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Ellesmere, Thomas Egerton, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Ellesmere, Thomas Egerton, Baron, 1540?–1617, jurist and statesman. A distinguished early career at law brought him appointment (1581) as solicitor general, and he became a favorite and adviser of Q...

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...

Nicodemus, Gospel of

(Encyclopedia)Nicodemus, Gospel of, book composed of the Acts of Pilate and Christ's Descent into Hell, part of the loosely defined New Testament Apocrypha. The Acts of Pilate is an amplified account of the trial, ...

Saro-Wiwa, Ken

(Encyclopedia)Saro-Wiwa, Ken (Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa) säˈrō-wēˈwä [key], 1941–95, Nigerian writer and environmental activist, b. Rivers state, grad. Univ. of Ibadan, 1965. He was a government administrator...

Gardner, Erle Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Gardner, Erle Stanley, 1889–1970, American detective-story writer, b. Malden, Mass. He served as a trial lawyer for many years. About 1921 he began writing detective stories for magazines; after tha...

Arachne

(Encyclopedia)Arachne ərăkˈnē [key], in Greek mythology, a Lydian woman who challenged Athena to a trial of skill in weaving. When Arachne won, the goddess forced Arachne to hang herself. Athena then turned Ara...

Edwards, John Reid

(Encyclopedia)Edwards, John Reid (Johnny Reid Edwards), 1953–, U.S. politician, b. Seneca, S.C., grad. North Carolina State Univ. (B.A., 1974), Univ. of North Carolina (J.D., 1977). The son of a textile-mill work...

Bothwell, James Hepburn, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Bothwell, James Hepburn, 4th earl of hĕˈbərn, bŏthˈwəl [key], 1536?–1578, Scottish nobleman; third husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Though a Protestant, he was a strong partisan of the Catholic...

Temer, Michel

(Encyclopedia)Temer, Michel (Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia), 1940–, Brazilian political leader. The son of Lebanese immigrants, he studied law at the Univ. of São Paolo and the Pontifical Univ. of São Paolo, ...

Kapp, Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Kapp, Wolfgang vôlfˈgäng käp [key], 1858–1922, German right-wing politician. In 1920 he led the uprising known as the Kapp putsch, an armed revolt in Berlin aimed at restoring the German monarch...