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
Adultery is the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married person with any other than the offender's husband or wife; when committed between two married persons, the offence is called double, and when between a married and single person, single adultery. The Mosaic, Greek, and early Roman law only recognized the offence when a married woman was the offender. By the Jewish law it was punished with death. In Greece the laws against it were severe. By the laws of Draco and Solon adulterers, when caught in the act, were at the mercy of the injured party. In early Rome the punishment was left to the discretion of the husband and parents of the adulteress. The punishment assigned by the LexJulia, under Augustus, was banishment or a heavy tine. Under Constantius and Constans, adulterers were burned or sewed in sacks and thrown into the sea; under Justinian the wife was to be scourged, lose her dower, and be shut up in a monastery; at the expiration of two years the husband might take her again; if he refused she was shaven and made a nun for life. By the ancient laws of France this crime was punishable with death. In Spain personal mutilation was frequently the punishment adopted. In several European countries adultery was regarded as a criminal offence, but in none did the punishment exceed imprisonment for a short period, accompanied by a fine. In England formerly it was punishable with fine and imprisonment, and in Scotland it was frequently made a capital offence. In the United States the punishment of adultery has varied materially at different times. It has, however, very seldom been punished criminally in the States. Research Adultery
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political and economic grouping of the capitalist nations of South East Asia, formed in 1967 and comprising: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, and Brunei. The countries are very diverse. For example the per capita income of Singapore in 1986 was some 12 times that of Indonesia; interests often diverge accordingly. While committed to strengthening economic ties, progress has been limited. There has also been political co-operation, for example over policy towards Indochina. There are regular consultations between ASEAN and the major industrialised countries. Research Association of South East Asian Nations
Auriculas Confession, in the strictest sense, is the disclosure of sins to the priest at the confessional, with a view to obtain absolution for them. The person confessing is allowed to conceal no sin of consequence which he remembers to have committed, and the father confessor is bound to perpetual secrecy. The practice of a public acknowledgment of great sins was altered by Pope Leo the Great, in 450, into a secret one before the priest, and the fourth general Lateran council in 1215 ordained that every one of the faithful, of both sexes, come to years of discretion, should privately confess all their sins at least once a year to their own pastor, an ordination still binding on members of the Roman Catholic Church. Confession is a part of the sacrament of penance. Some Anglican clergymen uphold it. Research Auriculas Confession
The Board of Green Cloth was an ancient court in the department of the lord-steward of the household with jurisdiction of all offences committed in the verge of the court. It was abolished in 1849. Research Board of Green Cloth
In the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, the de profundis is one of the seven penitential psalms, the 130th of the Psalms of David, which in the Vulgate begins with these words, signifying 'Out of the depths'. It is sung when the bodies of the dead are committed to the grave. Research De Profundis
Directory was the name given to a body of five officers to whom the executive authority in France was committed by the constitution of the year III (1795). The two legislative bodies, called the councils, elected the members of the directory: one member was obliged to retire yearly, and his place was supplied by election. This body was invested with the authority, which, by the constitution of 1791, had been granted to the king. By the revolution of the 18th Brumaire the directory and the constitution of the year III were abolished. It was succeeded by the consulate. Research Directory
Dreams are trains of ideas which present themselves to the mind during sleep. The principal fixture of the state of dreaming is the alleged absence of voluntary control over the current of thought, so that the principle of suggestion has unlimited sway - however, it is possible for some individuals to alter the train of thought and even voluntarily awake from an unpleasant dream. There is usually an utter want of coherency in the images that appear before the mental eye, but this want excites no surprise in the dreamer.
Occasionally, however, intellectual efforts are made during sleep which would be difficult to surpass in the waking state. It is said that Condillac often brought to a conclusion in his dreams reasonings on which he had been employed during the day; and that Franklin believed that he had been often instructed in his dreams concerning the issue of events which at that time occupied his mind. Coleridge composed from 200 to 300 lines during a dream: the beautiful fragment of Kubia Khan, which was all he got committed to paper when he awoke, remains a specimen of that dream-poem.
