Meanings
- uncountablelawThe law as it is.
2000, Nikolaos K. Tsagourias, The Jurisprudence of International Law http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0719054656&id=V_YiUMuaIQwC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&sig=Gpm22qlBVtypDtVqQreLbz6pDrw This also betrays an interest in transforming world order by approximating lex lata with lex ferenda.
2 more examples
1997, Lyal S Sunga, The Emerging System of International Criminal Law http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN9041104720&id=Dbb8eQH-vbQC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&sig=3A8fBOXMx7bQAO7AWXOIUA6Lzyw At that point, little purpose would be served in maintaining categories fashioned so closely to the lex lata that the Code would crystallize traditional technical distinctions.
Lex ferenda serves as a label for something which has at least conceptual existence, as a contrast or opposite to lex lata, the law that exists and obliges the subjects of law to adopt, or to refrain from, certain defined courses of conduct in certain defined circumstances.
2002, Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, 2001 http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN9067041556&id=7tV2LgZzjn8C&lpg=PA5&pg=PA4&sig=tqI91yfti-e5shuss0twPraRca8
Origin
- Latinlēx lāta“the law borne”
- Englishlex lata
Borrowed from Latin lēx lāta (“the law borne”) (see below).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
lex lata. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lex%20lata
“lex lata.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lex%20lata. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lex lata,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lex%20lata.
Source: lex lata on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.