title: Jack Harkness

text: Following the character's initial introduction in the revived series 1 of "Doctor Who", the character became incredibly popular with fans, to the extent that Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner created a spin-off series, "Torchwood", primarily centred around the character. "The Times" described the undeniable success of the character as having propelled actor John Barrowman to "National Treasure status". For his role as Captain Jack, John Barrowman was nominated for Best Actor at the 2007 BAFTA Cymru Awards, and again for "Children of Earth" at the 2010 TV Choice Awards, against Eleventh Doctor actor Matt Smith. Harkness was also listed number nine in "TV Squad'<nowiki>s</nowiki>" "Ten Most mysterious characters on television", behind the Tenth Doctor, who was listed number three. John Barrowman, who is himself gay, has ranked in the "Independent on Sunday" Pink List, a list of the most influential gay people in Britain, in 2007, 2008, and 2009 with the "Independent" commenting that "Proof of his popularity came with the continued runaway success of his bisexual Captain Jack Harkness on Russell T Davies's "Torchwood"". Part of Jack's mystique was his sex appeal, swashbuckling heroism and sexual appetite. In anticipation of the character's return to "Doctor Who" in series 3 after a successful run in the first series of "Torchwood", mainstream media hailed his return.


title: Jack Harkness

text: Captain Jack has gone on to become a recognisable figure in the British public consciousness, and has attracted some parody. These parodies frequently echo criticisms both of the character and of Barrowman's portrayal. The character of Jack Harkness has been parodied several times on the satirical impressionist television show "Dead Ringers". Played by Jon Culshaw, the show pokes fun at his bisexuality and apparent campness, as well his melodramatic personality in "Torchwood". In one sketch, he walks bizarrely towards the camera, kissing a policeman as he passes him. In another sketch, he can be seen having a threesome with two Cybermen, a race of cyborgs from "Doctor Who". Satirical technology columnist Verity Stob wrote a parody of "Torchwood" Season One in the style of Dylan Thomas's radio play "Under Milk Wood", called "Under Torch Wood". This parody described Captain Jack as "the insomniac bicon; snug as a hobbit, pretty as a choirboy, immortal as carbon dioxide, wooden as a horse." Barrowman's ubiquity, however, has even provoked criticism of the character. Jim Shelley of the "Daily Mirror", in his review of "Children of Earth", said "Unlike David Tennant's Doctor, Barrowman's endless appearances on friendly drivel like "Tonight's the Night", "The Kids Are All Right" and "Any Dream Will Do", is so over-exposed, 'Captain Jack' is about as intriguing or alien as a Weetabix and twice as irritating. Unlike Tennant, as an actor he is just not good enough." Television journalist Charlie Brooker, in his "Screenwipe" review of 2009 criticised Barrowman, with focus on his acting. "Harkness is of course a man of mystery. You can't tell what he's thinking just by looking at his face... no matter how hard Barrowman tries."


title: Jack Harkness

text: The character's recognisability extends outside the UK. In a Halloween episode of the 2008 series of American drama "Knight Rider", character Billy Morgan (Paul Campbell) dresses up as Captain Jack, whom he refers to as "the time-travelling bisexual". Jack represents a new character archetype, which other writers have begun to draw from. For example, comic book writer Peter David reflects that in writing Marvel Comics character Shatterstar, he "to some degree... key[s] his personality off Captain Jack Harkness" insofar as he is "swashbuckling, enthusiastic and sexually curious about anything with a pulse". In 2009, Barrowman's variety show "Tonight's the Night" broadcast a specially written humorous scripted by Russell T Davies. In the scene, Barrowman appears initially as Captain Jack confronting an alien on board the TARDIS who claims to be the Doctor. However, David Tennant appears as himself and John Barrowman is revealed as playing Captain Jack in the TARDIS set. Action figures have also been created in the actor's likeness, which Barrowman says was a "longtime dream".


title: Jack Harkness

text: Starting in 2013, Jack's sexuality has made him the subject of an internet meme for discussing the ethics of sexual encounters with nonhuman characters. Known as the Harkness Test, it spread rapidly throughout the internet, where it was applied to other fandoms such as those of "Pokémon" and "".


