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Veil, Simone

(Encyclopedia)Veil, Simone, 1927–2017, French politician, b. Simone Jacob. Interned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II because she was Jewish, she became a lawyer and government official. She served ...

Waxman, Henry Arnold

(Encyclopedia)Waxman, Henry Arnold, 1939–, U.S. congressman, b. Los Angeles, grad. Univ. of California, Los Angeles. (B.A., 1961; J.D., 1964). After serving (1969–74) in the California state assembly, he won (1...

Twelve Tables

(Encyclopedia)Twelve Tables, early code of Roman law. Most modern authorities accept the traditional date of 450 b.c., but several place the work later. The tables were supposedly written in response to the plebeia...

Torah

(Encyclopedia)Torah tôrˈə [key] [Heb.,=teachings or learning], Hebrew name for the five books of Moses—the Law of Moses or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. The Torah is believed by Orthodox J...

Field, David Dudley

(Encyclopedia)Field, David Dudley, 1805–94, American lawyer and law reformer, b. Haddam, Conn.; brother of Cyrus W. Field and Stephen J. Field. He was graduated from Williams (1825), studied law in Albany and New...

executive order

(Encyclopedia)executive order, in the United States, official document initiated and signed by the president containing directives concerning how the executive branch shall carry out its responsibilities under the ...

fair

(Encyclopedia)fair, market exhibition at which producers, traders, and consumers meet either to barter or to buy and sell goods and services. Before the development of transportation and marketing, fairs furnished ...

Granger movement

(Encyclopedia)Granger movement, American agrarian movement taking its name from the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, an organization founded in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley and six associates. Its local uni...

Fundamental Orders

(Encyclopedia)Fundamental Orders, in U.S. history, the basic law of the Connecticut colony from 1639 to 1662, formally adopted (Jan. 14, 1639) by representatives from the towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windso...

lepton

(Encyclopedia)lepton lĕpˈtŏnˌ [key] [Gr.,=light (i.e., lightweight)], class of elementary particles that includes the electron and its antiparticle, the muon and its antiparticle, the tau and its antiparticle, ...