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blackmail

(Encyclopedia)blackmail, in law, exaction of money from another by threat of exposure of criminal action or of disreputable conduct. The term was originally used for the tribute levied until the 18th cent. upon the...

vendetta

(Encyclopedia)vendetta vĕndĕtˈə [key] [Ital.,=vengeance], feud between members of two kinship groups to avenge a wrong done to a relative. Although the term originated in Corsica, the custom has also been pract...

counterfeiting

(Encyclopedia)counterfeiting, manufacturing spurious coins, paper money, or evidences of governmental obligation (e.g., bonds) in the semblance of the true. There must be sufficient resemblance to the genuine artic...

alcalde

(Encyclopedia)alcalde ălkălˈdē, Span. älkälˈdā [key] [Span., from Arab.,=the judge], Spanish official title, in existence at least from the 11th cent. Since the late 19th cent. it has been used for the mayo...

freehold, in property law

(Encyclopedia)freehold: see tenure.

public defender

(Encyclopedia)public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person c...

Ellison, Keith Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Ellison, Keith Maurice, 1963–, African-American politician, the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress; b. Detroit. A convert to Islam from Roman Catholicism while at Wayne State Univ. (B.A...

Durandus, Gulielmus

(Encyclopedia)Durandus, Gulielmus gulēĕlˈməs dyo͝orănˈdəs [key], 1237?–1296, French canon jurist and theologian. Educated at the Univ. of Bologna, he served several 13th-century popes in various capacitie...

bar, the

(Encyclopedia)bar, the, originally, the rail that enclosed the judge in a court; hence, a court or a system of courts. The persons qualified and authorized to conduct the trial of cases are also known collectively ...

criminology

(Encyclopedia)criminology, the study of crime, society's response to it, and its prevention, including examination of the environmental, hereditary, or psychological causes of crime, modes of criminal investigation...