9,901 articles
Signature
Signature: a mark, name, or electronic act executed with intent to authenticate a document. Covers its legal function, historical forms from seals to autopen, and electronic signature law under E-SIGN and eIDAS.
Signature, ratification and entry into force of United Nations General Assembly treaties
Signature, ratification, and entry into force of United Nations General Assembly treaties describes how GA treaties become binding: signature, ratification or accession, entry-into-force thresholds, and depositary functions.
Signed but unratified treaties
Signed but unratified treaties are international agreements a state has signed subject to ratification but not yet approved domestically, so signature does not bind it as a party.
Silk Road (marketplace)
Silk Road was a darknet marketplace on Tor using Bitcoin, run by Ross Ulbricht (Dread Pirate Roberts) from February 2011 until FBI seizure on October 1, 2013; it sold mainly drugs, processed about $1.2 billion, and led to Ulbricht's 2015 life sentence.
Silvio Dante
Silvio Dante (Silvio Manfred Dante) is the consigliere to Tony Soprano and Bada-Bing club owner in HBO's The Sopranos, played by Steven Van Zandt in a role David Chase wrote for him after HBO blocked his casting as Tony.
SIM swap scam
SIM swap scam (SIM hijacking, SIM jacking): account-takeover fraud where an attacker impersonates a victim to a mobile carrier to transfer the victim's phone number to an attacker-controlled SIM, intercepting SMS one-time passcodes to access bank and crypto accounts; FBI IC3 logged $68 million in 2021 US losses.
Simeon T. Lake III
Simeon T. Lake III, born 1944 in Chicago, is a senior United States district judge for the Southern District of Texas, appointed by President Reagan in 1988.
Simon City Royals
Simon City Royals: Chicago street and prison gang founded 1971 from the 1956 Simon City club; Folk Nation ally of the Gangster Disciples; now centered in Mississippi prisons and the target of major federal RICO convictions.
Simon Levy case
Simon Levy case: 2026 Old Bailey prosecution of Simon Levy (born 1985), Tottenham serial sex offender, for murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins and raping a third woman; whole life order, with admitted police and CPS failings.
Simone Veil
Simone Veil (née Jacob, 1927–2017), French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician; health minister who carried France's 1975 abortion law, and first president of the directly elected European Parliament (1979–1982), the first woman to head an EU institution.
Simulated child pornography
Virtual child sexual abuse material, also called simulated child pornography, is digital imagery created via morphing or animation that depicts children in sexual acts. Few countries criminalize it globally.
Sinaloa Cartel
Sinaloa Cartel (Cártel de Sinaloa), Mexican drug-trafficking federation founded in the early 1990s by El Chapo Guzmán, El Mayo Zambada, and El Azul; federal, factional structure, Golden Triangle base, CJNG rival, and 2024 internal war after Zambada's arrest.
Sing Sing
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security New York State men's prison in Ossining, opened in the 1820s and run by DOCCS. Distinguished by extensive academic programs, proximity to New York City, oversight by CANY, and a planned prison museum.
Singaporean nationality law
Singaporean nationality law, governed by Articles 120–141 of the Constitution, defines citizenship by birth, descent, registration, and naturalisation; gender-neutral descent rules date from 15 May 2004, dual citizenship ends at 21, and the annual renunciation rate is below 0.1%.
Single and double-net leases
Single net (N) and double net (NN) leases are commercial lease structures where the tenant pays base rent plus property taxes (N) or taxes plus building insurance (NN), between gross and triple net (NNN) leases; terms lack standardized definitions.
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961, amended 1972): UN treaty limiting narcotic drugs to medical and scientific purposes; created the INCB; 186 parties; bedrock of the UN drug control regime with the 1971 and 1988 conventions.
Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty (中美共同防御条约)
The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, signed in 1954, was a military alliance between the United States and the Republic of China. It committed both parties to defend Taiwan.
Sino-American Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights in China
The Sino-American Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extraterritorial Rights in China, signed January 11, 1943, ended US consular jurisdiction and the US Court for China; effective May 20, 1943.
Sino-British Joint Declaration (中英联合声明)
Sino-British Joint Declaration (中英联合声明), the 1984 UN-registered bilateral treaty under which Britain restored Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997 with a 50-year 'one country, two systems' framework, now disputed between the UK and China over its continuing binding force.
Sino-British Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China
The 1943 Sino-British Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China, signed at Chungking on 11 January 1943 alongside a parallel Sino-American treaty, ended British consular jurisdiction, the treaty-port system, and concessions in China, though Hong Kong's New Territories and Tibet remained unresolved.
Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (中苏互不侵犯条约), signed at Nanking August 21, 1937 by Wang Chung-Hui and Bogomolov: mutual non-aggression, no aid to a third-party aggressor, precursor to major Soviet aid to Nationalist China.
Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance
The Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance (中苏友好同盟互助条约), signed in Moscow 14 February 1950, was a 30-year alliance treaty between the USSR and the PRC with mutual military assistance against Japan or its allies, a US$300 million Soviet loan, and return of Port Arthur and the Chinese Changchun Railway; it lapsed in 1980.
Sioux Act of 1889
The Sioux Act of 1889 is a United States federal statute that broke up the Great Sioux Reservation and opened nine million acres to homesteading.
Sippenhaft
Sippenhaft, Nazi family liability punishment: relatives of dissidents, especially the 20 July 1944 plotters, were arrested; ordered by Hitler 30 July 1944, administered by Himmler, party, and army agencies.
Sir Edward Sullivan, 1st Baronet
Sir Edward Sullivan, 1st Baronet (1822–1885), Irish lawyer and Liberal MP for Mallow; solicitor general and attorney general for Ireland under Palmerston and Gladstone, master of the rolls (1870), and lord chancellor of Ireland 1883–1885.
Sisamnes
Sisamnes, also Sisamnes the Judge, was a royal judge under Persian king Cambyses II who was executed and flayed for taking a bribe; his skin covered the judgment seat on which his son Otanes sat as successor, per Herodotus 5.25.
Sister Abhaya murder case
Sister Abhaya murder case: 1992 death of a 21-year-old Knanaya Catholic nun found in a well at St Pius X Convent, Kottayam, Kerala; closed as suicide, probed by the CBI, and in 2020 Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy were convicted of murder.
Six-party talks
The Six-Party Talks (2003-2008) were Beijing-hosted, China-chaired multilateral negotiations among China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, and the United States on dismantling North Korea's nuclear program, yielding the 2005 Joint Statement before collapsing over verification in 2008-2009.
Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Sixteenth Amendment (1913) lets Congress tax incomes without apportionment among the states. Covers Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., ratification, Eisner v. Macomber, and Moore v. United States.
Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Sixth Amendment (1791) guarantees criminal accuseds a speedy public jury trial, notice, confrontation, compulsory process, and counsel; key rulings include Gideon, Faretta, Crawford, and Ramos.