Definition
Lano Niger (Law Latin) is an obsolete legal term for a type of base coin that formerly circulated in England. "Base coin" in historical usage refers to currency debased in metal content — struck from inferior alloys or adulterated metals rather than the standard gold or silver required by law. The term appears in records of English monetary law and is encountered almost exclusively in historical legal texts citing Cowell's legal glossary.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering Lano Niger in historical documents will find it relevant to two distinct areas of inquiry: monetary law and currency offenses. Medieval and early modern English law treated the circulation of base coin as a serious legal matter, touching on royal prerogative over the currency, fraud, and at times treason. A researcher tracing early English monetary regulation, coinage statutes, or prosecutions involving debased currency should treat Lano Niger as a marker pointing toward that body of law rather than as a term with its own doctrinal content.
The term is a dead end in modern law — it has no current application — but its presence in a historical source signals that the surrounding text likely concerns monetary regulation, coinage fraud, or the enforcement of currency standards under royal authority. Its appearance in pleadings or records may also indicate the relevant period: the term belongs to a tradition of Law Latin glossary entries inherited from medieval practice and codified by early modern legal lexicographers.
One navigational trap: all four dictionary sources trace the definition directly to Cowell (John Cowell's *Interpreter*, 1607), meaning the historical dictionaries are not independently verifying the term but are instead each restating Cowell. A researcher should go to Cowell directly for the primary source and treat the dictionary entries as a chain of citation rather than independent corroboration.
Historical Dictionary Support
All four sources — Black's (both editions), Bouvier's, and Burrill's — are in complete agreement: Lano Niger denotes a base coin formerly current in England. The uniformity is unsurprising, as all four explicitly or implicitly derive from the same single authority, Cowell's *Interpreter*. Burrill adds the Latin classification "L. Lat." (Law Latin) and "In old English law," which is the most structurally precise of the four entries and confirms the term's status as legal vocabulary rather than general usage.
None of the dictionary sources elaborate on the specific metal composition of the coin, the historical period of its circulation, the statutes governing it, or the legal consequences of passing such coin. They function as glossary placeholders rather than substantive legal treatments. A researcher requiring depth on the monetary law context must look beyond the dictionaries to primary sources in English coinage history.
Jurisdictional Note
Lano Niger is a term of historical English law only. It has no analog in American legal usage and does not appear in any jurisdiction's modern statutory or case law. Its relevance is limited to research into pre-modern English monetary regulation.