In law, an accessary or accessory is a person guilty of an offence by connivance or participation, either before or after the act committed, as by command, advice, concealment, etc. An accessary before the fact is one who procures or counsels another to commit a crime, and is not present at its commission; an accessary after the fact is one who, knowing a felony to have been committed, gives assistance of any kind to the felon so as to hinder him from being apprehended, tried, or suffering punishment. An accessary before the fact may be tried and punished in all respects as if he were the principal. In high treason, all who participate are regarded as principals. Research Accessary
The plea of alibi in a criminal prosecution means that the person accused was elsewhere (alibi) at the time of the commission of the crime. If proved, it is conclusive, however it is a plea easily and frequently fabricated. Research Alibi
Canon Law is a collection of ecclesiastical constitutions for the regulation of the Church of Rome, consisting for the most part of ordinances of general and provincial councils, decrees promulgated by the popes with the sanction of the cardinals, and decretal epistles and bulls of the popes. There is also a canon law for the regulation of the Church of England, which under certain restrictions is used in ecclesiastical courts and in the courts of the two universities.
In the Roman Church these collections came into use in the 5th and 6th centuries. The chief basis of them was a translation of the decrees of the four first general councils, to which other decrees of particular synods and decretals of the popes were added. In the time of Charlemagne the collection of Dionysius the Little acquired almost the authority of laws. Equal authority, also, was allowed to the spurious 9th-century collection of decretals falsely ascribed to Isidore, Bishop of Seville. After the 10th century systematical compendiums of ecclesiastical law began to be drawn from these canons, the most important being that of the BenedictineGratian of Chiusi, finished in 1151. Within ten years after its appearance the Universities of Bologna and Paris had their professors of canon law, who taught from Gratian's work, which superseded all former chronological collections. After the appearance of the Decretum Gratiani, new decrees of councils and new decretals were promulgated, which were collected by Raymond of Pennaforte under the name of Decretales Gregorii Noni (1234); and the later decretals, etc, collected by Boniface VIII, were published as the sixth book of the Gregorian Decretals in 1298, all these having the authority of laws.
Pope Clement V published a collection of his decrees in 1313. About the year 1340 the decretals of John XXII were published (Extravagantes Johannis XXII); and at a later period the subsequent decretals, to the time of Sextus IV. (Extravagantes Communes) appeared. These Extravagantes have not altogether the authority of law. Under Pope Pius IV a commission was appointed to revise the Decretum Gratiani, the work being completed under Gregory XIII, and sanctioned by bull in 1580. The authority of the canon law in England, since the Reformation, depends upon the statute 25th Henry VIII, according to which such ecclesiastical laws as were not repugnant to the laws of the realm and the king's prerogative were to remain in force until revised. This revision was never made. A body of 141 canons was drawn up for the English church in 1603-4, and these are still partially in force, so far as concerns the clergy. Research Canon Law
Chance-Medley is a now obsolete legal term which has been replaced by the term 'manslaughter'. It described a homicide which occurred either in self-defence, on a sudden quarrel, or in the commission of an unlawful act without any deliberate intention of doing mischief. Research Chance-Medley
The Commune of Paris was a period of anarchy and bloodshed in Paris at the end of the Franco-German war. It lasted from March the 18th until May the 28th 1871, and began with the refusal of the Paris National Guards to give up their arms, their murder of General Thomas and General Lecomte and their organisation of themselves into a Central Committee.
On March the 18th, Thiers, the head of the national government, retired with the regular troops to Versailles, and the Parisian central committee assumed the executive power in Paris. They proceeded to elect a communal council of seventy-five members on March the 26th and April the 16th. This body passed resolutions for the abolition of conscription, free rent for the quarters October 1870 to April 1871, complete separation of the church and state, the suppression of the budget for public worship and the restitution to the nation of all property held by ecclesiastical bodies in mortmain, enforced enrolment in the National Guard of every man between 19 and 35, the institution of a labour commission, the establishment of co- operative workshops, all education to be in the hands of the laity only. They were finally defeated by the army who shot their communist prisoners without trial. Research Commune of Paris
Conciliation is the settlement of a dispute by reference to a commission which makes a report, but does not give an award or judgement. Research Conciliation
The Court of High Commission was an ecclesiastical court created by an Act of Elizabeth I in 1559, by which all spiritual jurisdiction was vested in the crown. Under Charles I and Laud it assumed illegal powers, and was abolished in 1641. Research Court of High Commission
Around 1708 an Act was passed in England for the better protection of property and life from fire making it compulsory for every parish in England to maintain fire-engines and ladders, to be paid for out of the rates. The 1708 Act did not, however, provide any instructions for the use of the equipment, which subsequently was unmanned in the event of fires and so the fire insurance companies established brigades of fire-fighters. These private brigades, paid for by individual companies, often refused to fight fires at uninsured properties or at properties insured by other fire insurance companies.
