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Servile Wars

(Encyclopedia)Servile Wars, name given in Roman history to three slave uprisings. The agricultural slaves were exploited by their owners, who had extreme powers and were never averse to using them. The first of the...

Cumberland, Richard, 1631–1718, English philosopher

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland, Richard, 1631–1718, English philosopher. He was bishop of Peterborough from 1691. In his De legibus naturae [on natural laws] (1672) he first propounded the doctrine of utilitarianism an...

Hammurabi

(Encyclopedia)Hammurabi hämo͝oräˈbē [key], fl. 1792–1750 b.c., king of Babylonia. He founded an empire that was eventually destroyed by raids from Asia Minor. Hammurabi may have begun building the tower of B...

separation

(Encyclopedia)separation, in law, either the voluntary agreement of husband and wife to live apart or a partial dissolution of the marriage relation by court order. The marriage bond remains, and remarriage of eith...

air, law of the

(Encyclopedia)air, law of the, in the broadest sense, all law connected with the use of the air, including radio and satellite transmissions; more commonly, it refers to laws concerning civil aviation. The developm...

gay-rights movement

(Encyclopedia)gay-rights movement, organized efforts to end the criminalization of homosexuality and protect the civil rights of homosexuals. While there was some organized activity on behalf of the rights of homos...

Horton, George Moses

(Encyclopedia)Horton, George Moses, c.1797–c.1883, African-American writer, b. near Raleigh, N.C. Born into slavery, he worked as a handyman at the Univ. of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he began writing a...

Abomey

(Encyclopedia)Abomey ăbōmāˈ, əbōˈmē [key], town, S Benin. It is the trade center for an agricultural region where grain, peanuts, and palm products are processed. The town is li...

Lecompton

(Encyclopedia)Lecompton ləkŏmpˈtən [key], small town, Douglas co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River between Lawrence and Topeka. The pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was formulated (Sept., 1857) there, and was r...

rum

(Encyclopedia)rum, spirituous liquor made from fermented sugarcane products. Prepared by fermentation, distillation, and aging, it is made from the molasses and foam that rise to the top of boiled sugarcane juice. ...