consuls to the magistrates of those cities, who then enrolled men in a manner similar to that which was practised at Rome; and, having caused them to be disciplined, sent them to join the army. On the institution of regular bodies of troops by Romulus, he is said to have divided them (probably each legion) into VOL XIII.-3 E make some remarks respecting the most convenient form for the composition of laws. 1. Meaning and etymology of the word Legislation.-A magistrate who proposed a law in Rome for the adoption of the assembly of citizens was said legem ferre (as we say, to bring a bill into parliament); and the law, if carried, was said to be perlata, or simply lata. Hence the term legum lator, or legislator, was used, as synonymous with the Greek voμolérns, in the sense of a lawgiver. From legisla tor have been formed legislation, legislative, and legisla ture (the latter word signifying a person or body of persons exercising legislative power). companies of 100 men, and these were called Manipuli, from the bundles of grass which served as standards for the people who accompanied him when he attacked the palace of Amulius. (Aur. Victor, Origo Gen. Rom., c. 22.) The first mention of a cohort occurs shortly after the expulsion of the kings (Liv., ii. 11); and in the time of Polybius the legion was divided into ten cohorts, each of these into three manipuli (Polyb., b. xi.), and each of the latter into two centuriæ. [COHORT.] A manipulus must have then consisted of 200 men; and at a later period it designated a body of less than the original number. Under Hadrian and the emperors immediately following him the cohorts appear to have been of unequal strength. Vegetius states that the first, which was called cohors milliaria, and which car-law, as explained in the article LAW, is made by the person ried the eagle, consisted of 1500 foot and 132 horsemen; or persons exercising the sovereign power in a community. the second, called cohors quingenaria, of 555 foot and 70 The end of positive law, as explained in the same article, is horsemen; and that the remaining cohorts were nearly of the temporal happiness of the community. the same strength as the second. Servius Tullius is said to have divided the military force into five different classes of troops (Liv., i. 43), which were distinguished by their armour; but from the commencement of the republic, or nearly so, the order of battle consisted of three lines of troops, the Hastati, the Principes, and the Triarii. (Liv., viii. 8.) The Velites (light troops or skirmishers) had no particular station, and, except the latter, all the troops, according to Polybius, were armed nearly in the same manner. The youngest men were selected to act as velites: they were armed with bows or slings, and some of them carried a light javelin. After the time of Marius these ceased to be enrolled as legionary troops, and were chiefly foreigners. Vegetius designates them Ferentarii. They wore short swords, and were provided with bucklers of a circular form, about three feet in diameter. The staff of their javelin was two cubits long, and as thick only as a finger; the iron head tapered gradually to a fine point, in order that, being bent at the first discharge, it might be rendered useless to the enemy. The hastati of all the cohorts were stationed in the first line; the principes formed the second, those of each cohort supporting their own hastati; and the triarii were similarly disposed in the third line to support the principes. All the three classes were completely armed with cuirass, helmet, and greaves; their buckler was 4 feet long and 24 feet broad, and five arrows were placed in its concavity, to be thrown when necessary. Each man was provided with a long and a short sword, the blade of the former being strong, and made either to cut or thrust; and he carried, besides, two javelins, or pila. (Polyb., b. vi.) The only difference in the arms of the three classes seems to have consisted in the size of the pilum, those used by the triarii, or veteran soldiers, in the time of Varro being longer and heavier than those of the men in the other lines. It is supposed that originally the principes were stationed in the first line, and that they were men of the superior classes; from which circumstance, or because they came first into action, they may have acquired their designation. The front of the legion, when in order of battle, was formed by ten corps of the hastati, each corps being arranged with 26 men in front, and 10 in depth. The second line, or that of the principes, was of the same strength, and was drawn up in the same manner. The line of triarii consisted also of ten corps; but these had only 10 men in front and 6 in depth. Every legionary soldier was allowed five feet in front, and as much in depth, in order that he might be enabled to make free use of his arms. Legislation means the making of positive law. Positive 2. Distinction between the legislative and executive powers of government.