This table was compiled from multiple sources on the Internet; in other words, it's guaranteed to be inaccurate. Caveat lector!
| Labor omnia vincit | Labor conquers all things. (Virgil) |
| Laborare non amo | I do not like to work |
| Labra lege | Read my lips |
| Lachryma christi | Christ's tears |
| Lacunae | Holes in the law; a gap or blank in a writing. |
| Lagunculae leydianae non accedunt. | Batteries not included. |
| Lapsus alumni | Error made |
| Lapsus calami | A slip of the pen. |
| Lapsus linguae | A slip of the tongue |
| Lapsus memoriae | A slip of the memory |
| Lapsus nivium! | Avalanche!! |
| Lapsus stili | A slip of the pen |
| Lares et penates | Household gods |
| Latet anguis in herba | A snake lies in the grass. (Vergil) |
| Latine dictum | Spoken in Latin |
| Latine loqui coactus sum | I have this compulsion to speak Latin |
| Latro! Fremo! | Woof woof! Grrrr! |
| Laudamus divi omnes, si existunt | Let us praise all gods, if they exist. (Gangalius) |
| Laudant illa, sed ista legunt | Some (writing) is praised, but other is read. (Martialis) |
| Laudatores temporis acti | Praisers of time past |
| Laudem virtvtis necessitati damvs | We give to necessity the praise of virtue finding the benefit in what's needful |
| Laus deo | Praise be to God. |
| Lectio brevior lectio potior | The shortest reading is the more probable reading |
| Lector benevole | Kind reader |
| Lectori Salutem (L.S.) | Greetings to the reader |
| Legatum illi habeo | I have a deputy for that |
| Legatus a latere | Advisor from the side |
| Lege atque lacrima | Read 'em and weep |
| Leges sine moribus vanae | Laws without morals are empty |
| Legitime | Forced share -- a legal term describing the portion of a deceased person's estate from which the immediate family cannot be disinherited. |
| Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus | We are slaves of the law so that we may be able to be free. (Cicero) |
| Letallima Sexus | The Deadliest Sex |
| Leve fit, quod bene fertur, onus | The burden is made light which is borne well. (Ovid) |
| Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est. | The designated hitter rule has got to go. |
| Lex communis | The common law; the body of law developed by human practice. |
| Lex domicilii | The law of a person's home country |
| Lex ferenda | The law as it ought to be |
| Lex fori | The law of the forum (country) |
| Lex lata | What the law is (as opposed to what the law ought to be, de lege ferenda). |
| Lex loci | The law of the place |
| Lex malla, lex nulla | A bad law is no law. (St. Thomas Aquinas) |
| Lex non distinguitur nos non distinguere debemus | The law does not distinguish and so we ought not distinguish |
| Lex non scripta | The unwritten (common) law |
| Lex posterior derogat priori | More recent law prevails over (abrogrates, overrrules, trumps) an inconsistent earlier law. One test that is applied in circumstances when (1) both customary and treaty sources of law exist and (2) these two sources cannot be construed consistently. Contrast to lex specialis derogat generali . |
| Lex praesidium libertatis | Law is the safeguard of freedom |
| Lex rex | The Law is King - a principle of government advocating a rule by law rather than rule by men. The phrase originated as a double entendre in the title of Samuel Rutherford's controversial book Lex, Rex (1644) which espoused a theory of limited government and constitutionalism. |
| Lex scripta | The written law |
| Lex specialis derogat generali | Specific law prevails over (abrogrates, overrrules, trumps) general law. One test that is applied in circumstances when (1) both customary and treaty sources of law exist and (2) these two sources cannot be construed consistently. Contrast to lex posterior derogat priori. |
| Lex talionis | Law of retaliation -- cf. Retributive justice, an eye for an eye. |
| Libenter homines id quod volunt credunt | Men gladly believe that which they wish for. (Caesar) |
| Liberae sunt nostrae cogitationes | Our thoughts are free. (Cicero) |
| Liberate te ex inferis | Save yourself from hell |
| Libertas inaestimabilis res est | Liberty is a thing beyond all price. (Corpus Iuris Civilis) |
| Liberum arbitrium | Free will |
| Libra solidus denarius (L.S.D.) | Pounds, shillings, pence |
| Licentia liquendi | Liberty of speaking |
| Licentia poetica | Poetic licence. (Seneca) |
| Licet | It is allowed |
| Lingua factiosi, inertes opera | All talk and no action. |
| Lingua franca | Frankish language. A common language consisting of Italian mixed with French, Spanish, Greek, and Arabic that was formerly spoken in Mediterranean ports; any of various languages used as common or commercial tongues among peoples of diverse speech; something resembling a common language. |
| Lingua speciem involutam praebet, sed sat cito eam comprehendes. | It looks like a tricky language, but you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. |
| Literati | Men of letters |
| Litoralis | Beach bum |
| Litterae humaniores | The humanities |
| Litterae, Harmonia, Prudentia | Scholarship, Harmony, and Prudence |
| Loco citato (Lc) | In the passage just quoted |
| Locum tenens | One occupying the place (used as an English noun meaning 'deputy') |
| Locus classicus | A classic place -- a quote from a classical text used as an example of something. |
| Locus delicti | The place of the offense. |
| Locus desperatus | A hopeless passage |
| Locus enim est principum generationis rerum | For place is the origin of things. (Roger Bacon) |
| Locus in quo | The place in which something happens |
| Locus poenitentiae | A place for repentance |
| Locus sigilli (l.s.) | The place of the seal |
| Locus standi | The right to be heard in court |
| Longo intervallo | After a long gap |
| Loquitur (Loq.) | He/she speaks |
| Lorem ipsum | A mangled fragment from Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum ("On the Ends (Limits) of Good and Evil", 45 BC), used as typographer's filler to show fonts (a.k.a. greeking). |
| Lucerna ardens et lucens | A torch of glowing radiance |
| Luctor et Emergo | I struggle and I emerge -- the motto of the Dutch province of Zeeland to denote its battle against the sea. |
| Lucus a non lucendo | The word for 'grove' is lucus (=light) because it is not light in a grove ? etymology by opposites. Or possibly: The light shineth not into the grove. |
| Luke sum ipse patrem te | Luke, I am your father. (Star Wars) |
| Lumen naturale | Natural light |
| Lupus est homo homini | Man is wolf to man |
| Lupus in fabula | Wolf from the fable. -- i.e., "Speak of the wolf, and he will come". Occurs in Terence's play Adelphoe. |
| Lusus naturae | A freak of nature |
| Lutulente | Dirtbag! |
| Lux et veritas | Light and Truth - motto of Yale University, |
| Lux et veritas floreant | Let Light and Truth Flourish - motto of the University of Winnipeg |
| Lux mundi | The light of the world |
