LEX

Lat. In the Roman law. Law; a law; the law. This term was often used as the synonym of jus, in the sense of a rule of civil conduct authoritatively prescribed for the government of the actions of the members of an organized jural society. In a more limited and particular sense, it was a resolution adopted by the whole Roman “populus” (patricians and plebians) in the comiUa, on the motion of a magistrate of senatorial rank, as a consul, a praetor, or a dictator. Such a statute frequently took the name of the proposer; as the lex Falcidia, lex Cornelia, etc. Lex JBbntia. A statute which introduced and authorized new and more simple methods of instituting actions at law. Lex JElia. Sentia. The iElian Sentian law, respecting wills, proposed by the consuls ^Elius and Sentius, and passed A. U. C. 756, restraining a master from manumitting his slaves in certain cases. Calvin. Lex iEmilia. A law which reduced the official term of the censors at Rome from five years to a year and a half, and provided for the discharge of their peculiar functions by the consuls in the interim until the time for a new census. Mackeld. Rom. Law,