-A general command, or law, issued by a sovereign government would be nugatory, if it was not applied in practice to the cases falling within its scope, and if the pains denounced for the violation of it were not inflicted on transgressors. The execution of the general commands, or laws, of a sovereign government is therefore an essential part of the business of a government. Accord ingly the ordinary functions of a government may be divided into the two classes of legislative and executive. An executive command, or act, of a sovereign government, is a special command issued, or art done, in the execution of a law previously established by the government. Executive commands or acts are of two sorts, viz. administrative and judicial. The distinction between these two sorts of executive commands or acts may (in conformity with modern phraseology) be stated as follows. A judicial proceeding is a declaration, by a competent authority, that a person has (or has not) brought himself within the terms of a certain penal provision, or that he has (or has not) a certain legal right or obligation which another disputes with him. An administrative proceeding is for the sake of carrying a rule of law into effect, where there is no question about the legal culpability, or dispute about a legal right or obligation of a person. In an administrative proceeding the government functionary acts, or may act, spontaneously in a judicial proceeding he does not act until he is acted upon by others. A judge cannot act until his court is (to use the French phrase) seized, or saisi, with the question: or (to use the language of our ecclesiastical courts) it is necessary to promote (or set in motion) the office of judge.' (Dégérando, Institutes du Droit administratif Français, Paris, 1829.) It should be observed, that the division of the functions of government into legislative and executive is not exhaustive inasmuch as neither class comprehends acts or special commands not founded on a previous general command or law, in other words, privilegia, concerning which see the article LAW. The distinction between the making of laws and their execution is too obvious to have been overlooked by the ancient writers on government. The latter subject was treated by them under the head of magistrates. (See, for example, Aristot., Pol., vi. 8.) The distinction has however attracted peculiar attention from both speculative and prac tical politicians since the beginning of the last century, in consequence of the great importance attributed by Montes. quieu to the separation of the legislative, administrative, and judicial powers of government; i.e. the exercise of the administrative and judicial functions by officers distinct from the supreme legislative body, and from each other. (Esprit des Lois, xi. 6.) The importance of the sepa ration in question has however been overrated by Montesquicu; and it has never existed, and indeed can scarcely exist, to the extent which he supposes. The legislative functions of a government can be distinguished, logically, from its executive fuctions; but these functions cannot, in every case, be severally vested in different persons. In every free government (or government of more than one) the legislative bodies exercise some executive functions: thus, in England, the House of Lords is an appellate court in LEGISLATION. In treating of legislation, we will civil cases, and the House of Commons decides in cases of explain,-1st, the meaning and etymology of the word; 2nd, contested elections of its own members. In every form of the distinction between the legislative and executive powers government the public functionaries, whose primary busiof government; and 3rd, the difference between jurispru-ness is the execution of the laws, exercise a considerable dential and legislative science-under which head we will portion of (delegated) legislative power. It is scarcely pos The cavalry of a Roman legion was divided into ten turmæ, of about 30 horsemen each, who, in order of battle, were drawn up with 8 in front, and 4 in depth. Each legion of the allies had however 600 horsemen; so that the cavalry of a consular army (consisting of two Roman legions and two legions of allies) amounted to 1800 men, who were disposed on the wings of the legion, in one line or two, according to circumstances. The legionary cavalry were furnished with cuirasses and helmets, and they were accompanied by light-armed horsemen, who served as archers. sible to conceive a body of law so come as to require subsidiary laws for carrying the principal laws into execution, and a power of making these subsidiary laws must, to a greater or less extent, be vested in the executive functionaries. In the article LAW we have distinguished laws made by supreme from laws made by subordinate legislatures. The latter class of laws usually emanate from executive functionaries, especially judges. (Austin's Province of Jurisprudence, p. 244-9.) 