Dreams are subjective phenomena dependent on natural causes. They generally take their rise and character from external bodily impressions, or from something in the preceding state of body or mind. They are, therefore, retrospective and resultant instead of being prospective or prophetic. The latter opinion has, however, prevailed in all ages and among all nations; and hence the common practice of divination or prophesying by dreams, that is, interpreting them as presages of coming events. Some earlier authorities declared that all our dreams take place when we are in process of going to sleep or becoming awake, and that during deep sleep the mind is totally inactive. This is denied by the majority of philosophers, and has subsequently been shown to be incorrect. Research Dreams
Extradition is the delivery of a person accused or convicted of a crime to the State on whose territory the crime was committed, by the State on whose territory the criminal happens to be. Research Extradition
Factory Acts are acts passed for the regulation of factories and similar establishments. In the 18th and 19th century it was considered that women and children were not qualified fully to protect themselves against the strain of competition, and asa result the British legislature passed a series of acts to regulate the conditions of their employment in factories.
The immediate occasion of the first act passed to regulate factory employment in England was the outbreak of an epidemic disease which committed great havoc among the younger persons employed in factories in the district round Manchester at the beginning of the 19th century.
An act was passed in 1802, The Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, in which provision was made for the regular cleansing and ventilation of mills and factories, and also for limiting the hours of work to twelve daily and forbade night work for children, and made provisions for their proper accommodation.
In 1819 an act followed after Robert Owen, an important factory-owner in Scotland, demonstrated that it was possible to improve factory conditions and make profits at the same time, and later campaigned for State reform. This Act prescribed an hour and a half for meals in the course of a working day, and prohibited children under nine years of age being employed in factorywork at all.
Early Factory Acts were not enforced, and as such were impotent. In 1833 the first truly effective Factory Act was passed. This act applied to all textile factories, and stated that no child under the age of nine was to work in a mill; children under the age of 13 were restricted to working no more than nine hours in a day and children between the ages of 13 and 18 were restricted to working no more than 12 hours in a day. The vital feature of this Act was that it was successfully enforced by full-time inspectors, whose job was to see that it was obeyed in the factories.
Various acts were passed up to 1878, when a general factory and Workshop Act was passed, consolidating the previous series of statutes. Another general act was passed in 1901 and since then numerous regulations and acts have been introduced.
The original acts contained general provisions regarding drainage, sanitary conveniences, overcrowding, ventilation, fencing of dangerous machinery, etc. Addressing what we would now term health and safety.
Factories are distinguished from workshops as making use of, originally, steam or other mechanical power. In the 19th century British textile factories the hours of labour for women and young persons (the latter between 14 and 18 years of age) were restricted to 10, but only 6.5 on Saturday and 56 in the week. In 19th century British non-textile factories and workshops the hours permitted were 10.5 per day and 60 per week at most. Children (of 11 to 14 years) were still employed, but not allowed to be employed more than 6.5 hours on any one day. Provision was made for a certain number of annual holidays. Special provisions for particular kinds of factories were made by separate acts, and under these the employment of females and young persons was regulated in bleaching and dyeing works, lace-factories, manufactories of earthenware, Lucifer matches, percussion caps, cartridges, blast-furnaces, copper-mills, forges, foundries, manufactories of machinery, metal, India-rubber, gutta-percha, paper, glass, tobacco, letterpress printing, bookbinding, etc. The factory act of 1895 included laundries. Certain exceptions in regard to working overtime were provided for; thus women could sometimes work 14 hours a day. Before the start of the 20th century there was no direct interference in any of the factory acts with the labour of adult male persons but it was recognised that indirectly the position of the male-labourer was also affected by legislation of this sort, causing some consternation among the factory owners.
The factory acts were among the first employment laws formalised to protect workers, and while they originally sought to protect primarily women and children, during the 20th century they evolved into more general employment laws offering regulation and some protection to all employees, with the employment of children being stopped all together and later men being treated equally with women, an employee being considered a person irrespective of sex. Research Factory Acts
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Accessary