In 1833, in response to the neglect of the fire-fighting equipment, the London fire brigades were amalgamated into the London Fire-engine establishment by Charles Bell Ford director of the Sun Fire-office company. This new brigade had 80 men and 19 fire stations. In 1862 a commission recommended the establishment of a fire brigade and this was effected by the Metropolitan Fire-Brigade Act of 1865, resulting in the private London fire-brigade being taken over by the Metropolitan Board of Works. At the same time, while a few major cities in England and Scotland had paid fire-brigades, other towns in Britain had volunteer forces. Within 30 years national fire-brigades had been established with 400 brigades nationwide employing over 30,000 firemen.
At the end of the 19th century the London Fire-Brigade was manned by 800 seamen and equipped with fire-engines, both land based and water-based 'fire-floats' manufactured by the Merryweather company which had been making fire-fighting engines since 1694. In 1889 an Act allowed London's fire-fighters to be recruited from all walks of life, not just sailors. Research Fire Brigade
In the USA, the fisheries question was a dispute over fishing between the inhabitants of America and Canada.
Previous to the American War of Independence, fishermen of the American colonies had free access to the fishing-grounds of Labrador, Newfoundland and the Gulf of St Lawrence. Subsequently to the war this privilege was protested against by the inhabitants of Canada. The question was long debated. Finally a compromise was effected in the Treaty of Paris on September the 3rd, 1783. United States fishermen were allowed access to the fishing grounds of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, the St Lawrence and the Magdalen Islands, on an equal footing with British fishermen, in such parts as were unsettled or where permission could be obtained from the settlers.
The War of 1812 did away with this treaty, the fishery right was denied the United States and Canadian Governors were instructed to exclude American fishermen. A commission of the two countries decided in 1818 that the United States should forever have the right to fish on the western and northern coast of Newfoundland and the Magdalens only. Reciprocal trade being established between the United States and Canada by the Treaty of 1847, fishing was allowed the former in all British colonies except Newfoundland, which refused consent. This treaty was terminated in 1866 by the United States and the conditions of 1818 were revived.
By the Treaty of Washington in 1871, the United States fishermen were allowed to take fish of any description, except shell-fish, in all Canadian waters, the British fishermen to have the same privileges in United States waters north of latitude 39 degrees north. Research Fisheries Question
In its most popular usage, a flag is a piece of bunting, usually but not always, square or rectangular in shape, attached to a pole and used as a standard, ensign or signal for display or decoration, and to distinguish one company, party, or nationality from another. Formerly in Britain, a black flag was raised outside prisons to announce the execution of a prisoner. Traditionally in Britain, when in mourning flags are lowered to halfway down the pole and 'flown at half mast'.
In the army a flag is a banner by which one regiment is distinguished from another. Flags borne on the masts of vessels not only designate the country to which they belong, but also are made to denote the quality of the officer by whom a ship is commanded. Thus in the British navy an admiral's flag was displayed at the maintop-gallant-mast-head, a vice-admiral's at the foretop-gallant-mast-head, and a rear-admiral's at the mizzen-top-gallant-mast-head.
In the navy the supreme flag of Great Britain is the royal standard, which is only to be hoisted when the sovereign or one of the royal family is on board the vessel. All British ships of war in commission carry the white ensign, that is a white flag divided into four quarters by the red cross of St George and having the union flag (or union 'jack' as it is popularly called) in the upper corner next the staff.
British merchant ships are entitled to carry a red flag with the union in the corner. The union is the flag commonly used on shore as the national ensign. To lower or strike the flag is to pull it down, or take it in, out of respect or submission to superiors. To lower or strike the flag in an engagement is a sign of yielding. A sign of mourning is to hoist the flags at a half or two-thirds of the height of the masts, if on land at half the height of the staff. Besides the use of flags as distinguishing emblems, a very important use of them at sea, both by national and mercantile navies, is as signals according to an arranged code. Research Flag
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Accessary