3. Difference between jurisprudential and legislative science. Positive law may be viewed from the two following aspects. First, it may be considered as an organic system, consisting of coherent rules, expressed in a technical vocabulary. Secondly, its rules may be considered singly, with reference to their tendency to promote the happiness of the community; in other words, their expediency or utility. Law viewed from the former aspect is properly the subject of the science of jurisprudence. [JURISPRUDENCE.] Law viewed from the latter aspect is the subject of a department of political science which is generally termed legislative science. (Legislation, in strictness, is concerned about the technical form, as well as the utility, of a law; but the term legislative science, as just defined, is sufficiently accurate for our present purpose.) of the criminal law, the bankruptcy laws, the customs laws, the distillery laws, &c., are instances of the digestion of the written law of England. The Criminal Law Commissioners have furnished a specimen of a digest of the English common (or unwritten) law relating to theft. (First Report, 1835.) The digestion of existing law, whether written or unwritten, requires merely juristical ability. the making of new laws requires, in addition to the knowledge and skill of the jurist, that ability which we have termed legislative. In other words, the making of new laws requires both attention to their utility or expediency, and technical skill in the composition or drawing of them. Popular forms of government secure a tolerably careful examination of laws, with reference to their expediency; but they do not secure attention to the technical or scientific department of legislation. Indeed nearly all the principal codes of laws have emanated from despotic governments, viz. the Roman, Prussian, Austrian, and French codes. The difficulty of passing an extensive measure through a popular legislature has, in free governments, discouraged attempts at systematic digestion of the law. The digest of the law of real property in the state of New York how ever affords an example of such digest passed by a popular legislature. The most convenient form for the composition of laws is a subject which has exercised many minds, but on which we cannot, consistently with the plan of this Cyclopædia, make more than a few remarks. The inconveniences arising from too great prolixity or too great conciseness in the phraseology of laws are stated by Lord Bacon, in the 66th and 67th aphorisms of his eighth book De Augmentis. If an attempt be made, by an enumeration of species, to avoid the obscurity which arises from the use of large generic terms, doubts are created as to the comprehensiveness of the law; for, as Lord Bacon well observes, Ut exceptio firmat vim legis in casibus nen exceptis, ita enumeratio infirmat eam in casibus non enu It is important to bear in mind the distinction, just pointed out, between the scientific or technical excellency of a system of law, and the expediency or utility of the rules of which it is composed. The distinction, however manifest, has been frequently overlooked, even by lawyers. Thus Sir W. Blackstone, in describing the struggle made by the clergy to substitute the Roman law for the common law of England, gives the preference to the latter system on the ground of the imperial government of Rome being despotic. The excellence of a system of law, considered in a scientific point of view, has no connexion with the form of the government by which the laws were established. Law may be, and has been, cultivated as a science with admirable success under very bad governments. The scientific culti-meratis.' (Ib., aph. 17.) On the other hand, vague and vation of law in Rome scarcely began until the Empire; and the great legal writers of France lived in times of political anarchy or despotism. A system of law of which the practical tendency may be most pernicious may have the highest scientific or technical excellence. A code of laws establishing slavery, and defining the respective rights and duties of master and slave, might be constructed with the utmost juristical skill; but might, on that very account, be the more mischievous as a work of legislation. On the other hand, a system of law may be composed of rules having a generally beneficial tendency, but may want the coherency and precision which constitute technical excellence. The English system of law affords an example of the latter case. Owing to the popular character of the legislature by which its rules were enacted or sanctioned, it has a generally beneficial tendency; but considered in a scientific point of view, it deserves little commendation. The writings of Mr. Bentham, in like manner, are far more valuable contributions to legislative than to jurisprudential science. The remains of the writings of the Roman lawyers, on the other hand, are of little assistance to the modern legislator, but they abound with instruction to the jurist. The distinction between the technical excellence of a law and its expediency, or (in other words) between its form and its substance, is also important with reference to the question of codification, i.e. the making of a code of laws. The making of a code of laws may involve any one of the three following processes:-1. The formation of a new system or body of laws. 2. The digestion of written laws, issued at various times, and without regard to system. 