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Byrom, John

(Encyclopedia)Byrom, John bīˈrəm [key], 1692–1763, English shorthand expert and poet, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He devised an early shorthand system, which he taught in Manchester. Although he co...

Phelps, Edward John

(Encyclopedia)Phelps, Edward John, 1822–1900, American lawyer and diplomat, b. Middlebury, Vt. He attended (1841–42) Yale law school, was admitted (1843) to the bar, and practiced law in Vermont and later in Ne...

Moore, John Bassett

(Encyclopedia)Moore, John Bassett, 1860–1947, American authority on international law, b. Smyrna, Del. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1883. He was (1885–86) a law clerk in the Dept. of State and was (18...

desertion

(Encyclopedia)desertion, in law, the forsaking of a station involving public or social duties without justification and with the intention of not returning. In military law, it is the abandonment of (or failure to ...

attorney

(Encyclopedia)attorney, agent put in place of another to manage particular affairs of the principal. An attorney in fact is an agent who conducts business under authority that is controlled and limited by a written...

prize

(Encyclopedia)prize, in maritime law, the private property of an enemy that a belligerent captures at sea. For the capture of the vessel or cargo to be lawful it must be made outside neutral waters and by authority...

kinetic-molecular theory of gases

(Encyclopedia)kinetic-molecular theory of gases, physical theory that explains the behavior of gases on the basis of the following assumptions: (1) Any gas is composed of a very large number of very tiny particles ...

Ribbentrop, Joachim von

(Encyclopedia)Ribbentrop, Joachim von yōˈaäkhĭm fən rĭbˈəntrôp [key], 1893–1946, German foreign minister (1938–45). After World War I he became a wealthy champagne merchant. He joined the National Soci...

civil commitment

(Encyclopedia)civil commitment or involuntary commitment, process by which a court determines whether or not to order an individual to receive treatment or care or be confined. A person may be committed after a hea...

Huntsville, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Huntsville. 1 City (2020 pop. 215,006), seat of Madison co., N Ala.; inc. 1811. A major center for U.S. space research, Huntsville is the site of the ...