Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

entail

(Encyclopedia)entail, in law, restriction of inheritance to a limited class of descendants for at least several generations. The object of entail is to preserve large estates in land from the disintegration that is...

axiom

(Encyclopedia)axiom, in mathematics and logic, general statement accepted without proof as the basis for logically deducing other statements (theorems). Examples of axioms used widely in mathematics are those relat...

Fortas, Abe

(Encyclopedia)Fortas, Abe fôrˈtəs [key], 1910–82, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1965–69), b. Memphis, Tenn. After receiving his law degree from Yale in 1933, he taught there (1933–37) and al...

Wilson, James, American jurist

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, James, 1742–98, American jurist, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. near St. Andrews, Scotland. He studied at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and, after emigrating to Pe...

Vienna University

(Encyclopedia)Vienna University, at Vienna, Austria; founded 1365. It was reorganized in 1377, 1384, and 1850. It has faculties of Roman Catholic theology, Protestant theology, humanities, law and political science...

court

(Encyclopedia)court, in law, official body charged with administering justice. The term is also applied to the judge or judges who fill the office and to the courtroom itself. Courts come into existence when legal ...

legislature

(Encyclopedia)legislature, representative assembly empowered to enact statute law. Generally the representatives who compose a legislature are constitutionally elected by a broad spectrum of the population. While...

Naples, University of

(Encyclopedia)Naples, University of, at Naples, Italy; founded 1224; transferred to Salerno 1252 but returned to Naples 1258. It has faculties of law, economics, letters and philosophy, medicine, pharmacy, mathemat...

Saskatchewan, University of

(Encyclopedia)Saskatchewan, University of, at Saskatoon, Sask., Canada; provincially supported, coeducational; chartered 1907, opened 1909. It has faculties of agriculture, arts and science, commerce, education, en...

Texas Southern University

(Encyclopedia)Texas Southern University, at Houston; coeducational; state supported; est. 1947 as Texas State Univ., attained university status 1951; predominantly African American. It has schools of arts and scien...

Browse by Subject