Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Stone, Harlan Fiske, 1872–1946, American jurist, 12th chief justice of the United States (1941–46), b. Chesterfield, N.H. A graduate (1898) of Columbia Univ. law school, he was admitted (1899) to ...

(Encyclopedia) Taylor, Telford, 1908–98, U.S. government official and lawyer, b. Schenectady, N.Y. He is best known as the chief prosecutor (1946–49) at the war crimes trials of Nazi leaders in Nuremburg, German...

(Encyclopedia) Dow, Neal, 1804–97, American prohibitionist, b. Portland, Maine. He helped organize the Maine Temperance Union in 1838 and prepared (1851) the famous “Maine Law,” which superseded the less rigid...

(Encyclopedia) mandamus măndāˈməs [key] [Lat.,=we order], in law, writ directing the performance of ministerial acts. A ministerial act is one that a person or body is obliged by law to perform under given circu...

(Encyclopedia) Star Chamber, ancient meeting place of the king of England's councilors in the palace of Westminster in London, so called because of stars painted on the ceiling. The court of the Star Chamber develop...

(Encyclopedia)  Cruz, Ted (Raphael Edward), 1970- , American politician, b. Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Princeton Univ. (B.A., 1992), Harvard Law School (J.D., 1995). B...

(Encyclopedia) arrest, in law, seizure and detention of a person, either to bring him before a court body or official, or to otherwise secure the administration of the law. A person may be arrested for an alleged vi...

(Encyclopedia) Starr, Kenneth Winston, 1946–2022, American public official, b. Vernon, Tex., grad. George Washington Univ. (B.A., 1968), Brown (M.A., 1969), Duke (J....

(Encyclopedia) felony fĕlˈənē [key], any grave crime, in contrast to a misdemeanor, that is so declared in statute or was so considered in common law. In early English law a felony was a heinous act that cancele...

(Encyclopedia) patent, in law, governmental grant of some privilege, property, or authority. Today patent refers to the granting to the inventor of a useful product or process the privilege to exclude others from ma...