title: Jack Harkness

text: In the media, Jack is described as both the "first openly gay companion" and as a "hunky bisexual". Jack's notability is largely due to his mainstream representation of a bisexual man in science fiction television, for whom sexual identity is "matter-of-fact", and not an issue. The ordinariness with which Jack's orientation is regarded within "Doctor Who" embodies part of a political statement about changing societal views of homosexuality. The distinct flexibility of Jack's sexuality contributed directly towards the character's popularity and public interest. The overtness of Jack's sexuality broke new grounds, the labels "pansexual" and "omnisexual" being applied to the character on occasion. In "The Parting of the Ways", Jack kissed both Rose and the Doctor on the lips, the latter being the first same-sex kiss in the history of the program. Despite the boldness of the first lesbian, gay or bisexual character in the series' run, there has been very little uproar about the character, although there was some controversy at the time of Jack's introduction. Speculating, Barrowman tries to link Jack's popularity with this portrayal, noting "I think audiences just get Jack because he's honest ... to finally see a character who doesn't care who he flirts with, I think is a bit refreshing."


title: Jack Harkness

text: The presence of the character in prime time television sparked discussion of the nature of bisexuality in a number of outlets where normally it is dismissed or overlooked. Channel4.com cites Jack as a positive role model for gay and bisexual teenagers, where little had been present for this audience in years gone by and subsequently leading to a greater culture of tolerance. Dr Meg-John Barker writes for the "Journal of Bisexuality" that although "the "b" word does not actually get used during the show", Jack is one of the first positive and clearly bisexual characters on British television. They do point out however that Jack retains some elements of bisexual stereotyping, particularly in his "flamboyant" promiscuity. Jack has also been cited in America to contrast the portrayals of non-heterosexual characters in mainstream television in the US and the UK. Gary Scott Thompson, producer of the 2008 revival of "Knight Rider", said, "If I could use Jack in "Torchwood" as a role model—I would absolutely use him as a role model—I love his conflictedness about ... everybody".


title: Jack Harkness

text: Readers of AfterElton.com voted Jack the tenth best gay or bisexual television character of all time, the poll itself ultimately being won by Brian Kinney, a character from the North American version of "Queer as Folk" which was developed by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman from the British series created by Russell T Davies. The website praised Jack—one of only two bisexual characters on the list of 25—for being having both "tough" and "tender" sides to his personality, as seen in the "Torchwood" episode "Captain Jack Harkness". Amongst science fiction characters, Jack also topped another AfterElton rundown of top characters, beating "Hellblazer"'s John Constantine for the top spot, commenting upon Jack's representation of a "'post-gay' approach to sexual themes" and awarding him a full 10/10 for cultural significance. For the AfterElton 2008 Visibility Awards, Jack won the award for Favourite TV Character. The website commented that "unlike virtually every other TV sci-fi character, lead or supporting, Captain Jack is also openly bisexual. Ironically, this "small" change served to help make the science fiction genre, long the ultimate bastion of straight men, accessible not just to LGBT people, but also straight women, who also enjoy the show’s alternative take on sexuality." The third award won for "Torchwood", after Favourite TV Drama and Character, was won by Jack and Ianto for Best Couple, for which the editor commented ""Torchwood" is revolutionary not just because the producers dare to put openly bisexual (or in Jack's case "omnisexual") characters in the formerly sacrosanct setting of sci-fi; it's also that it presents these bisexual characters in such an amazingly matter-of-fact way. There's no apologi[s]ing, no minimi[s]ing, and no morali[s]ing—just good, old-fashioned romance and adventure."


title: Maternal insult

text: A maternal insult, also referred to as a "yo mama" joke, is a reference to a person's mother through the use of phrases such as "your mother" or other regional variants, frequently used to insult the target by way of their mother. Used as an insult, "your mother..." preys on widespread sentiments of parental respect, making the insult particularly and globally offensive. "Your mother" can be combined with most types of insults, although suggestions of promiscuity are particularly common. Insults based on obesity, height, hairiness, laziness, incest, age, race, poverty, poor hygiene, unattractiveness, homosexuality, or stupidity may also be used. Compared to other types of insults, "your mother" insults are especially likely to incite violence. Slang variants such as "yo mama", "yo momma", "yer ma", "ya mum", "ya mom", "ur mom", "your mum", "ur mum", "ur mother", "Joe mama", or "your mom" are sometimes used, depending on the local dialect. Insults involving "your mother" are commonly used when playing the Dozens.


