111 Items Tagged

Law

Scribe Adnan Gültek at his open-air office outside the social security building

Istanbul Closes the Books on Its Public Scribes

The street-based document writers for hire have been a fixture since the days of the Ottoman Empire.

Joshua Allen April 17, 2018

For months, the chiefs hid in the mountains of Chilcotin territory, where their familiarity with the land allowed them to move undetected.

The Exoneration of 6 Indigenous Canadian Chiefs, Wrongfully Executed in 1864

The long road to reparations.

Natasha Frost March 27, 2018

A car crash, 1920.

It's Soul-Crushing, But Don't Take the DMV for Granted

When rich, reckless drivers started tearing up streets, authorities needed a way to keep people safe.

Sarah Laskow March 27, 2018

The Halifax gibbet

Halifax, England

The Halifax Gibbet

A copy of the brutal decapitation device that predated the French Guillotine by about 200 years.

Ornate original features.

Kampen, Netherlands

Schepenzaal

This stately council chamber hasn't changed since 1545.

London, England

Brown Hart Gardens

It is still illegal to "quarrel" at this unlikely urban oasis built on top of an electrical substation.

Richard Neville, Felix Dennis, and Jim Anderson at the close of the trial in 1971.

The Underground Magazine That Sparked the Longest Obscenity Trial in British History

In 1970, the editors of OZ magazine handed over the reins to a group of teens. Not long after, the police showed up.

Natasha Frost February 16, 2018

"A.L. Alexander's Mediation Board" adjudicated all sorts of disputes over the airwaves.

The Schmaltzy Reality Radio Dramas That Heralded Courtroom Television

Hear "Mediation Board" and meet A.L. Alexander, the schlocky but sincere host.

Jessica Leigh Hester January 26, 2018

American Museum of Tort Law

Winchester, Connecticut

American Museum of Tort Law

It was founded by Ralph Nader to educate the public about an often-maligned area of law.

A cuneiform tablet with a marriage contract from Kültepe-Kaneshe, Turkey.

cultures and civilizations

Found: A Cuneiform Marriage Contract That Addresses Infertility and Surrogacy

They had two years to procreate, or a hierodule would be hired.

Vittoria Traverso November 10, 2017

The ivory gavels of the U.S. Senate.

objects of intrigue

The U.S. Senate Has Been Using the Same Ivory Gavels for Over 200 Years

They only got a second one after Nixon broke the first.

Eric Grundhauser October 26, 2017

A contractor attaches a new wire at 56th Street and 11th Avenue.

The Wire That Transforms Much of Manhattan Into One Big, Symbolic Home

The eruv, a nearly invisible holy boundary, must be intact every Friday.

Michael Inscoe October 16, 2017

FOONE.

Farmington, Connecticut

The Grave of Foone

The final resting place of one member of the Amistad slave revolt who never made it back home.

Deed Rock.

Worcester, Massachusetts

Deed Rock

This boulder with a 200-word legal dedication to God has remained hidden in the woods for over 150 years.

The Cairo still dwarfs its neighbors.

Washington, D.C.

The Cairo

This unacceptably tall building was the real reason for Washington, D.C.'s skyscraper ban.

The yellow of Cheerios boxes isn't distinctive enough to be copyrighted, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board says.

Why You Can't Always Trademark a Color

The complicated process of legally "shotgunning" a particular shade.

Natasha Frost August 29, 2017

A German U-boat in 1918.

Did German U-Boats Smuggle Alcohol Into the U.S. During Prohibition?

One photo suggests that rampant rumors of submarine smuggling were true.

Sarah Laskow August 29, 2017

A courtroom illustration from the closing moments of Oscar Wilde's 1895 case, from the Victorian weekly newspaper <em>Illustrated Police News</em>.

The Dying Art of Courtroom Illustration

Why there are no new artists in the gallery.

Natasha Frost August 23, 2017