9,901 articles
Forum non conveniens
Forum non conveniens (inconvenient forum) is a common law doctrine letting a court with jurisdiction decline it in favor of a more appropriate forum. Originating in Scotland (M'Morine v Cowie, 1845), codified in England by Spiliada and in the US by Gulf Oil v Gilbert and Piper v Reyno.
Forum shopping
Forum shopping, also known as venue shopping, is when a litigant files suit in the court among several with jurisdiction that is likely to treat the claim most favorably.
Forum spam
Forum spam: unsolicited commercial or link-bearing posts on discussion forums, mostly automated and aimed at building search-ranking backlinks. Key stats: 96% of registrations rejected, 85% of blocks from reputation lists.
Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008
Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-351) is a U.S. federal child welfare law amending Social Security Act titles IV-B and IV-E for kinship guardianship aid, care to 21, tribal access, and adoption incentives.
Fotios Geas
Fotios "Freddy" Geas (Φώτιος Γκέας), Greek-American Genovese family enforcer from West Springfield, Massachusetts; sentenced to life in 2011 for the 2003 Bruno and Westerman murders, and in 2018 killed Whitey Bulger at USP Hazelton, drawing 25 more years in 2024.
Four Horsemen (Supreme Court)
The Four Horsemen were the conservative Supreme Court bloc of the 1930s, Willis Van Devanter, James Clark McReynolds, George Sutherland, and Pierce Butler, who voted against New Deal legislation until the 1937 switch in time and Van Devanter's retirement dissolved the bloc.
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) is a Reconstruction amendment establishing birthright citizenship and barring states from denying due process and equal protection; basis of Brown v. Board, incorporation, and the 2026 Trump v. Barbara birthright ruling.
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution (ratified 1791): bars unreasonable searches and seizures, requires warrants on probable cause. Modern doctrine spans Katz, Riley, Carpenter, and the 2026 Chatrie geofence-warrant ruling.
Fourth Geneva Convention
The Fourth Geneva Convention, adopted in Geneva on 12 August 1949, is a treaty protecting civilians in wartime, especially those under enemy control or occupation.
Frameup
Frameup (frame-up, setup): falsely implicating someone in a crime via fabricated evidence or testimony; informal American English term from 1895–1900, documented in exoneration research on planted drugs and police perjury.
France–Soviet Union relations
France–Soviet Union relations: bilateral diplomatic, economic, cultural, and intelligence ties from the 1920s to 1991, including the 1935 Treaty of Mutual Assistance, de Gaulle's détente, and the 1975 friendship declaration.
Frances K. Behm
Frances Kay Behm is an American jurist serving as a United States district judge for the Eastern District of Michigan since 2022, appointed by President Biden.
Francesca Albanese
Francesca Albanese, Italian human rights lawyer and UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 since May 2022; author of Palestinian Refugees in International Law (2020); sanctioned by the US in July 2025, with sanctions suspended by a federal judge in May 2026.
Francis Biddle
Francis Biddle (1886-1968), American attorney general under Roosevelt 1941-1945 and primary U.S. judge at the Nuremberg trials; civil libertarian who opposed Japanese American exclusion yet acquiesced in EO 9066.
Francis Boyle
Francis A. Boyle, American international law professor at the University of Illinois; counsel to Bosnia at the ICJ and legal adviser to the PLO; drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989; died January 30, 2025.
Francis Clifford Smith
Francis Clifford Smith (Frank Smith, 1924-2026), Connecticut man convicted in 1950 of the 1949 murder of watchman Grover Hart; spared execution eight times, served 70 years, and died as the longest-serving US prisoner.
Francis Escudero
Francis Joseph "Chiz" Guevara Escudero (born 1969) is a Filipino lawyer and senator, Sorsogon representative and governor, and Senate President from May 2024 until his September 2025 ouster amid flood-control corruption probes.
Francis Jacobs
Sir Francis Geoffrey Jacobs (born 1939), British jurist and King's College London professor, served as Advocate General at the European Court of Justice 1988-2006, delivering over 500 Opinions; second-longest holder of that office, first President of the European Law Institute.
Francis Pangilinan
Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, Filipino lawyer and Liberal Party politician, thrice-elected Philippine senator (2001–2013, 2016–2022, 2025), Senate Majority Leader from 2004, 2022 vice-presidential candidate, author of the Sagip Saka Act.
Francisco A. Besosa
Francisco Augusto Besosa, born 1949 in San Juan, is a senior United States district judge for the District of Puerto Rico, appointed by George W. Bush in 2006.
Francisco Javier Arellano Félix
Francisco Javier Arellano Félix (El Tigrillo) led the Tijuana-based Arellano Félix Organization drug cartel; captured by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2006 aboard the yacht Dock Holiday, he pleaded guilty in 2007 and is serving a life sentence with $50 million forfeiture.
Francisco Martin Duran
Francisco Martin Duran, born 1968, fired about 29 SKS rifle rounds at the White House North Lawn on October 29, 1994, mistaking a Clinton look-alike for the president; convicted of attempted assassination, sentenced to 40 years.
Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix
Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix (El Pelón), eldest Arellano Félix brother and co-founder of the Tijuana Cartel; imprisoned in Mexico from 1993, extradited to the US in 2006, pleaded guilty in 2007, assassinated by a clown-costumed gunman in Los Cabos in 2013.
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza
Francisco Sarmiento de Mendoza (1525–1595) was a Spanish canonist, professor at Salamanca, auditor of the Roman Rota, and bishop of Astorga and later Jaén under Philip II.
Franco-Austrian Alliance
Franco-Austrian Alliance: the 1756 Diplomatic Revolution (renversement des alliances) ending two centuries of Franco-Habsburg rivalry, via the Treaties of Versailles, prompted by the Anglo-Prussian Westminster Convention and Kaunitz's diplomacy.
Franco-Ottoman alliance
Franco-Ottoman alliance: the long partnership between France and the Ottoman Empire, begun 1525-1536 by Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent against the Habsburgs, marked by the 1543 siege of Nice, the Toulon wintering, and capitulations trade privileges.
Franco-Russian Alliance
The Franco-Russian Alliance, also called the Dual Entente, was a defensive military and financial partnership between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire, concluded in 1891 and 1893.
Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance
Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance: bilateral pact signed in Paris 2 May 1935 by France and the USSR, successor to the Eastern Pact project of Barthou and Litvinov; ratified March 1936, never backed by a military accord, ended by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 1939.
François Gény
François Gény (1861-1959), French jurist and dean at Nancy, author of Méthode d'interprétation et sources en droit privé positif (1899) and of the method of libre recherche scientifique, free scientific research in law.
Frank Abagnale
Frank William Abagnale Jr. (born 1948, Bronx), American security consultant and subject of Catch Me If You Can (1980 memoir with Stan Redding; 2002 Spielberg film). Court, bank, and prison records contradict most claimed exploits, including the $2.5 million check fraud and FBI employment.