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Hywel Dda

(Encyclopedia)Hywel Dda hŭˈwəl ᵺä [key], or Howel the Good, d. 950?, king of Wales. He brought much of Wales under a single rule and is credited with the codification of Welsh laws. The earliest extant texts ...

decemvirs

(Encyclopedia)decemvirs dēsĕmˈvərz [key] [Lat.,=ten men], in ancient Rome, group of 10 men appointed to a special judicial or executive capacity. The most famous were those who developed in the 5th cent. b.c. t...

Exodus

(Encyclopedia)Exodus ĕkˈsədəs [key], book of the Bible, 2d of the 5 books of the Law (the Pentateuch or Torah) ascribed by tradition to Moses. The book continues the story of the ancestors of Israel in Egypt, n...

Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm von

(Encyclopedia)Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm von foiˈərbäkh [key], 1775–1833, German jurist; father of Ludwig Feuerbach. His work was in the field of criminal law. In Kritik des natürlichen Rechts [critique o...

automated teller machine

(Encyclopedia)automated teller machine (ATM), device used by bank customers to process account transactions. Typically, a user inserts into the ATM a special plastic card that is encoded with information on a magne...

Solon, Athenian statesman

(Encyclopedia)Solon sōˈlən [key], c.639–c.559 b.c., Athenian statesman, lawgiver, and reformer. He was also a poet, and some of his patriotic verse in the Ionic dialect is extant. At some time (perhaps c.600 b...

civil law

(Encyclopedia)civil law, as used in this article, a modern legal system based upon Roman law, as distinguished from common law. Civil law is based on written legal codes, a hallmark of the Roman legal system, in wh...

nucleic acid

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Replication of strands of DNA CE5 nucleic acid, any of a group of organic substances found in the chromosomes of living cells and viruses that play a central role in the storage and replica...

heliograph

(Encyclopedia)heliograph hēˈlēəgrăf [key] [Gr.,=sun-writer], signaling device using flashes of sunlight. It has two mirrors that are used to reflect sunlight on a distant point and a shutter through which the ...

Amorites

(Encyclopedia)Amorites ămˈərīts [key], a people of Canaan. There is evidence of them in Babylonia, where in the 19th cent. b.c. they established under their patronage the first dynasty at Babylon. The most powe...