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Kirchhoff's laws

(Encyclopedia)Kirchhoff's laws [for Gustav R. Kirchhoff], pair of laws stating general restrictions on the current and voltage in an electric circuit. The first of these states that at any given instant the sum of ...

agrarian laws

(Encyclopedia)agrarian laws, in ancient Rome, the laws regulating the disposition of public lands (ager publicus). It was the practice of Rome to confiscate part of the land of conquered cities and states, and this...

sumptuary laws

(Encyclopedia)sumptuary laws sŭmpˈcho͞oĕˌrē [key], regulations based on social, religious, or moral grounds directed against overindulgence of luxury in diet and drink and extravagance in dress and mode of li...

sunset laws

(Encyclopedia)sunset laws, statutes that deal with the tendency of government agencies and programs to be self-perpetuating by providing for their periodic review. ...

sunshine laws

(Encyclopedia)sunshine laws: see Freedom of Information Act. ...

blue laws

(Encyclopedia)blue laws, legislation regulating public and private conduct, especially laws relating to Sabbath observance. The term was originally applied to the 17th-century laws of the theocratic New Haven colon...

fair-trade laws

(Encyclopedia)fair-trade laws, in the United States, a former group of statutes that permitted manufacturers to specify the minimum retail price of a commodity. The first fair-trade law was adopted (1931) by Califo...

fugitive slave laws

(Encyclopedia)fugitive slave laws, in U.S. history, the federal acts of 1793 and 1850 providing for the return between states of escaped black slaves. Similar laws existing in both North and South in colonial days ...

Jim Crow laws

(Encyclopedia)Jim Crow laws, in U.S. history, statutes enacted by Southern states and municipalities, beginning in the 1880s, that legalized segregation between blacks and whites. The name is believed to be derived...

war, laws of

(Encyclopedia)war, laws of, in international law, rules and principles regulating an armed conflict between nations. These laws are designed to minimize the destruction of life and property, to proscribe cruel trea...