Lex lata

Last updated

Lex lata (also called de lege lata) is a Latin expression used in matters of international law. Its most common translation is "the law as it exists," but it is sometimes seen as "the law that has been borne," [1] or "ratified law." [2]

Contents

When used in legal proceedings, lex lata refers to the law that is presently enforced. This rules out any previous laws or laws that have not been passed, and prevents the use of hypothetical arguments from any interpreters of the term.

Lex lata can be compared to lus conditum ("established law"), [3] and its opposite is lex ferenda, which translates to "future law" or "what the law ought to be." [4]

Etymology

"Lēx" is Latin for "law, and "lata" is derived from the word "lātus," which means "broad" or "wide." [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Encyclopedia</span> Type of reference work

An encyclopedia or encyclopædia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by article name or by thematic categories, or else are hyperlinked and searchable. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries. Generally speaking, encyclopedia articles focus on factual information concerning the subject named in the article's title; this is unlike dictionary entries, which focus on linguistic information about words, such as their etymology, meaning, pronunciation, use, and grammatical forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levant</span> Region in the Eastern Mediterranean

The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is equivalent to a stretch of land bordering the Mediterranean in southwestern Asia, i.e. the historical region of Syria, which includes present-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and most of Turkey southwest of the middle Euphrates. Its overwhelming characteristic is that it represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia. In its widest historical sense, the Levant included all of the Eastern Mediterranean with its islands; that is, it included all of the countries along the Eastern Mediterranean shores, extending from Greece to Cyrenaica in eastern Libya.

A brocard is a legal maxim in Latin that is, in a strict sense, derived from traditional legal authorities, even from ancient Rome. According to the dictionaries, the word is a variant of the Latinized name of Burchard of Worms, Bishop of Worms, Germany, who compiled 20 volumes of Ecclesiastical Rules, although some sources disagree.

<i>A Dictionary of Modern English Usage</i> Style guide to British English usage by Henry Watson Fowler

A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like words, and the use of foreign terms, the dictionary became the standard for other style guides to writing in English. Hence, the 1926 first edition remains in print, along with the 1965 second edition, edited by Ernest Gowers, which was reprinted in 1983 and 1987. The 1996 third edition was re-titled as The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, and revised in 2004, was mostly rewritten by Robert W. Burchfield, as a usage dictionary that incorporated corpus linguistics data; and the 2015 fourth edition, revised and re-titled Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, was edited by Jeremy Butterfield, as a usage dictionary. Informally, readers refer to the style guide and dictionary as Fowler's Modern English Usage, Fowler, and Fowler's.

Onan was a figure detailed in the Book of Genesis chapter 38, as the second son of Judah who married the daughter of Shuah the Canaanite. Onan had an older brother Er and a younger brother, Shelah as well. After being commanded by his father, Judah, to procreate with the late Er's wife Tamar, Onan instead "spilled his seed on the ground whenever he went in" because "the offspring would not be his", and was thus put to death by Yahweh. This act is detailed as retribution for being "displeasing in the sight of Lord".

<i>De minimis</i> Latin phrase: about minimal things

De minimis is a Latin expression meaning "pertaining to minimal things", normally in the terms de minimis non curat praetor or de minimis non curat lex, a legal doctrine by which a court refuses to consider trifling matters. Queen Christina of Sweden (r. 1633–1654) favoured the similar Latin adage, aquila non capitmuscās.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrician (ancient Rome)</span> Hereditary nobility of ancient Rome

The patricians were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders. By the time of the late Republic and Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibid.</span> Latin footnote or endnote term referring to the previous source

Ibid. is an abbreviation for the Latin word ibīdem, meaning "in the same place", commonly used in an endnote, footnote, bibliography citation, or scholarly reference to refer to the source cited in the preceding note or list item. This is similar to Idem, literally meaning "the same", abbreviated id., which is commonly used in legal citation.

The term status quo ante bellum is a Latin phrase meaning "the situation as it existed before the war". The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no side gains or loses any territorial, economic, or political rights. This contrasts with uti possidetis, where each side retains whatever territory and other property it holds at the end of the war.

<i>Codex Theodosianus</i> Compilation of laws of Roman Empire (438)

The Codex Theodosianus was a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 and the compilation was published by a constitution of 15 February 438. It went into force in the eastern and western parts of the empire on 1 January 439. The original text of the codex is also found in the Breviary of Alaric, promulgated on 2 February 506.

<i>Sic</i> Mark indicating that "errors" in a quotation stem from the source

The Latin adverb sic inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous, archaic, or otherwise nonstandard spelling, punctuation, or grammar. It also applies to any surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might be interpreted as an error of transcription.

In conflict of laws, the term lex loci is a shorthand version of the choice of law rules that determine the lex causae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General average</span> Maritime law

The law of general average is a principle of maritime law whereby all stakeholders in a sea venture proportionately share any losses resulting from a voluntary sacrifice of part of the ship or cargo to save the whole in an emergency. For instance, should the crew jettison some cargo overboard to lighten the ship in a storm, the loss would be shared pro rata by both the carrier and the cargo-owners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papal supremacy</span> Doctrine that the Pope has supreme power over the whole Church

Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as pastor of the entire Catholic Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered: that, in brief, "the Pope enjoys, by divine institution, supreme, full, immediate, and universal power in the care of souls."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Names of the Romani people</span> Etymology of terms for interrelated nomadic European ethnic minority

The Romani people are also known by a variety of other names; in English as gypsies or gipsies, and Roma; in Greek as γύφτοι (gíftoi) or τσιγγάνοι (tsiggánoi), in Central and Eastern Europe as Tsingani ; in France as gitans besides the dated terms bohémiens and manouches; in Italy as rom and sinti besides the dated terms zingari, zigani, and gitani; in Spain as gitanos; and in Portugal as ciganos.

The lex pacificatoria is a Latin neologism, which translates as 'pacific law' or the 'law of the peacemakers'; it refers to the law relating to agreements or treaties ending a state of war or establishing a permanent peace between belligerents, as articulated by state and non-state peacemakers, such as peace negotiators. As such, it is a set of normativizing practices, the ‘industry standards’ of peacemakers. In its relationship with traditional legal doctrines such as the jus ad bellum, it is both incorporated in, and shapes, interpretations of binding legal instruments, and it can also be determinative of, or influence, court judgments. The term was popularized by the legal scholar Christine Bell in her 2008 book On the Law of Peace: Peace Agreements and the Lex Pacificatoria. Bell contrasts the notion with the Law of War, stressing that the art of post-war peace deserves as much consideration as the waging of war, and the notion is related to the jus post bellum, the concept of justice after war, with which it has been critiqued.

Animus is a Law Latin term used in a variety of contexts to designate the motivations of a legal person.

References

  1. "lex lata". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  2. Fellmeth, Aaron Xavier (2009). Guide to Latin in international law. Maurice Horwitz. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-970889-5. OCLC   656286394.
  3. Fellmeth, Aaron Xavier (2021). Guide to Latin in international law. Maurice Horwitz (Second ed.). New York, NY. ISBN   978-0-19-758313-5. OCLC   1243019158.
  4. "lex ferenda". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
  5. Morwood, James (2005). Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary (Third Rev. ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780198610052.

See also