equality. The quality or state of being equal; esp., likeness in power or political status. See EQUAL PROTECTION. “We need not repeat the burning irony of Anatole France: ‘The law in its majesty draws no distinction but forbids rich and poor alike from begging in the streets or from sleeping in the public parks.’ Equality […]
divine right of kings. The political theory that the sovereign is a direct representative of God and has the right to rule absolutely by virtue of birth. “Divine Right of Kings … originated in the mediaeval concept of God’s award of temporal power to civil rulers and spiritual power to the Church. It was claimed
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Declaration of Paris. An international agreement, signed by Great Britain, France, Turkey, Sardinia, Austria, Prussia, and Russia in 1856 (at the end of the Crimean War), providing that (1) privateering is illegal, (2) with the exception of contraband, a neutral flag covers an enemy’s goods, (3) with the exception of contraband, neutral goods cannot be
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peer, n. 1. A person who is of equal status, rank, or character with another. “The commonalty, like the nobility, are divided into several degrees; and, as the lords, though different in rank, yet all of them are peers in respect of their nobility, so the commoners, though some are greatly superior to others, yet
Quia Emptores (kwI-[schwa] orkwee-[schwa] emp-tor-eez). [Latin “since purchasers”] Hist. A statute giving fee-simple tenants (other than those holding directly of the Crown) the power to alienate their land and bind the transferee to perform the same services for the lord as the transferor had been obliged to perform. • The statute, enacted in 1290, tended
sovereign state. 1. A state that possesses an independent existence, being complete in itself, without being merely part of a larger whole to whose government it is subject. 2. A political community whose members are bound together by the tie of common subjection to some central authority, whose commands those members must obey. — Also
bill of rights. 1. (usu. cap.) A section or addendum, usu. in a constitution, defining the situations in which a politically organized society will permit free, spontaneous, and individual activity, and guaranteeing that governmental powers will not be used in certain ways; esp., the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. [Cases: Constitutional Law 82(2).
developing country. Int’l law. A country that is not as economically or politically advanced as the main industrial powers. • Developing countries are located mostly in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin and South America. — Also termed developing state; underdeveloped country; less-developed country; Third World country. “Pertinent terminology has undergone extensive
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A political community in which part of the powers of external sovereignty are exercised by the home government, and part are vested in or controlled by some other political body or bodies. • Such a state is not fully independent because by the conditions of its existence it is not allowed full freedom of action
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eminent domain. The inherent power of a governmental entity to take privately owned property, esp. land, and convert it to public use, subject to reasonable compensation for the taking. — Also (rarely) termed compulsory purchase; (in Scots law) compulsory surrender. See CONDEMNATION(2); EXPROPRIATION; TAKING(2). [Cases: Eminent Domain 1, 69. C.J.S. Eminent Domain §§ 2–3, 71–72,