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Cruz, Ted

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

Star Chamber

(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...

arrest

(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...

felony

(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...

Starr, Kenneth Winston

(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....

patent

(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...

Littleton, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Littleton, Sir Thomas, 1422?–1481, English jurist. He became a sergeant-at-law, i.e., a barrister, in the Court of Common Pleas in 1453 and a judge in 1466. He is best known for his Tenures, a short...

Mariotte, Edme

(Encyclopedia)Mariotte, Edme ĕdˈmə märyôtˈ [key], 1620?–1684, French physicist. His De la nature de l'air (1676) includes a statement of Boyle's law (see gas laws), which he discovered independently and whi...

Santo Tomás, University of

(Encyclopedia)Santo Tomás, University of sänˈtō tōmäsˈ [key], at Manila, the Philippines; Roman Catholic, coeducational; founded 1611 by Dominican priests. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in ...

Baldwin, Simeon Eben

(Encyclopedia)Baldwin, Simeon Eben, 1840–1927, American jurist and politician, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Yale, 1861. He taught at Yale from 1869 to 1919, serving as a professor of law after 1872. His teaching an...