title: Maternal insult

text: Although the phrase has a long history of including a description portion, such as the old "your mother wears combat boots", the phrase "yo mama" by itself, without any qualifiers, has become commonly used as an all-purpose insult or an expression of defiance.


title: Maternal insult

text: The first maternal insult written was written on a 3,500-year-old Babylonian stone tablet, written in Akkadian, with cuneiform as writing system. The tablet was found in 1976 by an archaeologist named J.J. van Dijk. The tablet was most likely written by a student, because it has multiple spelling and grammar errors. The tablet also contained multiple riddles and more jokes. Scholars Michael Streck and Nathan Wasserman studied the tablet and published their research and translations in the journal "Iraq", put out by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq. Streck and Wasserman’s translation of this particular joke reads, “…of your mother is by the one who has intercourse with her. What/who is it?” Other riddles included topics like beer, sex, and politics.


title: Maternal insult

text: William Shakespeare used such a device in Act I Scene 1 of "Timon of Athens", implying that a character's mother is a "bitch":


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland’s finest thespians, and was renowned for his interpretations of both classical and contemporary theatre, including Shakespearean roles as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and over 60 productions for the Abbey Theatre, of which he was a lifelong member. In 2020, Cusack was ranked at number 14 on "The Irish Times" list of Ireland's greatest film actors.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Born to Irish parents in South Africa and raised in County Tipperary, Cusack dropped out of law school to join the Abbey Theatre and remained with the company for 13 years, acting in over 60 plays. In London, he performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, and later founded his own company which toured across Europe. Making his film debut at age 8, Cusack worked with many top British directors, including Powell & Pressburger, Carol Reed, Peter Brook, Peter Hall, and Anthony Harvey. He co-starred opposite Richard Burton several times, who once commended Cusack’s acting as “always himself and yet always totally different.” Fluent in both English and Irish, Cusack had a starring role in the very first Irish-language feature film, "Poitín" (1978).


title: Cyril Cusack

text: He was the patriarch of the Cusack acting family, as the father of Sinéad Cusack, Sorcha Cusack, Niamh Cusack, Pádraig Cusack, and Catherine Cusack.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack was born in Durban, Natal, South Africa. His mother, Alice Violet (née Cole), was an English Cockney actress and chorus girl, and his father, James Walter Cusack, was an Irish mounted policeman in Natal Colony, South Africa. His parents separated when he was young and his mother took him to England, and then to Ireland. Cusack's mother and her partner, Brefni O'Rorke, joined the O'Brien and Ireland Players.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cyril made his first stage performance at the age of seven. He was educated at Newbridge College in Newbridge, County Kildare, then read law at University College Dublin. He left without a degree and joined the Abbey Theatre in 1932.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Between then and 1945, he performed in over 60 productions for the Abbey, particularly excelling in the plays of Seán O'Casey. He also performed in plays by Irish playwright Teresa Deevy "Katie Roche" and "The King of Spain's Daughter". In 1932 he also joined the Gate Theatre company, appearing with them in many notable productions over the years. In 1947, Cusack formed his own company, Cyril Cusack Productions, and staged productions in Dublin, Paris and New York.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: In 1963, Cusack joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and appeared there for several seasons. By this stage he had established a successful career in films, which had started at the age of eight. The same year, Cusack won a Jacob's Award for his performance in the Telefís Éireann production of "Triptych".


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack's favorite roles included The Covery in "The Plough and the Stars" and Christy Mahon in "The Playboy of the Western World", which he reprised numerous times.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack's last stage performance was in Chekhov's "Three Sisters" (1990), in which three of his daughters played the sisters.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack made his film debut in "Knocknagow" (1918), when he was only 8. His breakthrough role was as a wiry IRA getaway driver opposite James Mason in Carol Reed's "Odd Man Out" (1947).


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack played the titular role in the "Galileo" (1968), which was the directorial debut of Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani. Cusack returned to Italy several times throughout his career, particularly in the 1970s, both acting on-camera and working as a voice artist, helping create English-language dubs of Italian films.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack, who was bilingual in English and Irish, had a leading part in the controversial Irish language film "Poitín" (1977).


