9,901 articles
Unratified California treaties of 1851–1852
The unratified California treaties of 1851–1852, also called the Barbour Treaties, were eighteen US treaties with California Indian groups that the Senate rejected in 1852.
UNSCOM and UNMOVIC
UNSCOM and UNMOVIC were the United Nations commissions that verified the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction between 1991 and 2007 under Resolution 687.
Unsuccessful nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States
Unsuccessful nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States are the 37 presidential nominations since 1789 that failed through Senate rejection, presidential withdrawal, or lapse without Senate action.
Unsuccessful recess appointments to United States federal courts
Unsuccessful recess appointments to US federal courts: temporary Article III judgeships filled under the Recess Appointments Clause that lapsed without Senate confirmation, including Heen, Pickering, and Rutledge, distinct from confirmed appointees Gregory and Pryor.
Upendra Baxi
Upendra Baxi (born 9 November 1938) is an Indian legal scholar, Emeritus Professor at Warwick and Delhi, former Delhi University vice-chancellor, Padma Shri laureate, and author of The Future of Human Rights and the term social action litigation.
Uphaar Cinema fire
The Uphaar Cinema fire killed 59 and injured 103 at Green Park, Delhi, on 13 June 1997, when a DVB transformer fire filled the balcony with smoke during the film Border, leading to decades of litigation.
Upper Tribunal
The Upper Tribunal is a court in England and Wales, created by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 to hear appeals from the First-tier Tribunal.
Upskirt
Upskirting: covert photography or filming under a person's clothing without consent. Criminal in England and Wales under the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 after Gina Martin's campaign; Scotland criminalized it earlier.
Urbarial Patent
The Urbarial Patent (Hungarian: úrbéri pátens), also called the Urbárium, was a decree by Maria Theresa in 1767 that standardized serfs' dues and labor obligations across the Kingdom of Hungary.
Use of copyrighted works by the second Trump administration
Use of copyrighted works by the second Trump administration: official videos using artists' music without permission, a DOJ statement of interest backing OpenAI's fair-use defense against The New York Times, the AI Action Plan, and the firing of Copyright Office director Shira Perlmutter.
Usufruct
Usufruct (ususfructus): civil-law real right to use and enjoy another's property and its fruits while preserving its substance. Roman origin, quasi-usufruct of consumables, split with bare ownership, modern code rules, duration limits, and EU cases.
Utah v. Lafferty
Utah v. Lafferty, the Ron and Dan Lafferty case, was a 1988 Utah Supreme Court decision affirming Ron Lafferty's death sentence for two 1984 murders.
Uxoricide
Uxoricide is the killing of a wife by her husband or partner, from Latin uxor + -cide; contrasted with mariticide. Covers its etymology, legal history, and global prevalence and risk-factor research.
Uzair Baloch
Uzair Jan Baloch, Lyari gang war kingpin and chief of the outlawed Peoples Amn Committee in Karachi; convicted by military court in 2020 to 12 years for spying for Iranian intelligence; acquitted in many civilian cases.
V-coding
V-coding is US prison slang for housing incarcerated trans women in cells with aggressive male inmates to pacify or reward them, exposing the trans women to sexual assault; documented in legal reports and survivor testimony.
V. Mohana
V. Mohana (Venkita Subramanian Mohana, born 1966), Indian Supreme Court judge elevated directly from the Bar on 2 June 2026, twelfth woman judge, second woman directly elevated, after decades as Senior Advocate.
V. O. Chidambaram Pillai
V. O. Chidambaram Pillai (VOC, Kappalottiya Tamilan), 1872–1936, Tamil lawyer and independence activist who founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906 and was sentenced to life transportation for sedition in 1908.
V. S. Mani
V. S. Mani (Venkateswara Subramanian Mani, 1942–2016) was an Indian international law scholar and ICJ practitioner, JNU professor, Nauru's legal adviser, and founder of two Indian law schools.
Vacated judgment
A vacated judgment, also called a vacated order or vacatur relief, is one a court sets aside, so it loses legal force as if it had never been entered.
Vadim Krasikov (Вадим Николаевич Красиков)
Vadim Krasikov, alias Vadim Sokolov, Russian FSB operative convicted in Germany of the 2019 Tiergarten murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili; sentenced to life in 2021, freed in the August 2024 prisoner swap.
Vagrancy
Vagrancy: a legal offense criminalizing idleness, homelessness, or wandering without visible means of support. Traced to England's 1349 Statute of Labourers; struck down as vague in Papachristou (1972); revived in modern sleeping/camping ordinances upheld in Grants Pass v. Johnson (2024).
Valdecy Urquiza
Valdecy Urquiza, Brazilian Federal Police commissioner from São Luís, Maranhão, elected INTERPOL Secretary General on 7 November 2024; first Brazilian and first developing-nation official to lead INTERPOL, mandate to 2030.
Valerie B. Fairbank
Valerie B. Fairbank, also known as Valerie Baker Fairbank, is an American judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California since 2007.
Valerie E. Caproni
Valerie E. Caproni is an American jurist serving as a senior United States district judge for the Southern District of New York, appointed by President Obama in 2013.
Valery Zorkin (Валерий Дмитриевич Зорькин)
Valery Zorkin (Валерий Дмитриевич Зорькин), born 1943, Russian jurist, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Russia 1991–1993 and since February 2003; led the court through the 1993 constitutional crisis against Yeltsin.
Vallabhbhai Patel (વલ્લભભાઈ ઝવેરભાઈ પટેલ)
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (વલ્લભભાઈ ઝવેરભાઈ પટેલ), Sardar Patel, the Iron Man of India (1875–1950): first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister who integrated over 560 princely states; led Kheda and Bardoli satyagrahas; commemorated by the Statue of Unity and Rashtriya Ekta Diwas.
Van Breda murders
Van Breda murders: the 27 January 2015 axe killings of Martin, Teresa, and Rudi van Breda at De Zalze estate, Stellenbosch; brother Henri van Breda was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to three life terms.
Vance Boelter
Vance Luther Boelter (born 1967), Green Isle, Minnesota man who, disguised as a police officer, killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband and shot Sen. John Hoffman's family on June 14, 2025; pleaded guilty in 2026 and received two life sentences plus 40 years.
Vandalism
Vandalism, also called criminal mischief or malicious mischief, is the willful damage or defacement of another's property. Covers legal elements, misdemeanor-felony grading ($250-$5,000 thresholds), Cohen's motivation typology, and prevention.
Vanessa Lynne Bryant
Vanessa Lynne Bryant (born 1954, Queens, NY) is a retired U.S. district judge for the District of Connecticut, confirmed by voice vote in 2007 as New England's first female African American federal judge; noted for a 2012 DOMA ruling and inactive senior status since December 31, 2023.