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Welsh Marches

(Encyclopedia)Welsh Marches, lands in Wales along the English border. After the Norman conquest of England in the 11th cent., William I established the border earldoms of Chester, Shrewsbury, and Hereford to protec...

Jim Crow laws

(Encyclopedia)Jim Crow laws, in U.S. history, statutes enacted by Southern states and municipalities, beginning in the 1880s, that legalized segregation between blacks and whites. The name is believed to be derived...

embargo

(Encyclopedia)embargo ĕmbärˈgō [key], prohibition by a country of the departure of ships or certain types of goods from its ports. Instances of confining all domestic ships to port are rare, and the Embargo Act...

trust

(Encyclopedia)trust, in law, arrangement whereby property legally owned by one person is administered for the benefit of another. Three parties are ordinarily needed for the relation to arise: the settlor, who bequ...

administrative law

(Encyclopedia)administrative law, law governing the powers and processes of administrative agencies. The term is sometimes used also of law (i.e., rules, regulations) developed by agencies in the course of their op...

pollution

(Encyclopedia)pollution, contamination of the environment as a result of human activities. The term pollution refers primarily to the fouling of air, water, and land by wastes (see air pollution; water pollution; s...

Merseyside

(Encyclopedia)Merseyside, former metropolitan county, NW England. Created in the 1974 local government reorganization, the county embraced the Greater Liverpool metropolitan area and comprised five metropolitan dis...

McCloy, John Jay

(Encyclopedia)McCloy, John Jay, 1895–1989, U.S. government official, b. Philadelphia. A lawyer, he gained an international reputation when after a long investigation he fixed responsibility on the German governme...

Hatton, Sir Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Hatton, Sir Christopher, 1540–91, English courtier. He became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, from whom he received offices, honors, and lands. Knighted in 1578, he acted as Elizabeth's spokesman i...

gooseflesh

(Encyclopedia)gooseflesh, temporary rumpling of the skin into tiny bumps, also called goose bumps and goose pimples, and technically known as cutis ansirina. In response to cold or certain emotional states, such as...