Author: E. Encyclopedia
-
Act of Parliament
Act of ParliamentAct of Parliament, in Britain, a change in the law originating in Parliament (see Parliament, British) and called a statute. Before an act receives the royal assent and becomes law, it is a bill. The equivalent in the United States is an act of Congress. An act of Parliamen…
-
Adam Smith
The Doctrine of Adam SmithBeginnings of Modern CapitalismThe ideas of Adam Smith represented more than just the first systematic treatise on economics; they were a frontal attack on the doctrines of mercantilism. Like the physiocrats, Smith tried to show the existence of a "na…
-
Telling Adopted Children About Their Adoption
Telling Adopted Children About Their AdoptionAdoptive parents must decide if and when to tell their children about their adoption. In the past, parents often kept information related to the adoption from the child until he or she became an adult. Some parents never told their adopted childr…
-
Social Stress
Child Abuse Cause Social StressStress brought on by a variety of social conditions raises the risk of child abuse within a family. These conditions include unemployment, illness, poor housing conditions, a larger-than-average family size, the presence of a new baby or a disabled person in t…
-
Wildlife Bounties
Wildlife BountiesThe destruction of undesirable animals is encouraged by the payment of bounties. This practice has declined in the U.S., although it is still found in some states. (1)Bounty in this Section: Bounty, Commercial Bounties. …
-
Trial By Combat
Trial by CombatTrial by Combat, method of adjudicating legal disputes by personal combat between the litigants or their appointed champions. The practice apparently originated among primitive German tribes about the 1st century ad and spread to many countries of Europe, notably to France, w…
-
Searching For Biological Parents
Searching for Biological ParentsThe attitude of most adoptive parents to their children's desire to search for their birth parents has changed as well. In the past, adoptive parents often viewed their child's desire to search for his or her biological parents as a rejection of thems…
-
Single-Party
Communism: Features of Comunist States Single-Party RuleIn communist states, the communist party held complete and unchallenged political power. All other political parties were banned, except for minor procommunist parties in several Eastern European countries. The name of the governing pa…
-
Warren Burger
Chief Justice Warren BurgerPresident Richard Nixon replaced retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren with Warren Earl Burger in 1969. By 1972 Nixon had appointed three more justices. Because Nixon had campaigned vigorously against many of the Warren Court's decisions, it seemed likely that hi…
-
Social Isolation
Child Abuse Cause Social Isolation and Low Community InvolvementParents and caretakers who abuse children tend to be socially isolated. Few violent parents belong to any community organizations, and most have little contact with friends or relatives. This lack of social involvement deprives…
-
Vehicle Accidents
Motor-Vehicle AccidentsThe single greatest cause of accidents in the United States is the automobile. In 1913 the American industrialist Henry Ford introduced assembly-line techniques in the manufacture of motor vehicles. The subsequent increase in the number of automobiles in use was huge …
-
Unwritten Law
Common Law: Reporting the Unwritten LawCommon law has been known as unwritten law, because it is not collected in a single source. Reports of the judicial decisions from which the common law was derived were only occasionally circulated from the 12th to the 16th century. Starting in the 17t…
-
Transracial Adoptions
Transracial AdoptionsAdditional issues arise when adopted children come from a different culture than their adoptive parents. Adoptions in which the adoptive parents and their adopted child are of different races, known as transracial adoptions, pose special difficulties. When children belo…
-
How Bonds Work
How Bonds WorkA bond's principal, or face value, represents the amount of the original loan that is to be repaid on the bond's maturity date. The interest that the issuer agrees to pay each year is known as the coupon, a term derived from the obsolete practice of attaching coupons t…
-
Open And Closed Adoptions
Open and Closed AdoptionsAdoptions may be open or closed. An open adoption involves some exchange of personal information. At the very least, one party will furnish information relevant to the child's future well-being, such as medical history or financial status. In some cases, the bio…