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inertia

(Encyclopedia)inertia ĭnûrˈshə [key], in physics, the resistance of a body to any alteration in its state of motion, i.e., the resistance of a body at rest to being set in motion or of a body in motion to any c...

McReynolds, James Clark

(Encyclopedia)McReynolds, James Clark məkrĕnˈəldz [key], 1862–1946, U.S. Attorney General (1913–14) and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1914–41), b. Elkton, Ky. He received his law degree fro...

Bork, Robert Heron

(Encyclopedia)Bork, Robert Heron, 1927–2012, American jurist, b. Pittsburgh. He received his law degree from the Univ. of Chicago in 1953, and was professor of law at Yale (1962–73, 1977–81). While serving as...

Stone, Harlan Fiske

(Encyclopedia)Stone, Harlan Fiske, 1872–1946, American jurist, 12th chief justice of the United States (1941–46), b. Chesterfield, N.H. A graduate (1898) of Columbia Univ. law school, he was admitted (1899) to ...

Taylor, Telford

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Telford, 1908–98, U.S. government official and lawyer, b. Schenectady, N.Y. He is best known as the chief prosecutor (1946–49) at the war crimes trials of Nazi leaders in Nuremburg, German...

orphan drug

(Encyclopedia)orphan drug, drug developed under the U.S. Orphan Drug Act (1983) to treat a disease that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. The orphan drug law offers tax breaks and a seven-year...

Dow, Neal

(Encyclopedia)Dow, Neal, 1804–97, American prohibitionist, b. Portland, Maine. He helped organize the Maine Temperance Union in 1838 and prepared (1851) the famous “Maine Law,” which superseded the less rigid...

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...

mandamus

(Encyclopedia)mandamus măndāˈməs [key] [Lat.,=we order], in law, writ directing the performance of ministerial acts. A ministerial act is one that a person or body is obliged by law to perform under given circu...

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...