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack was a strong supporter of Irish nationalism, and often selected projects based on those beliefs. In later life, Cusack became a campaigner for conservative causes in Ireland, notably in his opposition to abortion, where he became a frequent letter-writer to the main liberal Irish newspaper, "The Irish Times".


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Regarding his Catholic faith, he commented "Religion promotes the divine discontent within oneself, so that one tries to make oneself a better person and draw oneself closer to God." His religious credentials came under scrutiny following his death and the revelation that he had been unfaithful in his first marriage, with a long-term mistress, Mary Rose Cunningham, who bore him a daughter, Catherine. Cusack married Cunningham following his first wife's death.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack received honorary doctorates in 1977 and 1980 from the NUI and the University of Dublin respectively.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack was a longtime friend of Irish attorney general, Chief Justice and President of Ireland Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, whom he got to know when they were students at University College Dublin in the early 1930s.


title: Cyril Cusack

text: Cusack is the maternal grandfather of Irish Socialist Workers Party TD Richard Boyd Barrett and English actor Max Irons.


title: Compression ratio

text: The compression ratio is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine at their maximum and minimum values.


title: Compression ratio

text: A fundamental specification for such engines, it is measured two ways: the static compression ratio, calculated based on the relative volumes of the combustion chamber and the cylinder when the piston is at the bottom of its stroke, and the volume of the combustion chamber when the piston is at the top of its stroke.


title: Compression ratio

text: The dynamic compression ratio is a more advanced calculation which also takes into account gasses entering and exiting the cylinder during the compression phase.


title: Compression ratio

text: A high compression ratio is desirable because it allows an engine to extract more mechanical energy from a given mass of air–fuel mixture due to its higher thermal efficiency. This occurs because internal combustion engines are heat engines, and higher compression ratios permit the same combustion temperature to be reached with less fuel, while giving a longer expansion cycle, creating more mechanical power output and lowering the exhaust temperature.


title: Compression ratio

text: In petrol (gasoline) engines used in passenger cars for the past 20 years, compression ratios have typically been between 8:1 and 12:1. Several production engines have used higher compression ratios, including:


title: Compression ratio

text: When forced induction (e.g. a turbocharger or supercharger) is used, the compression ratio is often lower than naturally aspirated engines. This is due to the turbocharger/supercharger already having compressed the air before it enters the cylinders. Engines using port fuel-injection typically run lower boost pressures and/or compression ratios than direct injected engines because port fuel injection causes the air/fuel mixture to be heated together, leading to detonation. Conversely, directly injected engines can run higher boost because heated air will not detonate without a fuel being present.


title: Compression ratio

text: Higher compression ratios can make gasoline (petrol) engines subject to engine knocking (also known as "detonation", "pre-ignition" or "pinging") if lower octane-rated fuel is used. This can reduce efficiency or damage the engine if knock sensors are not present to modify the ignition timing.


title: Compression ratio

text: Diesel engines use higher compression ratios than petrol engines, because the lack of a spark plug means that the compression ratio must increase the temperature of the air in the cylinder sufficiently to ignite the diesel using compression ignition. Compression ratios are often between 14:1 and 23:1 for direct injection diesel engines, and between 18:1 and 23:1 for indirect injection diesel engines.


title: Compression ratio

text: At the lower end of 14:1, NOx emissions are reduced at a cost of more difficult cold-start. Mazda's Skyactiv-D, the first such commercial engine from 2013, used adaptive fuel injectors among other techniques to ease cold start.


title: Compression ratio

text: The compression ratio may be higher in engines running exclusively on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or "propane autogas") or compressed natural gas, due to the higher octane rating of these fuels.


title: Compression ratio

text: Kerosene engines typically use a compression ratio of 6.5 or lower. The petrol-paraffin engine version of the Ferguson TE20 tractor had a compression ratio of 4.5:1 for operation on tractor vaporising oil with an octane rating between 55 and 70.


title: Compression ratio

text: Motorsport engines often run on high octane petrol and can therefore use higher compression ratios. For example, motorcycle racing engines can use compression ratios as high as 14.7:1, and it is common to find motorcycles with compression ratios above 12.0:1 designed for 86 or 87 octane fuel.


