clxiii

Theme for the remainder of the month: Alphabet Soup

leguleius, leguleii m.

Definition: pettyfoggying lawyer, one who depends on legal technicalities for getting the better of his opponent

Sententia: Cicero, De Oratore I.236

Ita est tibi iuris consultus ipse per se nihil nisi leguleius quidam cautus et acutus, praeco actionum, cantor formularum, auceps syllabarum...

Thus he himself having been consulted by you of the law through himself is nothing unless a certain pettyfogger, wary and sharp, a herald of cases [of the judicial sort], a crier of formulas/agreements, a critic of syllables/speech...

Cicero wrote this work, About the Orator, for Quintus, his brother, to show what he thought was the optimal orator. Cicero is critical of this sort of a pettyfoggying lawyer, who only can win his cases by formulas (i.e. the precise wording of laws), rather than by great oratory and speechmaking (i.e. syllables).

This word, I must admit, is totally useless. But browsing through the dictionary, it does indeed pop out, with its noticeable definition. It is used only once, and thus is a hapax legemon (see confirmitas and the rest of the words in October 2008 if you want to see more examples). It comes from "lex, legis," law.