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class action

(Encyclopedia)class action, in law, a device that permits one or more persons to sue or be sued as representative of a large group of people interested in the matter at issue. The court in whose jurisdiction a suit...

Frasconi, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Frasconi, Antonio äntōˈnyō fräskōˈnē [key], 1919–2013, American graphic artist, b. Buenos Aires. His family moved to Uruguay weeks after his birth. Frasconi immigrated to the United States i...

forgery, in criminal law

(Encyclopedia)forgery, in criminal law, willful fabrication or alteration of a written document with the intent to injure the interests of another in a fraudulent manner. The crime may be committed even though the ...

Mather, John Cromwell

(Encyclopedia)Mather, John Cromwell, 1946–, American astrophysicist, b. Roanoke, Va., Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1974. He has been a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., s...

Wise Men of the East

(Encyclopedia)Wise Men of the East, Magi, or Three Kings, men who came from the East to adore the newborn Jesus. Mat. 2. They were the first to tell Herod of the birth. A star (the Star of Bethlehem) had been a si...

Von Stroheim, Erich

(Encyclopedia)Von Stroheim, Erich (Hans Erich Marie Stroheim von Nordenaall) āˈrĭkh fən shtrōˈhīm [key], 1885–1957, Austrian-American film director, writer, and actor. He came to the United States in 1909,...

age grade and age set

(Encyclopedia)age grade and age set, differentiation of social role based on age, commonly found in small-scale societies of North America and East Africa. Age sets are a type of sodality (nonresidential groups tha...

Stepinac, Aloysius Victor

(Encyclopedia)Stepinac, Aloysius Victor, Croatian, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac stĕpˈĭnäts [key], 1898–1960, Yugoslav prelate, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, b. Croatia-Salvonia, Austria-Hungary. In 1937 ...