title: Compression ratio

text: Ethanol and methanol can take significantly higher compression ratios than gasoline. Racing engines burning methanol and ethanol fuel often have a compression ratio of 14:1 to 16:1.


title: Compression ratio

text: In a piston engine, the static compression ratio (formula_1) is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber when the piston is at the bottom of its stroke, and the volume of the combustion chamber when the piston is at the top of its stroke. It is therefore calculated by the formula


title: Compression ratio

text: Because of the complex shape of formula_4 it is usually measured directly. This is often done by filling the cylinder with liquid and then measuring the volume of the used liquid.


title: Compression ratio

text: Most engines use a fixed compression ratio, however a variable compression ratio engine is able to adjust the compression ratio while the engine is in operation. The first production engine with a variable compression ratio was introduced in 2019.


title: Compression ratio

text: Variable compression ratio is a technology to adjust the compression ratio of an internal combustion engine while the engine is in operation. This is done to increase fuel efficiency while under varying loads. Variable compression engines allow the volume above the piston at top dead centre to be changed.


title: Compression ratio

text: Higher loads require lower ratios to increase power, while lower loads need higher ratios to increase efficiency, i.e. to lower fuel consumption. For automotive use this needs to be done as the engine is running in response to the load and driving demands.


title: Compression ratio

text: The 2019 Infiniti QX50 is the first commercially available car that uses a variable compression ratio engine.


title: Compression ratio

text: The "static compression ratio" discussed above — calculated solely based on the cylinder and combustion chamber volumes — does not take into account any gasses entering or exiting the cylinder during the compression phase. In most automotive engines, the intake valve closure (which seals the cylinder) takes place during the compression phase (i.e. after bottom dead centre, BDC), which can cause some of the gasses to be pushed back out through the intake valve. On the other hand, intake port tuning and scavenging can cause a greater amount of gas to be trapped in the cylinder than the static volume would suggest. The "dynamic compression ratio" accounts for these factors.


title: Compression ratio

text: The dynamic compression ratio is higher with more conservative intake camshaft timing (i.e. soon after BDC), and lower with more radical intake camshaft timing (i.e. later after BDC). Regardless, the dynamic compression ratio is always lower than the static compression ratio.


title: Compression ratio

text: Absolute cylinder pressure is used to calculate the dynamic compression ratio, using the following formula:


title: Compression ratio

text: Under ideal (adiabatic) conditions, the ratio of specific heats would be 1.4, but a lower value, generally between 1.2 and 1.3 is used, since the amount of heat lost will vary among engines based on design, size and materials used. For example, if the static compression ratio is 10:1, and the dynamic compression ratio is 7.5:1, a useful value for cylinder pressure would be 7.5 × atmospheric pressure, or 13.7 bar (relative to atmospheric pressure).


title: Compression ratio

text: The two corrections for dynamic compression ratio affect cylinder pressure in opposite directions, but not in equal strength. An engine with high static compression ratio and late intake valve closure will have a dynamic compression ratio similar to an engine with lower compression but earlier intake valve closure.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: Delivery Man is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Ken Scott, produced by DreamWorks Pictures and Reliance Entertainment. A remake of 2011 Canadian film, "Starbuck", the film stars Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, and Cobie Smulders.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: It was released by Touchstone Pictures on November 22, 2013, received mixed reviews and grossed $53 million.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: David Wozniak is a deliveryman for his family's butcher shop, pursued by thugs to whom he owes $80,000. His girlfriend Emma, an NYPD officer, is pregnant with his child. One day, David returns from work to find a lawyer representing a sperm bank (where he gave 693 donations and earned a sum of $24,255 during his student years) who tells him that the clinic gave his samples to women in the clinic and that he has fathered 533 children. Of those, 142 have joined a class action lawsuit to force the fertility clinic to reveal the identity of "Starbuck," the alias he had used.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: David's friend and lawyer Brett represents him as he tries to keep the records sealed. He provides him with profiles of each party to the lawsuit; David searches for them, finding moments for random acts of kindness. He covers for a struggling actor at his job so he can audition for a role. He pretends to be a pizza delivery man when he sees his daughter fighting with her boyfriend and saves her life as she ODs on drugs. He considers identifying himself but, after the thugs assault his father, he allows Brett to counter-sue the sperm bank for punitive damages. He wins the lawsuit, receives $200,000, and keeps his identity a secret.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: David has regrets and thinks about revealing his identity. However, if he chooses to do so, he would lose the $200,000 that he won in the countersuit. Revealing to his father that he is Starbuck, his dad pays off David's debt. David finally reveals his identity on Facebook. Going to Emma's, he finds that she is going into premature labor. At the hospital, his baby is born, he proposes to Emma, and many of the children show up to see them.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: The film is a remake of the 2011 French-Canadian film "Starbuck" which was also directed by Scott; "Starbuck" was also the working title for the English-language production.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: Filming began in October 2012 in the Hudson Valley of New York. Filming then moved to New York City locales, in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Concerning the number of extras as the children, actor Dave Patten said, "There were ten of us who were constants on the sets so we didn’t really bond with the others who were extras. But the ten of us became a huge pack of friends and it was really nice. There are usually a lot of egos on set when it comes to a big cast which causes people not to get along but we didn’t have that issue."


