LEAGUE, LEUCA, LEUGA, LEUVA, LEWEKE, &e., an. itinerary measure, which in modern English always means the twen tieth part of a degree of latitude, or three of what are called geographical miles, each of which is the sixtieth part of a degree. The variation of the degrees of latitude is not sufficient to make this measure sensibly incorrect for nautical purposes ; and the league of our sailors may be described and easily remembered as 3.456 statute miles of 1760 yards each. The same marine league is used by the French and other nations ; besides which, the French have among their itinerary land measures two distinct leagues (or tittles, in some of the provinces Mgaes), the first of 2000 toises, or English statute miles, which is the legal posting measure ; the second of 25 to the degree, or English miles. These are selected from among the French measures for their celebrity, and not as being the only ones; for before the Revolution there was no legal itinerary measure, and the length of the league varied from province to province. (Paueton.) The leuea of the ancient English law writers is necessary to be deter mined before the rights given by many charters can be defined ; but unfortunately the length of this measure is enveloped in utter confusion. The modern lawyers, we believe, evade the question by setting it down as a mile ; thus the legal minimum distance between two markets, which was certainly 7 lcucie, is now called 7 miles. We shall, in the present article, collect a few testimonies on the length of the leuca, and must leave the reader to form the best opinion which he can upon the varying presumptions which they afford.
By citations in Ducange, Paucton, &c., it appears that Hesyehius distinctly describes the asirri," and Jerome, Jornandes, &c., the lose" (stated by Camden to be derived from the Celtic leach, a stone) as a Gaulish measure; and the original Gallic league was set down by the Romans as a mile and a half of their own measure, which was in all probability a rough estimation, first used in the Itinerary of Antoninus. Iu that work the distances from place to place in Gaul are frequently given in leagues (always in whole numbers), which are in every instance reduced to Roman miles at the rate of a mile and a half to each league. (See also Amm. xvi., c. 12.) Hence, taking the Roman foot at English inches (which is a mean between the most trust worthy measures) and the pace of 5 feet at 58.1 inches, the Roman
mile of 1000 paces is 1614 English yards, and the leuca was therefore 2421 yards, subject to the error of the Roman estimation ; or 1.376 modern English miles, with the same reservation.
This leuca in all probability was brought by the Normans into England. It is true that the Saxon charters of Ingulphus describe distances in leuem ; but the genuineness of these charters is now con sidered more than questionable, and perhaps this very circumstance is a presumption against them.
The evidence against the genuineness of the history of Ingulphus, when all put together, looks very strong. (Wright,' Biog. Brit. Lit.,' Anglo-Norman period, p. 28.) There is nothing to set against it except our knowledge that the reaction against a work which has once been received, when suspicion of forgery arises, is strong and even bitter : a modified conclusion may possibly be arrived at in time. It must be remembered, also, that the same research which has thrown doubt upon Ingulphus has detected much tendency to Normanism in England even before the invasion by William : how much, is perhaps hardly known. It may therefore possibly be that the leuca was to some extent used in Saxon England.
The leuca soon began to vary in size. Ducange cites an old metrologist who speaks of two leucte, the one legal, of 3000 paces, the other common, varying much in different countries. In the confusion incident to our subject, it will be worth while to remember that it was not uncommon, when a measure was found too short for convenience, to dbuble it. without altering its name ; thus among the list of old coins (1540) given by John Dee, is found the penny of two pence. The registers of Battle Abbey (Sir II. Ellis) and the ' Monaaticon Angli canum' (Ducange) describe the leuca as containing 12 quarantenas, or furlongs. Now the furlong (forty-long) is always 40 perches, and the perch, though varying much, yet was settled very early at 164 feet. This gives a modern statute mile and a half to the leuca; se that a certain set of old authorities countenance the notion that the leuca was in their time very little more than that of the Gauls. It is not worth while to take into account any possible variations of the foot, since all the information we can obtain is too rough even to make the whole difference between the Roman and modern Euglish foot of conse quence.