Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Sharp, Granville

(Encyclopedia)Sharp, Granville, 1735–1813, English reformer, scholar, and abolitionist. In 1772 he won a case establishing the principle that any slave would become free upon reaching British land. Sharp continue...

Wisconsin v. Yoder

(Encyclopedia)Wisconsin v. Yoder, case decided in 1972 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that Amish children could be exempted from compulsory school-attendance beyond the 8th grade; the Amish (see under Mennon...

Burton, Harold Hitz

(Encyclopedia)Burton, Harold Hitz, 1888–1964, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1945–58), b. Jamaica Plain (now part of Boston), Mass. Admitted to the bar in 1912, he built a prosperous law practice ...

Fortas, Abe

(Encyclopedia)Fortas, Abe fôrˈtəs [key], 1910–82, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1965–69), b. Memphis, Tenn. After receiving his law degree from Yale in 1933, he taught there (1933–37) and al...

Chautauqua movement

(Encyclopedia)Chautauqua movement, development in adult education somewhat similar to the lyceum movement. It derived from an institution at Chautauqua, N.Y. There, in 1873, John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller propo...

Shiller, Robert James

(Encyclopedia)Shiller, Robert James, 1946–, American economist, b. Detroit, grad. Univ. of Michigan (B.A., 1967), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.M., 1968; Ph.D., 1972). A professor at Yale since 1982, S...

writ

(Encyclopedia)writ, in law, written order issued in the name of the sovereign or the state in connection with a judicial or an administrative proceeding. Usually the writ requires the person to whom the command is ...

Gray, John Chipman

(Encyclopedia)Gray, John Chipman, 1839–1915, American lawyer and teacher, b. Brighton, Mass. A graduate of Harvard Law School (1861), he served in the Civil War and then entered law practice in Boston; in 1869 he...

Ames, James Barr

(Encyclopedia)Ames, James Barr, 1846–1910, American jurist, b. Boston, grad. Harvard Law School, 1873. At Harvard he became associate professor (1873), professor (1877), and dean (1895). A disciple of C. C. Langd...

Frankel, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Frankel, Charles, 1917–79, American philosopher, b. New York City, grad. Columbia 1937, Ph.D., 1946. A teacher at Columbia since 1939, he became Old Dominion professor of philosophy and public affai...