9,901 articles
Anti-social behaviour order
Anti-social behaviour order (ASBO): British civil order under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 prohibiting named acts or places, breach a criminal offence; replaced in England and Wales in 2014 by civil injunctions and CBOs, still used in Scotland.
Anti–money laundering
Anti–money laundering (AML), or AML/CFT, is the regime of laws and FATF standards preventing criminals from disguising illicit proceeds, covering customer due diligence, suspicious activity reporting, supervision, and effectiveness and financial-inclusion debates.
Anticipatory bail
Anticipatory bail, India's pre-arrest bail under Section 438 CrPC, now Section 482 BNSS, lets a person fearing arrest for a non-bailable offence obtain bail in advance; Sushila Aggarwal (2020) made it normally non time-limited.
Antiquities Act
The Antiquities Act is a federal statute signed in 1906 that safeguards historic and natural resources on public lands. It authorizes the President to declare national monuments.
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996
AEDPA, Public Law 104-132 (S. 735), signed April 24, 1996 after the Oklahoma City bombing; a US antiterrorism statute best known for restricting federal habeas corpus review via 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016), U.S. Supreme Court associate justice 1986–2016, Reagan nominee confirmed 98–0; leading originalist and textualist, author of Heller (2008); seat vacant until Gorsuch's 2017 confirmation.
Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade
Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade (1947–2022) was a Brazilian international lawyer who served as a judge on the International Court of Justice from 2009 until his death.
Antonio de la Rúa
Antonio de la Rúa, Argentine lawyer and son of President Fernando de la Rúa, ran the 1999 Alianza campaign communication, led the grupo sushi, partnered with and managed Shakira (2000–2011), sued her, and later invested in luxury hotels.
Antonio Pozos
Antonio Miguel Pozos (born 1982, Berkeley, CA) is a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a former DOJ Fraud Section trial attorney and Faegre Drinker partner, confirmed 49-44 on July 23, 2026.
Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirven
Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirvén was a Cuban jurist who drew up the Bustamante Code on private international law and served as a judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice.
Antony Anghie
Antony Anghie (Antony Terence Anghie), Sri Lankan-born professor of law at the University of Utah and National University of Singapore, TWAIL scholar, author of Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (2005) and 2023 Manley O. Hudson Medalist.
Antwerp diamond heist
The Antwerp diamond heist (February 2003): the School of Turin, led by Leonardo Notarbartolo, opened the Antwerp Diamond Center vault and stole over $100 million in diamonds, the largest diamond heist on record; almost none of the loot was recovered.
Anuraag H. Singhal
Anuraag H. Singhal, also known as Anuraag Hari Singhal, is an American judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida since 2019.
Anwar Ibrahim sodomy trials
The Anwar Ibrahim sodomy trials were two politically charged prosecutions of Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim under Penal Code s.377B: a 1998 case (convicted 2000, overturned 2004) and a 2008 case (acquitted 2012, convicted 2014–15, pardoned 2018); he became prime minister in 2022.
Apalachin meeting
The Apalachin meeting, also called the Apalachin raid or summit, was a November 14, 1957 gathering of American Mafia bosses at Joseph Barbara Sr.'s estate in Apalachin, New York, broken up by New York State Police under Sgt. Edgar Croswell, first public proof of a national crime syndicate.
Apartheid legislation
Apartheid legislation: South African statutes from 1948 to the early 1990s, including the Population Registration Act, Group Areas Act, pass laws, and Separate Amenities Act, that enforced racial segregation and were repealed between 1990 and 1994.
Apology Resolution
The Apology Resolution, Public Law 103-150 (S.J. Res. 19), is a 1993 US joint resolution signed by Clinton apologizing to Native Hawaiians for the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, with a disclaimer against claim settlements.
Apostille Convention
The Apostille Convention (1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents) replaces multi-step consular legalization with a single Apostille certificate; 130 Contracting Parties, in force since 24 January 1965.
Appanage
Apanage: territory or revenue from the French royal domain granted to younger royal sons, reverting to the crown absent male heirs; also English crown duchies and German princely endowments.
Appeal
Appeal: a challenge to a prior legal determination brought to a higher court. Also known as appellate review; parties are appellant and appellee. Distinguishes appeals of right from discretionary review, three-judge federal panels, and de novo, clear-error, and abuse-of-discretion standards.
Appellate court
Appellate court: a court reviewing lower-court or agency decisions for legal error, including intermediate courts such as the U.S. courts of appeals (Evarts Act 1891) and the Court of Appeal of England and Wales (1875), with three-judge panels and tiered standards of review.
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co.
Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., the 2011-2018 smartphone patent war in the Northern District of California: $1.05 billion 2012 verdict, 2016 Supreme Court 'article of manufacture' ruling, $539 million 2018 award, June 2018 settlement.
Applicable law for contracts absent choice
Default conflict-of-laws rules for contracts without a governing-law clause: the Rome Convention and Rome I apply the law of closest connection via characteristic performance, with special consumer and employment protections; the 2015 Hague Principles exclude this situation.
Application of Sharia by country
Application of Sharia by country, also called application of Islamic law by country, describes how national legal systems incorporate sharia, from Saudi Arabia's comprehensive system to mixed and secular models.
April Constitution of Poland
The April Constitution of Poland (Polish: Konstytucja kwietniowa) was adopted on 23 April 1935, replacing the democratic March Constitution of 1921 with an authoritarian system concentrating power in the president.
April M. Perry
April Michelle Perry is an American jurist serving as a United States district judge for the Northern District of Illinois since 2024, appointed by President Biden.
Aqua Tofana
Aqua Tofana, also sold as Manna of St Nicholas, was an arsenic-based poison developed in Sicily around 1630 and sold in Rome and Naples, becoming notorious in a 1659 trial.
Araceli Martinez-Olguin
Araceli Martinez-Olguin (Araceli Martínez-Olguín), born 1977 in Mexico City, is a US district judge for the Northern District of California, appointed by President Biden in 2023 after a career as an immigrants' rights attorney.
Arbitral awards as sources of international law
Arbitral awards as sources of international law are binding tribunal decisions that the ICJ Statute classifies only as a subsidiary means for determining rules of law, not a formal source.
Arbitration
Arbitration: binding private dispute resolution by neutral arbitrators under party agreement. Also commercial arbitration. Key facts: US FAA 1925, New York Convention enforcement, UNCITRAL Rules 1976-2021, ICC and AAA institutions, empirical comparisons with litigation.