Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cassin, René

(Encyclopedia)Cassin, René rənāˈ cäsăNˈ [key], 1887–1976, French jurist and humanitarian. He studied law at the universities of Aix-en-Provence and Paris, earned (1914) a doctorate, and practiced until Wor...

Yurok

(Encyclopedia)Yurok yo͝orˈŏk [key], Native North Americans who in the mid-19th cent. occupied parts of NW California, particularly the area around the Klamath River. They were of the California cultural area but...

Dawes Plan

(Encyclopedia)Dawes Plan, presented in 1924 by the committee headed (1923–24) by Charles G. Dawes to the Reparations Commission of the Allied nations. It was accepted the same year by Germany and the Allies. The ...

Curtis, Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar

(Encyclopedia)Curtis, Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar, 1850–1933, American publisher and philanthropist, b. Portland, Maine. He started his first periodical, The People's Ledger, in Boston in 1872. Later, in Philadelphi...

fine

(Encyclopedia)fine. 1 In criminal law, sum of money exacted by a lawful tribunal as punishment for a crime. In the case of misdemeanors and minor infractions of the law, convicted persons ordinarily have the altern...

pawnbroker

(Encyclopedia)pawnbroker, one who makes loans on personal effects that are left as security. The practice of pawnbroking is ancient, as is recognition of the danger it involves of oppressing the poor. In fact, the ...

sale, in law

(Encyclopedia)sale, in law, transfer of ownership in return for money. An exchange of goods for goods is termed barter, but the distinction between sale and barter is mainly technical; laws that govern one govern t...

Nemtsov, Boris Yefimovich

(Encyclopedia)Nemtsov, Boris Yefimovich, 1959–2015, Russian physicist and politician. He worked at the Gorky Radiophysics Research Institute (1981–90) before he was elected to the Soviet Congress of People's De...

wampum

(Encyclopedia)wampum wämˈpəm [key] [New England Algonquian,=white string of beads], beads or disks made by Native Americans from the shells of mollusks found on the eastern coast or along the larger rivers of No...

Suffolk, Charles Brandon, 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Suffolk, Charles Brandon, 1st duke of sŭfˈək [key], d. 1545, English nobleman. A member of the court of Henry VIII, he received many preferments. He was created (1513) Viscount Lisle on his betroth...

Browse by Subject