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Curtis, Benjamin Robbins

(Encyclopedia)Curtis, Benjamin Robbins, 1809–74, American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1851–57), b. Watertown, Mass. After studying law at Harvard, he practiced at Northfield, Mass., and...

Fitch, John

(Encyclopedia)Fitch, John, 1743–98, American inventor, b. Windsor, Conn. Fitch began (1785) work on the invention of the steam engine and steamboat and secured soon afterward the exclusive right to build and oper...

subpoena

(Encyclopedia)subpoena səpēˈnə [key] [Lat.,=under penalty], in law, an order to a witness to appear before a court. A subpoena ad testificandum [Lat.,= to testify under penalty], the technical term denoting an ...

Camorra

(Encyclopedia)Camorra kəmôrˈə [key], Italian secret criminal association in Naples. Of controversial origin, it first came to light in 1830. Its activities spread by intimidation, blackmail, and bribery until N...

Biddle, Francis Beverley

(Encyclopedia)Biddle, Francis Beverley, 1886–1968, U.S. Attorney General (1941–45), b. Paris, France, of American parents. Secretary to Associate Justice O. W. Holmes (1912), he became a successful corporation ...

Rousseff, Dilma

(Encyclopedia)Rousseff, Dilma jēlˈmä ro͞oˈsĕf [key], 1947–, Brazilian political leader, b. Belo Horizonte. The daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant lawyer and a Brazilian teacher, she was trained as an economi...

Navalny, Alexei Anatolyevich

(Encyclopedia)Navalny, Alexei Anatolyevich, 1976–, Russian lawyer and political activist. Navalny joined the Russian United Democratic party...

Cowper, William Cowper, 1st Earl

(Encyclopedia)Cowper, William Cowper, 1st Earl, 1664?–1723, English jurist. He became lord keeper of the great seal in 1705 and in 1706 took a leading part in negotiating the union of England with Scotland. He wa...

Dedham

(Encyclopedia)Dedham dĕdˈəm [key], town (2020 pop. 25,364), seat of Norfolk co., E Mass., on the Charles...

Poindexter, George

(Encyclopedia)Poindexter, George poinˈdĕkˌstər [key], 1779–1853, American political leader, b. Louisa co., Va. After practicing law in Virginia, he moved (1802) to Mississippi. As attorney general of Mississi...