An acrostic is a poem in which the first or last, or certain other letters of the line, taken in order, form some name, motto, or sentence. A poem of which both first and last letters are thus arranged is called a double acrostic. Double acrostics became very popular in 1867.
In Hebrew poetry, the term is given to a poem, of which the initial letters of the lines or stanzas, were made to run over the letters of the alphabet in their order, as in Psalm CXIX.
Acrostics have been much used in complimentary verses, the initial letters giving the name of the person eulogized. Research Acrostic
Originally an anathema was a gift hung up in a temple (the word comes from the Greek anatithemi, to lay up), and dedicated to some god, a votive offering; but it gradually came to be used for expulsion, curse. The Roman Catholic Church pronounces the sentence of anathema against heretics, schismatics, and all who wilfully pursue a course of conduct condemned by the church. The subject of the anathema is declared an outcast from the church, all the faithful are forbidden to associate with him, and utter destruction is denounced against him, both body and soul. Research Anathema
In grammar, the apodosis is the latter member of a conditional sentence (or one beginning with if, though, etc) dependent on the condition or protasis; as, if it rain (protasis) I shall not go (apodosis). Research Apodosis
Aposiopesis is an abrupt breaking away from a sentence and leaving it unfinished for the sake of greater effect. For example 'his character is such - but it is better I should not speak of that.' Research Aposiopesis
Attainder is the legal consequences of a sentence of death or outlawry pronounced against a person for treason or felony, the person being said to be attainted. It resulted in forfeiture of estate and 'corruption of blood,' rendering the party incapable of inheriting property or transmitting it to heirs; but these results now no longer follow. Formerly persons were often subjected to attainder by a special bill or act passed in parliament. Research Attainder
The bell, book and candle is a ceremony in the greater excommunication introduced into the Catholic Church in the eighth century. After reading the sentence, a bell is rung, a book closed, and a candle extinguished. From that moment the excommunicated person is excluded from the sacraments and even divine worship. Research Bell, Book and Candle
The bell book and candle is a ceremony in the greater excommunication introduced into the Catholic Church in the eighth century. After reading the sentence, a bell is rung, a book closed, and a candle extinguished. From that moment the excommunicated person is excluded from the sacraments and even divine worship. Research Bell Book and Candle
Capital punishment is punishment by death. Capital punishment is retained in 92 countries and territories, including the 37 states of the USA, China, and Islamic countries. It was abolished in the UK in 1965 for all crimes except treason - in 1998 the death penalty for treason was finally abolished in the United Kingdom. Methods of execution include electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, shooting, lethal injection, garrotting, and decapitation. In Britain, the number of capital offences was reduced from over 200 at the end of the 18th century, until capital punishment was abolished in 1866 for all crimes except murder, treason, piracy, and certain arson attacks. Its use was subject to the royal prerogative of mercy. The punishment was carried out by hanging (in public until 1866).
The improvement in the penal laws of Europe in respect to the reduction of capital punishment may be traced in large part to the publication of Beccaria's treatise on Crimes and Punishments (Dei Delitti e delle Pene) in 1764. At that time in England, as Blackstone a year later pointed out with some amount of feeling, there were 160 capital offences in the statute book. The work of practical reform was initiated in 1770 by Sir William Meredith, who moved for a committee of inquiry into the state of the criminal laws; but the modifications secured by it were few, owing to the opposition of the House of Lords, which continued down to 1832 to oppose systematically all attempts at criminal law reform.
The publication of Madan's Thoughts on Executive Justice, in 1784, urging the stricter administration of the law as it then stood, brought out the opposition of Sir Samuel Romilly, who replied to it in 1785, and introduced at short intervals a series of bills for the abolition of the extreme sentence for minor offences. The influence of Paley and LordEllenborough, and the reaction from the revolutionary principles, which prior to the French Revolution had inaugurated great penal changes in France, told strongly against his efforts; and even his Shoplifting Act, to abolish the sentence of death in cases of theft to the value of five shillings, was resolutely rejected, though passed by the Commons in 1810, 1811, 1813, and 1816. Romilly's work was taken up by Sir James Mackintosh in 1820, and under Peel's ministry with greater success. At his death, however, in the year of the passage of the Reform Bill (1832) forty kinds of forgery with many less serious offences were still capital, though from that time the amelioration was rapid. In the five years following the Reform Act, the capital offences were reduced to 37, and subsequent changes left in 1861 only four capital charges - setting fire to H.M. dockyards or arsenals, piracy with violence, treason, and murder. By 1906 only treason and murder were capital offences in England, andScotland also, though robbery, rape, incest, and wilful fire-raising were still capital crimes in Scottish common law.
Prior to 1868 executions were conducted in public in England, but then in 1868 the law changed that all executions were to be conducted in private within the prison walls. Capital punishment for murder was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1965 but still exists for treason, and during the 1980's it was revealed that the police had a shoot-to-kill and summary execution policy for those suspected of being terrorists. In 2005 a 27 year old Brazilian man was executed by being shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder after being tackled to the ground by plain clothed police officers who mistakenly believed him to be a suicide bomber.
In 1990, Ireland abolished the death penalty for all offences. In Saudi Arabia execution is by beheading in public. Countries that have abolished the death penalty fall into three categories: those that have abolished it for all crimes (44 countries); those that retain it only for exceptional crimes such as war crimes (17 countries); and those that retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes but have not executed anyone since 1980 (25 countries and territories).
The first country in Europe to abolish the death penalty was Romania in 1864, followed by Portugal in 1867, Holland in 1870, and by Switzerland in 1874. In the USA, the Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional in 1972, as a cruel and unusual punishment, but decided in 1976 that this was not so in all circumstances. It was therefore reintroduced in some states. Many countries use capital punishment for crimes other than murder, such as drug offences (in Malaysia and elsewhere). In 1977 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ruled out imposition of the death penalty on those under the age of 18. The covenant was signed by President Carter on behalf of the USA, but in 1989 the US Supreme Court decided that it could be imposed from the age of 16 for murder, and that the mentally retarded could also face the death penalty. Research Capital Punishment
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Acrostic