3. The digestion of unwritten law, contained in judicial decisions and authoritative legal treatises. The antient codes of law were, for the most part, works of new legislation; such were, for example, the codes of Solon and Draco, the Twelve Tables, the code of Diocles of Syracuse, and others. The codices of Theodosian and Justinian afford examples of the digestion of written laws. [CONSTITUTIONS, ROMAN.] The Digests or Pandects of Justinian afford an example of the digestion of unwritten law. The French codes were not digests of the existing law of France, either written or unwritten; but they were in great measure founded on the existing law. The same may be said of the Prussian Landrecht. The statutes for consolidating various branches extensive terms, if unexplained, are obscure and frequently ambiguous. The best mode of producing a law which shall at once be comprehensive, perspicuous, and precise, probably is, to draw the text of the law in abstract and concise language, and to illustrate the text with a commentary, in which the scope, grounds, and meaning of the several parts of the law are explained. A commentary such as we now speak of was suggested by Mr. Bentham (Traités de Legislation, tom. iii., p. 284; De la Codification, s. 4), and the pena code recently prepared for India has been drawn according to this plan. Doubts will arise in practice respecting the interpretation of the most skilfully drawn laws; and the best guide to the interpretation of a law is an authentic declaration, made or sanctioned by the legislature which enacted it, of its scope or purpose. The want of such a commentary frequently causes the scope of a law to be unknown; and hence the tribunals often hesitate about enforcing laws which may be beneficial. (Dig., lib. i., t. 3, fr. 21, 22.) It seems scarcely necessary to say that laws ought, where it is possible, to be composed in the language most intelligible to the persons whose conduct they are to regulate. In countries where the great majority of the people speak the same language (as in England or France), no doubt about the choice of the language for the composition of the laws can exist. In countries however where the people speak different languages, or where the language of the governing body differs from that of the people, or where the bulk of the people speak a language which has never received any literary cultivation, a difficulty arises as to the language in which the laws shall be written. Where the people speak different languages, authentic translations of the original text of the laws should be published. Where the language of the governing body differs from that of the people (which is generally the case in newly-conquered countries), the laws ought to be issued in the language of the people. It is comparatively easy for a small number of educated persons to learn a foreign language; whereas it is impossible for the people at large speedily to unlearn their own, or to learn a new tongue. Thus the Austrian government in Lombardy uses the Italian language in all public documents. Where the language of the bulk of the community has not received a literary cultivation, the language used by educated persons for literary purposes must be employed for the composition of the laws. Thus in Wales, the Higniands of Scotland, and the west of Ireland, the language of the laws and the government is not Celtic, but English; and in Malta, where the bulk of the people speak a dialect of Arabic, the laws are published and administered in Italian, which is the literary language of the island. LEGNA'GO. [VERONA.] LEGRAND, JACQUES GUILLAUME, a French architect and a writer on subjects of architecture, was born at Paris, May 9th, 1753. When studying in the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées he attracted the notice of Perronet, and was, while yet very young, entrusted with the execution of the bridge at Tours. His taste however disposed him far more to architecture than to engineering; and he accordingly placed himself under Blondel, and, after his death, pursued his studies under Clerisseau, who, esteeming his character no less than his talents, bestowed his daughter upon him in marriage. With Molinos, his friend and his professional associate in most of his works, he made a tour through Italy, and was preparing to investigate the remains of art in Magna Græcia, when he was recalled home by the government. From that period he was employed during nearly twenty years in restoring several public edifices and erecting others. One of his most noted works, which he executed in conjunction with Molinos, was the timber cupola of the Halle aux Bleds. The Théatre Feydeau, the restoration of the Fontaine des Innocens, of the Halle aux Draps, and of the interior of the Hôtel Marboeuf, besides a number of designs for private individuals, were executed by him. He had been appointed to conduct the repairs of the abbey of St. Denis, and had removed to that place for the purpose of giving his undivided attention to the works, just before his death, which happened November 10th, 1806. Among his writings are the text to the Edifices de Paris and the Galerie Antique,' and to many of the architectural subjects in the Annales du Musée;' also the architectural portion of Cassas's 'Voyage Pittoresque d'Istrie,' and that of Phenicie;' and an octavo volume to accompany Durand's Paralléle d'Edifices.' This last was merely the sketch of a more complete and detailed history of architecture, which, had he lived to execute it as he had proposed, would have extended to thirty volumes. LEGU'MIN, a peculiar vegetable product obtained by Braconuot from peas, and which he considers as a vegetable alkali. To obtain this substance, ripe dried peas are to be digested in warm water, to be