The Framers of the Constitution acknowledged the importance of the arts when they wrote that Congress shall have the power "[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" (Art. I, § 8). Despite this provision, or perhaps because of its very limited nature, the federal government offered little assistance to artists until the 1930s. Early unsuccessful attempts to aid the arts included an effort by President James Buchanan to establish the National Commission of Fine Arts, a project that failed within a year when Congress did not appropriate funds. President Theodore Roosevelt also encountered a reluctant Congress in 1909 when he proposed the Council of Fine Arts, but success came the next year when a new president, William Howard Taft, persuaded Congress to create the National Commission of Fine Arts.
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A two-step judicial process in conformance to state statutory provisions in which the legal obligations and rights of a child toward the biological parents are terminated and new rights and obligations are created in the acquired parents.
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The provision of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress exclusive power over trade activities between the states and with foreign countries and Indian tribes.
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Evidence other than testimony that is presented during the course of a civil or criminaltrial.
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The testimony of a party or witness in a civil or criminal proceeding taken before trial, usually in an attorney's office.
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Facts, documents, or exhibits that have been introduced before and accepted by the court for consideration as probative matter.
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A person who contracts to do a piece of work according to her or his own methods and is subject to another's control only as to the end product or the final result of the work.
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The crime of unlawfully seizing and carrying away a person by force or fraud, or seizing and detaining a person against his or her will with an intent to carry that person away at a later time.
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The Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C., is the world's largest library, with nearly 110 million items in almost every language and format stored on 532 miles of bookshelves. Its collections constitute the world's most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge. Founded in 1800 to serve the reference needs of Congress, the library has grown from an original collection of 6,487 books to a current accumulation of more than 16 million books and almost 100 million other items and collections, from ancient Chinese wood-block prints to compact discs.
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A standard of proof that must be met by a plaintiff if he or she is to win a civil action.
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A sum of money or other compensation offered to the public in general, or to a class of persons, for the performance of a special service.
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In 1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for helping the Soviet Union steal the secrets to the atomic bomb from the United States during World War II. Judge Irving R. Kaufman, who presided at the trial, sentenced the Rosenbergs to death after concluding that their "betrayal … undoubtedly … altered the course of history to the disadvantage of [the United States]." The Rosenbergs maintained their innocence from the time of their arrest until they were executed. The Rosenbergs' two sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol, have spent much of their adult lives attempting to clear their parents' names.
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A sentence given after the formal conviction of a crime that the convicted person is not required to serve.
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After World War II eleven of the Allied Powers (Australia, Canada, China, France, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States) prosecuted twenty-eight of Japan's top military, political, and diplomatic leaders for an assortment of war crimes committed in Southeast Asia between 1928 and 1945. Known as the Tokyo trial for the city in which it took place, this legal proceeding stands along side the Nuremberg trials for its contribution to international law and the rules of war.
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A judicial examination and determination of facts and legal issues arising between parties to a civil or criminal action.
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