LETTER

1, One of the arbitrary marks or characters constituting the alphabet, and used in written language as the representatives of sounds or articulations of the human organs of speech. Several of the letters of the English alphabet have a special significance in jurisprudence, as abbreviations and otherwise, or are employed as numerals. 2·. A dispatch or epistle; a written or printed me age; a communication in writ• lng from one person to·,another at a distance. U. S. v. Huggett (C. C.) 40 Fed. 640; U. S. v. Denf'cke (C. C.) 35 Fed. 409. 1 ·a. In the imperial law of. Rome, "letter''. or "epistle" was the name ot.,the answer ·i. PATENT. [s. 718]