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conscientious objector

(Encyclopedia)conscientious objector, person who, on the grounds of conscience, resists the authority of the state to compel military service. Such resistance, emerging in time of war, may be based on membership in...

Gaynor, William Jay

(Encyclopedia)Gaynor, William Jay, 1849–1913, U.S. political leader, mayor of New York City, b. Oneida co., N.Y. He rose to prominence as a civic reformer in Brooklyn and, as justice of the New York supreme court...

Smith Act

(Encyclopedia)Smith Act, 1940, passed by the U.S. Congress as the Alien Registration Act of 1940. The act, which made it an offense to advocate or belong to a group that advocated the violent overthrow of the gover...

Burger, Warren Earl

(Encyclopedia)Burger, Warren Earl, 1907–95, American jurist, 15th chief justice of the United States (1969–86), b. St. Paul, Minn. After receiving his law degree in 1931 from St. Paul College of Law (now Mitche...

Charles River Bridge Case

(Encyclopedia)Charles River Bridge Case, decided in 1837 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Charles River Bridge Company had been granted (1785) a charter by the state of Massachusetts to operate a toll bridge. The sta...

Ervin, Samuel James

(Encyclopedia)Ervin, Samuel James ûrˈvĭn [key], 1896–1985, U.S. senator (1954–75), b. Morganton, N.C. Admitted to the bar in 1919, he became a distinguished jurist, serving as a judge on a county criminal co...

Garland, Merrick Brian

(Encyclopedia)Garland, Merrick Brian, 1952–, American government official and judge, b. Chicago, grad. Harvard (A.B. 1974, J.D. 1977). He was special assistant to the U.S. attorney general (1979–81), a lawyer i...

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...

Duff, Sir Lyman Poore

(Encyclopedia)Duff, Sir Lyman Poore, 1865–1955, Canadian jurist, b. Ontario. A lawyer and judge in British Columbia, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1906, and in 1933 he became chief ju...

Mansour, Adly Mahmud

(Encyclopedia)Mansour, Adly Mahmud, 1945–, Egyptian judge and political leader. Educated in the law and public administration, he joined the state council in 1970, and was appointed to Egypt's supreme constitutio...