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entrapment

(Encyclopedia)entrapment, in law, the instigation of a crime in the attempt to obtain cause for a criminal prosecution. Situations in which a government operative merely provides the occasion for the commission of ...

gunboat

(Encyclopedia)gunboat, small warship for use on rivers and along coasts in places inaccessible to vessels of larger displacement. In the U.S. Civil War both sides used as gunboats, on the Mississippi and other rive...

Moos, Ludwig von

(Encyclopedia)Moos, Ludwig von lo͝otˈvĭkh fən mo͞os [key], 1910–90, Swiss political leader. Entering politics in his native town of Sachseln, he served (1941–46) as its president. He was later a government...

Plehve, Vyacheslav Konstantinovich

(Encyclopedia)Plehve, Vyacheslav Konstantinovich vyĕˌchĭsläfˈ kənstəntyēˈnəvĭch plyĕˈvyĭ [key], 1846–1904, Russian public official. As director of the police (1881–84), vice minister of the interi...

Yellowknife

(Encyclopedia)Yellowknife, city (1991 pop. 15,179), capital of the Northwest Territories, Canada, on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, at the mouth of the Yellowknife River. It is the largest city in the Northwe...

Stepniak, S.

(Encyclopedia)Stepniak, S. styĭpnyäkˈ [key], 1852–95, Russian revolutionary and writer, whose real name was Sergei Mikhailovich Kravchinski. He fled Russia in 1878 after taking part in the assassination of the...

confession

(Encyclopedia)confession, in law, the formal admission of criminal guilt, usually obtained in the course of examination by the police or prosecutor or at trial. For a confession to be admissible as evidence against...

vagrancy

(Encyclopedia)vagrancy, in law, term applied to the offense of persons who are without visible means of support or domicile while able to work. State laws and municipal ordinances punishing vagrancy often also cove...

Alexander III, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander III, 1845–94, czar of Russia (1881–94), son and successor of Alexander II. Factors that contributed to Alexander's reactionary policies included his father's assassination, his limited i...

Eaton, Dorman Bridgman

(Encyclopedia)Eaton, Dorman Bridgman, 1823–99, American reformer, b. Hardwick, Vt. He was a law partner of William Kent in New York City. His major interests were reform in municipal administration and abolition ...