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Americans with Disabilities Act

(Encyclopedia)Americans with Disabilities Act, U.S. civil-rights law, enacted 1990, that forbids discrimination of various sorts against persons with physical or mental handicaps. Its primary emphasis is on enablin...

Jordan, Vernon Eulion, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Jordan, Vernon Eulion, Jr., 1935–2021, African-American civil-rights leader and lawyer, b. Atlanta, Ga., DePauw Univ. (BA, 1957), Howard Univ. Law Sch...

O'Connor, Sandra Day

(Encyclopedia)O'Connor, Sandra Day, 1930–2023, U.S. lawyer and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1981–2006), b. El Paso, Tex. Graduating from Stanford ...

Recceswinth

(Encyclopedia)Recceswinth rĕkˈəswĭnth [key], d. 672, Visigothic king of Spain (653–72). He was the son of Chindaswinth, who in 649 admitted him to joint rule. Recceswinth succeeded to the throne without elect...

verdict

(Encyclopedia)verdict, in law, official decision of a jury respecting questions of fact that the judge has laid before it. In the United States, verdicts must be unanimous in federal courts; majority verdicts are c...

Dinkins, David Norman

(Encyclopedia)Dinkins, David Norman, 1927–2020, African-American political leader, b. Trenton, N.J. After graduating (1956) from Brooklyn Law School, he went into private law practice. Active in Democratic politi...

Cujas, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Cujas or Cujacius, Jacques zhäk küzhäsˈ, kyo͞ojāˈshəs [key], 1522–90, French jurist and scholar of Roman law. He taught at Toulouse, Bourges, and elsewhere. Unlike previous scholars, he was ...

antinomianism

(Encyclopedia)antinomianism ăntĭnōˈmēənĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=against the law], the belief that Christians are not bound by the moral law, particularly that of the Old Testament. The idea was strong among the Gno...

Hebrew University

(Encyclopedia)Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at Mt. Scopus, Givat Ram, Ein Karem, and Rehovot, Israel; coeducational. First proposed in 1882, formally opened 1925. It is the world's largest Jewish university and i...

Ohm, Georg Simon

(Encyclopedia)Ohm, Georg Simon gāˈôrkh zēˈmôn ōm [key], 1787–1854, German physicist. He was professor at Munich from 1852. His study of electric current led to his formulation of the law now known as Ohm's...