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Isaiah

(Encyclopedia)Isaiah īzāˈyə, īsāˈ– [key], prophetic book of the Bible. It is a collection of prophecies from a 300-year period attributed to Isaiah, who may have been a priest. Some scholars argue that a l...

jury

(Encyclopedia)jury, body convened to make decisions of fact in legal proceedings. In most criminal cases the charge is first considered by a grand jury with 12 to 23 members. It hears witnesses against the accus...

hara-kiri

(Encyclopedia)hara-kiri härˈə-kērˈē, hărˈə– [key] [Jap.,=belly-cutting], the traditional Japanese form of honorable suicide, also known by its Chinese equivalent, seppuku. It was practiced by the Japanes...

oral history

(Encyclopedia)oral history, compilation of historical data through interviews, usually tape-recorded and sometimes videotaped, with participants in, or observers of, significant events or times. Primitive societies...

Allen, Ethan

(Encyclopedia)Allen, Ethan, 1738–89, hero of the American Revolution, leader of the Green Mountain Boys, and promoter of the independence and statehood of Vermont, b. Litchfield (?), Conn. He had some schooling a...

Eritrea

(Encyclopedia)Eritrea ĕrĭtrēˈə [key], officially State of Eritrea, republic (2021 est. pop. 3,616,635), ...

treason

(Encyclopedia)treason, legal term for various acts of disloyalty. The English law, first clearly stated in the Statute of Treasons (1350), originally distinguished high treason from petit (or petty) treason. Petit ...

impeachment

(Encyclopedia)impeachment, in Great Britain and United States, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is somet...

Sacco-Vanzetti Case

(Encyclopedia)Sacco-Vanzetti Case săkˈō-vănzĕtˈē [key]. On Apr. 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Mass., and his guard were shot and killed by two men who escaped with over $15,000...

Jay, John

(Encyclopedia)Jay, John, 1745–1829, American statesman, 1st chief justice of the United States, b. New York City, grad. King's College (now Columbia Univ.), 1764. He was admitted (1768) to the bar and for a time ...

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