reduced to a pulp in a mortar, and water being added, the liquor is to be strained; this is milky, and when allowed to deposit those substances which are merely suspended in it, is still turbid, and appears to contain legumin in combination with some vegetable acid. During evaporation a translucent substance separates at the surface of the liquor, which appears to be legumin combined with some vegetable acid; it is of a greenish-grey colour, does not redden litmus, but restores its blue colour when reddened by an acid; it is insoluble in alcohol, but this dissolves the chlorophylle; after being long boiled in the alcohol it resembles starch, and becomes transparent and white by drying. It dissolves in very dilute vegetable acids, such as the oxalic and tartaric, but the mineral acids precipitate it from solution in them. It is readily dissolved by the alkalis and their carbonates in solution, even when very dilute. Legumin appears to be a substance intermediate as to gluten and vegetable albumen; it differs from the first in being insoluble in alcohol, and from the last in readily dissolving in the alkaline carbonates; it contains some sulphur, and also azote, but less than animal albumen; it is precipitated from solutions which are not acid by bichloride of mercury, and also by infusion of galls. It exists in peas and beans to the amount of about 18 per cent. It has not been completely analyzed. LEGUMINO'SÆ, or FABACEÆ, a very extensive natural order of plants inhabiting the coldest and hottest, the dryest and dampest parts of the world, assuming the greatest varieties of form and size, some being among the smallest of flowering plants, others forming the largest trees in tropical forests, and varying in an extraordinary degree in their sensible qualities, some being eatable, as peas, beans, and other pulse; others poisonous, as Piscidia, Tephrosia, and Cytisus; some secreting a fragrant volatile oil, others destitute of all trace of such a substance So many modifications of structure are found among these plants, that although they may be generally defined as being polypetalous exogens with definite perigynous stamens, and a superior simple carpel, changing to a legume. yet each of these characters disappears in certain species, so that none are free from exceptions. For instance, Ceratonia has no petals, the stamens are indefinite and hypogynous in Mimosas, and the fruit is not a legume in Dipterix and many others. Nevertheless, as one or other of the above characters is always present, although the others may be absent or deviated from, there is but little practical difficulty in determining if a plant belongs to this order The species amount to some thousands, and are con veniently divided into three suborders, Papilionacea, Caesalpiniec, and Mimoseæ. Papilionacea have what are called papilionaceous flowers, that is, of the five petals one is large, broad, spread open, and called the standard; two others are parallel, convex, or slightly spreading, and called wings; and the two remaining ones are also parallel, bnt united by their anterior edge so as to form a body not unlike the keel of a boat, after which it is named. In all these plants the stamens are definite in number, and inserted with tolerable distinctness into the calyx; but while many are diadelphous, others are monadelphous or decandrous; the fruit is either a legume, a lomentum, or a drupe, or some form intermediate between the first and last. It is here that the great mass of the order occurs, especially in the colder parts of the world. Peas, beans, clover, saint foin, lucerne, liquorice, indigo, medicks, and trefoils, lupines, and numerous other common European genera, belong to Papilionacea. 1, Standard; 2, wings; 3, keel of the flower; 4, calyx; 5. diadelphons stamens; 6, legume. Casalpinie have the petals spread out, and nearly equal sized, with distinct unequal stamens; they may be considered the regular form of the order, while Papilionacea are the irregular form. Their fruit is usually a legume, but not always. The Cassia, which furnishes the sennaleaves of the shops, is the most interesting among them; to this suborder also belong the Tamarind and Algaroba fruits, the trees yielding logwood, Brazil-wood, Sappan-wood, &c., and Hymenea, from which gum animi is procured. Mimose have small regular flowers collected into heads numerous often indefinite stamens, usually hypogynous, and a legume. They are unknown in cold countries in a wild state, but in the hotter parts of the world they form a strikingly beautiful portion of the vegetation. From the much greater length of their stamens, their petals, and the clustered compact arrangement of their flowers, the latter often resemble tassels of silk, of the most vivid colours, iltermingled among the leaves. Their bark is usually astrugent, with a frequent intermixture of gum. The gums Arabic, Senegal, Sassa, and others, are produced by dif ferent species; catechu is the extract of the astringent bark of Acacia Catechu, and rose-wood is said to be the timber of some Mimosa inhabiting the interior of Brazil. One of the most striking phenomena among the plants of this order is the excessive irritability observable in the leaves of certain species of Mimosa, such as M. pudica, sensitiva, &c., which of 20 |