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Slocum massacre

(Encyclopedia)Slocum massacre, July 29–30, 1910, killing of an unknown number of African Americans by armed mobs of white men in the town of Slocum, Texas. The killings may have been precipitated by rumors that b...

insanity

(Encyclopedia)insanity, mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or of conforming to social standards. Today, the term insanity is used chiefly in criminal law, to ...

maritime law

(Encyclopedia)maritime law, system of law concerning navigation and overseas commerce. Because ships sail from nation to nation over seas no nation owns, nations need to seek agreement over customs related to shipp...

Alzheimer's disease

(Encyclopedia)Alzheimer's disease ălsˈhīˌmərz, ôls– [key], degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia and, ultimately, death. The disea...

torture

(Encyclopedia)torture, the intentional infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering in order to intimidate, coerce, obtain information or a confession, or punish. In international law, the term is usua...

cardinal, in the Roman Catholic Church

(Encyclopedia)cardinal [Lat.,=attached to and thus “belonging to” the hinge], in the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the highest body of the church. The sacred college of cardinals of the Holy Roman Church i...

infertility

(Encyclopedia)infertility, inability to conceive or carry a child to delivery. The term is usually limited to situations where the couple has had intercourse regularly for one year without using birth control. The ...

serf

(Encyclopedia)serf, under feudalism, peasant laborer who can be generally characterized as hereditarily attached to the manor in a state of semibondage, performing the servile duties of the lord (see also manorial ...

Mandeville, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Mandeville, Bernard mănˈdəvĭl [key], 1670–1733, English author, b. Dordrecht, Holland. A physician, he went to London in 1692 ostensibly to learn the language, but eventually settled there perma...

Herzog, Roman

(Encyclopedia)Herzog, Roman, 1934–2017, German political leader and legal scholar. After receiving his doctorate in law from Ludwig Maximilian Univ., Munich (1958), he taught there, at the Free Univ. of Berlin (1...