Lydford Law.
A phrase having the same signification as “Jedburgh Justice.”
Lynch Law.
The substitution of an irregular trial for the regular process of law, common in the Western States of America during the wilder days of the fifties and sixties, and now rife in the Southern States, in the case of negroes charged with offences against white women. The name is supposed to be derived from James Lynch, of Piedmont, Virginia, who introduced it in 1688, to enable criminals to be promptly dealt with when the proper officers of the law were scattered and hard to come at.
Lyons, Council of, 1245.
A council summoned by Innocent IV in 1245. It deposed the Emperor Frederick II, and absolved his subjects from their allegiance, thus endorsing the claim of Gregory VII that the Church could appoint and depose Sovereigns.
Lyons, Council of, 1275.
An Œcumenical Council, held in 1275 under Gregory X, at which the rules governing the election of the Pope by the Cardinals were amended by the provision that the Cardinals, within ten days of the death of the late Pope, should be shut up in conclave until his successor was elected.