  This Letter describes the search for an enhanced production rate of events
with a charged lepton and a neutrino in high-energy pp collisions at the LHC.
The analysis uses data collected with the CMS detector, with an integrated
luminosity of 5.0 inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, and a further 3.7
inverse femtobarns at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV. No evidence is found for an excess. The
results are interpreted in terms of limits on a heavy charged gauge boson (W')
in the sequential standard model, a split universal extra dimension model, and
contact interactions in the helicity-nonconserving model. For the last, values
of the binding energy below 10.5 (8.8) TeV in the electron (muon) channel are
excluded at a 95% confidence level. Interpreting the ell nu final state in
terms of a heavy W' with standard model couplings, masses below 2.90 TeV are
excluded.
