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stoa

(Encyclopedia)stoa stōˈə [key], in ancient Greek architecture, an extended, roofed colonnade on a street or square. Early examples consisted of a simple open-fronted shed or porch with a roof sloping from the ba...

throne

(Encyclopedia)throne, chair of state or the seat of a high dignitary. The throne was at first a stool or bench and later became an ornate armchair, usually raised on a dais and surmounted by a canopy. Often lavishl...

bellows

(Encyclopedia)bellows, expansible, gas-tight chamber used to pump or store a gas. One of the simplest and most familiar types of bellows is the manual one used for providing a forced draft to a fire. The expansible...

Gretna Green

(Encyclopedia)Gretna Green, village, Dumfries and Galloway, S Scotland, on the border with England. It was famous as a place of runaway marriages from 1754, when English marriage law was tightened, until 1856, when...

Wheaton, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Wheaton, Henry, 1785–1848, American jurist and diplomat, b. Providence, R.I., grad. Rhode Island College (now Brown), 1802. After translating the Code Napoléon into English, he practiced law, held ...

addition

(Encyclopedia)addition, fundamental operation of arithmetic, denoted by +. In counting, a+b represents the number of items in the union of two collections having no common members (disjoint sets), having respective...

Twelve Tables

(Encyclopedia)Twelve Tables, early code of Roman law. Most modern authorities accept the traditional date of 450 b.c., but several place the work later. The tables were supposedly written in response to the plebeia...

signing statement

(Encyclopedia)signing statement, written comment issued by the executive of a government when signing a bill into law. In the United States, such statements have traditionally been comparatively neutral declaration...

Glasgow, University of

(Encyclopedia)Glasgow, University of, at Glasgow, Scotland; founded 1451. Its charter provided for studies in theology, canon and civil law, arts, and “any other lawful faculty.” Today it has faculties of arts,...

conflict of laws

(Encyclopedia)conflict of laws, that part of the law in each state, country, or other jurisdiction that determines whether, in dealing with a particular legal situation, its law or the law of some other jurisdictio...