Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas).
W.H. HODGE
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1084 I Law ► Lawrence
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Law, John (baptized April 21, 1671, Edinburgh, Scot.—d. March 21, 1729, Venice) Scottish monetary reformer. In 1705 he published the bank¬ ing reform plan Money and Trade Considered, in which, unlike other mercantilists, he proposed a central bank as an agency for manufacturing money, as banknotes rather than as gold and silver. France agreed to try his plan in 1716, and he founded the Banque Generate, which was autho¬ rized to issue notes. He soon combined it with a company empowered to develop France’s North American territories, particularly the lower Mis¬ sissippi valley. His plan foundered; held responsible for the “Mississippi Bubble” speculative disaster, he fled to France and died in poverty in Venice.
law, philosophy of See jurisprudence
law code Systematic compilation of law or legal principles. The old¬ est extant fragments of a law code are tablets from the ancient city of Ebla dating to c. 2400 bc. The best-known ancient code is that of Ham¬ murabi. Roman legal records began in the 5th century bc, though the first formal codification, ordered by Justinian I, was not undertaken until the 6th century ad. In the Middle Ages and into the modern era, only local or provincial compilations were attempted. The first major national code was the Napoleonic Code, followed by the German, Swiss, and Japanese codes. In common-law countries such as England and the U.S., law codes have traditionally been less important than the record of judicial decisions, though major codifications were completed in the U.S. in the 20th cen¬ tury (e.g., the U.S. Code, the Uniform Commercial Code). See also CIVIL law; German Civil Code.
law of cosines Generalization of the Pythagorean theorem relating the lengths of the sides of any triangle. If a, b, and c are the lengths of the sides and C is the angle opposite side c, then c 2 = a 2 + b 2 - lab cos C.
law of sines Principle of trigonometry stating that the lengths of the sides of any triangle are proportional to the sines of the opposite angles. That is,
a _ b _ c sin A sin# sinC
when a, b, and c are the sides and A, B, and C are the opposite angles. Law of the Sea See Law of the Sea
law report In common law, a published record of a judicial decision that is cited by lawyers and judges as legal precedent in arguing and deciding cases. The report contains the title of the case, a statement of the facts, a brief case history, the opinion of the court, and the judgment ren¬ dered. It often contains a headnote, or analytical summary stating the points decided. The findings of trial courts are not ordinarily reported, but those of appellate courts are.
Lawamon See Layamon
Lawes, Henry and William (respectively baptized Jan. 5, 1596, Dinton, Wiltshire, Eng.—d. Oct. 21, 1662, London; baptized May 1, 1602, Salisbury, Wiltshire, Eng.—d. Sept. 24, 1645, Chester, Cheshire) English composers. Both brothers served at the court of Charles I. Henry became the leading English songwriter of his time; some 435 of his songs survive. His theatrical music includes that to John Milton’s masque Comus (1634). William wrote a large quantity of instrumental music, mostly for string consorts. His music for some 25 dramatic productions, including works by Ben Jonson and William Davenant, made him the principal English theat¬ rical composer before Henry Purcell. He fought with the Royalists during the English Civil Wars and was killed at the siege of Chester.
lawn Fine-textured expanse of grass that is kept mowed. A common landscape design element of Western-style gardens and parks, lawns aid in giving a sense of scale and proportion. Made popular in the 18th cen¬ tury by Capability Brown, the lawn is the antithesis of the French parterre. In the 20th century the lawn became a ubiquitous feature of the gardens of U.S. single-family detached houses, serving to denote ownership and provide a buffer zone between street and private space.
lawn bowls See bowls
Lawrence, D(avid) H(erbert) (b. Sept. 11, 1885, Eastwood, Not¬ tinghamshire, Eng.—d. March 2, 1930, Vence, France) English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist. The son of a Midlands coal miner and an educated mother, he began to write in 1905 and earned a teaching
certificate in 1908. Ford Madox Ford published much of Lawrence’s early work in the English Review and helped place his first novel. The White Peacock (1911). Lawrence often drew his themes from his own life and relationships. Sons and Lovers (1913) is a clearly autobiographical novel about working-class family life. In 1914 he married a German woman, Frieda Weekley. The object of hostility and suspicion during World War I because of his pacifism and her origins, the couple lived in various countries after 1919, never returning to England. The Rainbow (1915) and its sequel. Women in Love (1920), trace the sickness of modem civiliza¬ tion to the effects of industrialization upon the human psyche. Kangaroo (1923) describes the persecution he experienced during the war. The Plumed Serpent (1926) was inspired by his fascination with Aztec cul¬ ture. Lawrence’s writing is notable for its intensity and its erotic sensu¬ ality; several of his works, including Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928), were banned as obscene. He died of the tuberculosis that had plagued him from an early age.
Lawrence, Ernest O(rlando) (b. Aug. 8, 1901, Canton, S.D., U.S.—d. Aug. 27, 1958, Palo Alto, Calif.) U.S. physicist. He earned a Ph.D. at Yale University and taught physics at the University of Califor¬ nia at Berkeley from 1929, where he built and directed (from 1936) its radiation laboratory. In 1929 he developed the cyclotron, with which he accelerated protons to speeds high enough to cause nuclear disintegra¬ tion. He later produced radioactive isotopes for medical use, instituted the use of neutron beams to treat cancer, and invented a colour-television pic¬ ture tube. He worked with the Manhattan Project, converting the Berke¬ ley cyclotron to separate uranium-235 by mass spectrometry. For his invention of the cyclotron, he was awarded a 1939 Nobel Prize, and in 1957 he received the Enrico Fermi Award. Lawrence Berkeley Labora¬ tory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were named in his honour, as was element 103, lawrencium.
Gertrud Alexandra Dagmar
Lawrence, Gertrude orig.
Lawrence Klasen (b. July 4 ;
1898, London, Eng.—d. Sept. 6,
1952, New York, N.Y., U.S.) British actress. She began appearing on stage as a child, and she starred in musical revues such as Noel Cow¬ ard’s London Calling (1923) and George Gershwin’s Oh, Kay! (1926).
A longtime friend of Coward’s, she performed in many of his comedies, notably Private Lives (1930); both the play and the stars set the tone that would characterize comedies of manners for a decade or more: sophistication, brittle wit, and chic.
She was also acclaimed for her roles in the musicals Lady in the Dark (1941) and The King and I (1951).
Lawrence, Jacob (b. Sept. 7,
1917, Atlantic City, N.J., U.S.—d.
June 9, 2000, Seattle, Wash.) U.S. painter. He moved with his family at 13 to New York City’s Harlem. Art
classes sponsored by the Works Progress Administration in 1932 devel¬ oped his talent. His works portray scenes of African American life and history with vivid, stylized realism. Gouache and tempera were Lawrence’s characteristic media. His use of sombre browns and black for shadows and outlines in an otherwise vibrant palette lent his work a dis¬ tinctive overtone. His best-known works are his series on historical and social themes, such as Life in Harlem (1942) and War (1947). His later works include a powerful series on the struggles of desegregation. From 1971 he taught at the University of Washington.
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Gertrude Lawrence
CECIL BEATON