|
contract
contract in law, a promise, enforceable by law, to perform or to refrain from performing some specified act. In a general sense, all civil obligations fall under tort or contract law. Torts are usually characterized as violations of duties that are imposed on all persons and that have been establ...
Read more
|
|
|
pinochle
pinochle , card game, probably derived from bezique , that was developed in the United States in the 19th cent. Pinochle is played by two, three, or four players, with a deck of 48 cards containing two each of the aces, face cards, tens, and nines of all four suits. The cards rank (in descending or...
Read more
|
|
scarlet fever
scarlet fever or scarlatina, an acute, communicable infection, caused by group A hemolytic streptococcal bacteria (see streptococcus ) that produce an erythrogenic toxin. The disease is now uncommon, probably because antibiotic therapy has lessened the likelihood of spread. It occurs in young ...
Read more
|
|
Dartmouth College Case
Dartmouth College Case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1819. The legislature of New Hampshire, in 1816, without the consent of the college trustees, amended the charter of 1769 to make Dartmouth College public. The trustees brought suit. Daniel Webster argued successfully that the amendment vi...
Read more
|
|
|
Wabash Case
Wabash Case popular name for Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1886. The decision narrowed earlier ones (see Munn v. Illinois ) favorable to state regulation of those phases of interstate commerce upon which Congress itself had n...
Read more
|
|
|
bridge
bridge card game derived from whist , played with 52 cards by four players in two partnerships.
Basic Rules
The cards in contract bridge rank from ace down to two; in bidding, suits rank spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. After all cards are dealt, so that each player holds 13 cards, t...
Read more
|
|
|
golden parachute
golden parachute a contract given to top executives of a corporation to provide benefits in case of job loss due to a takeover by another firm or a merger. The unusually generous benefits may include substantial severance pay, a one-time bonus payment when employment ends, or stock options.
...
Read more
|
|
Fletcher v. Peck
Fletcher v. Peck case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1810, involving the Yazoo land fraud . The court ruled that an act of the Georgia legislature rescinding a land grant was unconstitutional because it revoked rights previously granted by contract. The decision was the first to declare a st...
Read more
|
|
|
prostatitis
prostatitis , inflammation of the prostate gland . Acute prostatitis is usually a result of infection in the urinary tract or infection carried by the blood; in many cases the infection spreads from the urethra and is contracted through sexual transmission. Symptoms include fever, low back pain, an...
Read more
|
|
|
herpes simplex
herpes simplex , an acute viral infection of the skin characterized by one or more painful, itching blisters filled with clear fluid. It is caused by either of two herpes simplex viruses: Type 1, herpes labialis, which generally involves the lip (producing what are commonly known as cold sores) or...
Read more
|
