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Soli Sorabjee
Soli Jehangir Sorabjee (1930–2021), Indian jurist and Senior Advocate, twice Attorney General for India (1989–90, 1998–2004) and Solicitor General (1977–80); champion of free speech, Kesavananda Bharati and Bommai counsel, Padma Vibhushan recipient.
Solicitation
Solicitation (criminal solicitation, inchoate offense) is asking or inducing another to commit a crime with intent that it be committed; punishable even if the crime never occurs, under common law, MPC §5.02, and 18 U.S.C. §373.
Solicitor
Solicitor: a qualified lawyer admitted to the roll in England and Wales (also used in other common law jurisdictions), regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and represented by the Law Society (founded 1825). Distinct from a barrister; holds reserved activities under the Legal Services Act 2007 and needs an SRA practising certificate.
Solicitor General for Scotland
The Solicitor General for Scotland is one of the two Scottish Law Officers, deputy to the Lord Advocate, a Scottish Government minister under the Scotland Act 1998, dating to 1587; the current holder is BJ Gill KC.
Solicitor General of Barbados
The Solicitor General of Barbados is the senior deputy law officer heading the Solicitor General's Chambers, through which the Attorney-General advises the government, under a 1980 statute.
Solicitor General of India
The Solicitor General of India is the second-ranking law officer of the Government of India, assisting the Attorney General in advising the government and conducting litigation.
Solicitor General of Seychelles
Seychelles has no distinct office of Solicitor General; the Attorney-General, established under Article 76 of the Constitution, fulfills that role, advising the government and prosecuting crimes.
Solicitor General of the Cape Colony
The Solicitor General of the Cape Colony was a Crown law office in the Cape of Good Hope's Law Department, abolished at the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Solicitor General of the United States
Solicitor General of the United States: the Justice Department officer, created in 1870, who supervises and conducts all US government litigation in the Supreme Court and controls the government's appellate positions; first held by Benjamin Helm Bristow; often called the Tenth Justice.
Solicitor-General for Ireland
The Solicitor-General for Ireland was one of the Crown's law officers in Ireland, deputy to the Attorney-General, advising on Irish legal matters until the office ended in 1924.
Solicitor-General of Australia
Solicitor-General of Australia: the Commonwealth's second law officer and principal government counsel, appearing before the High Court and advising on constitutional law; created under Hughes with Sir Robert Garran; 12th holder Dr Ruth Higgins SC since June 2026.
Solicitor-General of New Zealand
The Solicitor-General of New Zealand is the country's second law officer, a non-political public servant who advises the Crown, supervises prosecutions, and leads the Crown Law Office since 1875.
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is imprisonment alone for 22 or more hours daily without meaningful human contact. Also called restrictive housing; defined by the Mandela Rules, which prohibit indefinite or prolonged (over 15-day) isolation, it originated in Philadelphia's Pennsylvania System and is linked to psychological harm and suicide.
Solntsevskaya Bratva (Солнцевская братва)
The Solntsevskaya Bratva, or Solntsevo Brotherhood, is a Russian organized crime group formed in the 1980s in Moscow's Solntsevo district, led by Sergei Mikhailov and Viktor Averin.
Solomon Oliver, Jr.
Solomon Oliver, Jr. (born 1947) is an American jurist who served as a United States district judge for the Northern District of Ohio from 1994 to 2021.
Somalia sanctions regime and monitoring
The Somalia sanctions regime is the set of UN Security Council measures on Somalia beginning with the 1992 arms embargo, monitored by a Panel of Experts and Monitoring Group in Nairobi.
Somerton Man
Somerton Man (Tamám Shud case): man found dead on Somerton Beach, Adelaide, 1 December 1948. Identified in 2022 by DNA as Carl "Charles" Webb; Australian authorities have not confirmed it, and cause of death remains undetermined.
Son of Sam law
Son of Sam laws are statutes, first New York Executive Law § 632-a (1977), that escrow a criminal's income from works describing the crime for victims; struck down as content-based in Simon & Schuster v. Crime Victims Board (1991).
Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since August 8, 2009, its first Hispanic justice; Bronx-born, Princeton and Yale Law, former SDNY and Second Circuit judge, known for pointed liberal dissents.
Sonny Corleone
Santino "Sonny" Corleone, eldest son and acting boss in Puzo's The Godfather and Coppola's 1972 film, played by James Caan; hotheaded heir killed at the Jones Beach Causeway tollbooth.
Sonny Franzese
John "Sonny" Franzese was an American mobster who served as underboss of New York's Colombo crime family, active into his 90s and dying in 2020 at 103.
Sonora Cartel
Sonora Cartel: 1990s Mexican drug trafficking organization identified with Rafael Caro Quintero in Sonora state; its successor groups, the Caborca Cartel and Nuevo Cártel Independiente de Sonora, now fight Los Chapitos for the border desert.
Sources of international law
Sources of international law: the processes generating binding rules, listed in Article 38 of the ICJ Statute as treaties, custom, general principles of law, and subsidiary means, with jus cogens and Article 103 as conflict rules.
South Africa's genocide case against Israel
South Africa v. Israel, ICJ case 192, filed 29 December 2023, alleges Israel violated the Genocide Convention in Gaza; the Court issued three binding provisional measures orders (January, March, May 2024) without ordering a ceasefire; merits proceedings continue.
South African contract law
South African contract law blends uncodified Roman-Dutch law and English common law, with good faith as an underlying value, public policy informed by the Constitution as the test for unenforceable terms, and statutes like the Consumer Protection Act protecting weaker parties.
South African criminal law
South African criminal law: uncodified Roman-Dutch common law crimes (murder, robbery, rape) with English-influenced procedure under the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, six liability elements, no juries since 1969, all subject to the 1996 Constitution.
South African farm attacks
South African farm attacks, or plaasmoorde, are violent crimes against farmers, farmworkers, and visitors on South African farms; the official motive finding is overwhelmingly criminal rather than political.
South African law of delict
South African law of delict: the Roman-Dutch-based private-law rules of civil liability. Five elements (conduct, wrongfulness, fault, causation, harm), conditio sine qua non and material contribution causation tests, and state liability under the 1957 State Liability Act.
South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
SACAT, the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, is an independent state tribunal operating since 30 March 2015 under the SACAT Act 2013, handling tenancy, guardianship, mental health, and administrative review matters, led by Justice Judy Hughes.
South Korean defamation law
South Korean defamation law makes defamation both a civil tort and a crime, with over 60,000 complaints a year and punishment possible even for true statements.