PURPOSE: To make dust, moisture, and other foreign matters hardly enter into a latch device adopting the raising and rotating motions of a handle.

CONSTITUTION: A latch device attached to a door, etc., is composed of a slide 14 which can axially move and rotate in a housing 12, a pawl 16 attached to the slide 14, and a handle 18 pivotally attached to the slide 14 for driving the slide 14. The handle 18 facilitates the axial movements of the slide 14 and pawl 16 as the handle 18 is pivoted. The pawl 16 is turned to a latched position for locking the door, etc. When the handle 18 is opened and closed, the handle 18 moves in the direction of its longitudinal axis. In the closed position, the handle 18 is completely put in the housing 12.