9,901 articles
Codification (law)
Codification (law): compiling rules and laws into an orderly formal code, organizing rather than creating law. Contrasted with consolidation; exemplified by Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis and the French Civil Code of 1804.
Codified obligations systems
A codified obligations system is a national code regulating obligations, the enforceable duties linking creditor and debtor, notably the French Code civil of 1804 and the German BGB of 1900.
Cody Legebokoff
Cody Alan Legebokoff, Canadian serial killer convicted in 2014 of four first-degree murders near Prince George, B.C. (Stuchenko, Maas, Montgomery, Leslie); arrested 2010 after RCMP traffic stop; life sentence, appeals dismissed.
Coercion of a state or representative (treaty law)
Coercion of a state or representative is a ground of treaty invalidity under the 1969 Vienna Convention, under which coerced consent has no legal effect.
Cohabitation in the United Kingdom
Cohabitation in the United Kingdom is living together without marriage, a growing trend that currently provides no automatic property or inheritance rights in England and Wales.
Cold case
Cold case: an unsolved criminal investigation, typically homicide or missing/unidentified person, inactive after leads are exhausted. Covers definitions, US/UK cold case units, clearance statistics, DNA and genetic genealogy advances, and outcomes.
Colin "Caesar" Campbell
Colin "Caesar" Campbell (1946–2021), Australian outlaw biker, bareknuckle fighter, and author; sergeant-at-arms of the Comancheros, founding sergeant-at-arms of the Bandidos Australia, wounded at the 1984 Milperra Massacre, memoirist of Enforcer.
Colin Howell
Colin Howell, Northern Irish dentist from Castlerock, murdered his wife Lesley Howell and RUC constable Trevor Buchanan in May 1991, staging a suicide pact; confessed 2009, pleaded guilty 2010, minimum 20-year term.
Colin Ireland
Colin Ireland, the "Gay Slayer" (1954–2012), British serial killer who murdered five gay men in London in 1993 after a New Year's resolution, luring victims from the Coleherne pub; caught by a fingerprint and CCTV, he confessed and died in prison.
Colin McDonald (attorney)
Colin Michael McDonald, American federal prosecutor and first Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division, confirmed 52-47 in March 2026; former San Diego AUSA and Hawaii public corruption prosecutor.
Colin Pitchfork
Colin Pitchfork, English baker and double child murderer, first person in the world convicted of murder using DNA profiling; killed Lynda Mann (1983) and Dawn Ashworth (1986) in Leicestershire; caught by mass DNA screening; parole denied October 2025.
Collective punishment
Collective punishment: penalizing a group for acts of one or a few members. Prohibited under Geneva Conventions IV Article 33 and III Article 87, customary IHL; a war crime outside the Rome Statute; no human rights treaty ban.
Collective security
Collective security: the principle that aggression against one state is aggression against all, first tried by the League of Nations and now centered on the UN Security Council's Chapter VII sanctions, enforcement powers, and veto-constrained decision-making.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (born 1943) is an American federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 1997, in senior status since 2023, who handled the Microsoft antitrust case.
Colleen McMahon
Colleen McMahon (born 1951) is an American jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the Southern District of New York, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1998.
Colleen R. Lawless
Colleen R. Lawless is an American jurist who serves as a U.S. District Judge for the Central District of Illinois. She was appointed by President Biden in 2023.
Colm F. Connolly
Colm F. Connolly is an American jurist serving as a United States district judge for the District of Delaware since 2018, appointed by President Donald Trump and chief judge since 2021.
Colombian Constitution of 1991
The Colombian Constitution of 1991 is the current supreme law of Colombia, replacing the 1886 Constitution. It defines the country as a social state under the rule of law.
Colombian constitutional reform of 1936
A 1936 amendment to Colombia's 1886 Constitution under President Alfonso López Pumarejo, establishing the social function of property and extending the vote to all men over 21.
Colombian constitutional reform of 1968
The Colombian constitutional reform of 1968 (Acto Legislativo 1 de 1968) amended the Constitution of 1886 under President Carlos Lleras Restrepo, strengthening the executive and state economic planning.
Colombian constitutional reform of 1990
The Colombian constitutional reform of 1990 was a court-validated, student-led process, the "séptima papeleta," that convened a constituent assembly which replaced the 1886 Constitution with the Constitution of 1991.
Colombian constitutional reform of 2017
The Colombian constitutional reform of 2017, enacted as Acto Legislativo 01 de 2017, incorporated the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC-EP into the Constitution of Colombia.
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family, originally the Profaci family, is one of New York's five Mafia families, founded by Joseph Profaci, renamed under boss Joe Colombo in 1963, marked by three internal wars, and led for decades by imprisoned Carmine Persico.
Colonization of Antarctica
Colonization of Antarctica: human settlement of the southern continent via research stations, not permanent towns. Antarctic Treaty 1959 freezes seven territorial claims; about 4,000 summer residents, Madrid Protocol mining ban.
Colony of Fiji
The Colony of Fiji was a British Crown colony established in 1874 by the Deed of Cession, ruled for 96 years with Indian indentured labor, and gained independence in October 1970.
Colorado Court of Appeals
Colorado Court of Appeals: the state's intermediate appellate court, 22 judges sitting in three-member divisions, initial jurisdiction over most trial-court and agency appeals, with discretionary Colorado Supreme Court review beyond.
Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting
Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting: Robert Lewis Dear Jr.'s November 27, 2015 attack on a Colorado Springs abortion clinic killed three and wounded nine; he was never tried and died in federal custody in 2025.
Colton Harris Moore
Colton Harris Moore, the Barefoot Bandit, American fugitive from Camano Island, Washington; escaped juvenile custody April 2008, suspected of nearly 100 thefts including stolen planes he flew without training, captured in the Bahamas July 2010, sentenced 2012.
Columbia Correctional Institution (Wisconsin)
Columbia Correctional Institution (CCI), a maximum-security Wisconsin state prison for adult male felons in Portage, opened May 14, 1986 on 110 acres with ten 50-cell units and a 150-bed minimum unit.
Columbia Human Rights Law Review
Columbia Human Rights Law Review (HRLR), formerly Columbia Survey of Human Rights Law, is Columbia Law School's student-edited human rights journal, publishing since 1968, open access since 2019, with HRLR Online and A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual.