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allegiance

(Encyclopedia)allegiance, in political terms, the tie that binds an individual to another individual or institution. The term usually refers to a person's legal obligation of obedience to a government in return for...

in vitro fertilization

(Encyclopedia)in vitro fertilization vēˈtrō, vĭˈtrō [key] (IVF), technique for conception of a human embryo outside the mother's body. Several ova, or eggs, are removed from the mother's body and placed in sp...

alien

(Encyclopedia)alien, in law, any person residing in one political community while owing allegiance to another. A procedure known as naturalization permits aliens to become citizens. Each nation establishes conditio...

debit card

(Encyclopedia)debit card, card that allows the cost of goods or services that are purchased to be deducted directly from the purchaser's checking account. They can also be used at automated teller machines for with...

health-care proxy

(Encyclopedia)health-care proxy, legal document in which a person assigns to another person, usually called an agent or proxy, the authority to make medical decisions in case of incapacitation. It is, in essence, a...

Korematsu, Fred Toyosaburo

(Encyclopedia)Korematsu, Fred Toyosaburo, 1919–2005, Japanese-American internment protester, b. Oakland, Calif. He was a shipyard welder when, after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor in 1942, President F. D. Roos...

Langdell, Christopher Columbus

(Encyclopedia)Langdell, Christopher Columbus lăngˈdəl [key], 1826–1906, American teacher of law, b. New Boston, N.H. He practiced in New York City from 1854 to 1870, when he was appointed Dane professor of law...

state of emergency

(Encyclopedia)state of emergency, situation in which a government or a government body is empowered to act with enhanced powers in order to respond to a crisis. The enhanced or emergency powers, and in many cases i...

parent and child

(Encyclopedia)parent and child, legal relationship, created by biological (birth) relationship or by adoption, that confers certain rights and duties on parent and child; in some states the courts have given the no...

embezzlement

(Encyclopedia)embezzlement, wrongful use, for one's own selfish ends, of the property of another when that property has been legally entrusted to one. Such an act was not larceny at common law because larceny was c...