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: "Delivery Man" was released worldwide in November 2013 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through the Touchstone Pictures label, except for Europe, Africa and Middle East, where the rights are sold by Mister Smith Entertainment to other industries. DreamWorks' financial partner, Reliance Entertainment, had released the film in India. Entertainment One had released it in the United Kingdom.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: "Delivery Man" received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 40% based on reviews from 148 critics with an average score of 5.00/10. The site's consensus says: "It has an undeniably sweet charm, and Vince Vaughn is eminently likable in the lead role, but "Delivery Man" suffers in comparison to "Starbuck", the hit Canadian comedy that inspired it." At Metacritic the film received a score of 44/100 based on reviews from 33 critics.


title: Delivery Man (film)

text: Alonso Duralde of "The Wrap" gave the film a negative review, stating that ""Delivery Man" offers comedy and sentimentality in equal doses and, unfortunately, equal efficacy—the jokes, the characters and the situations aren't very funny, and the would-be heart-tuggery is mostly embarrassing." Peter Debruge of "Variety" wrote, ""Delivery Man" is virtually nothing like a [typical] Vince Vaughn movie, but rather a heartfelt celebration of the act of parenthood presented under radically exaggerated circumstances... the director demonstrates the good sense not to mess with success, engineering what amounts to a scene-for-scene remake of that earlier feel-good outing—with the notable addition of Chris Pratt in his funniest supporting performance yet." Michael Rechtshaffen of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that "it's nice to see Vaughn moving out of his fast-talking comfort zone in a role that requires him to be more quietly reactive; while "Parks and Recreation"’s Pratt comically raises the second-banana bar as a put-upon dad itching to get back into the courtroom. While Smulders, unfortunately, isn't given the same opportunity to show off her comedic chops regularly on display on "How I Met Your Mother", acclaimed Polish actor Andrzej Blumenfeld (in his American debut) makes a more empathetic impression as the warm Wozniak family patriarch."


title: Law of the United States

text: The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as various civil liberties. The Constitution sets out the boundaries of federal law, which consists of Acts of Congress, treaties ratified by the Senate, regulations promulgated by the executive branch, and case law originating from the federal judiciary. The United States Code is the official compilation and codification of general and permanent federal statutory law.


title: Law of the United States

text: Federal law and treaties, so long as they are in accordance with the Constitution, preempt conflicting state and territorial laws in the 50 U.S. states and in the territories. However, the scope of federal preemption is limited because the scope of federal power is not universal. In the dual sovereign system of American federalism (actually tripartite because of the presence of Indian reservations), states are the plenary sovereigns, each with their own constitution, while the federal sovereign possesses only the limited supreme authority enumerated in the Constitution. Indeed, states may grant their citizens broader rights than the federal Constitution as long as they do not infringe on any federal constitutional rights. Thus U.S. law (especially the actual "living law" of contract, tort, property, criminal, and family law experienced by the majority of citizens on a day-to-day basis) consists primarily of state law, which can and does vary greatly from one state to the next.


title: Law of the United States

text: At both the federal and state levels, with the exception of the legal system of Louisiana, the law of the United States is largely derived from the common law system of English law, which was in force in British America at the time of the American Revolutionary War. However, American law has diverged greatly from its English ancestor both in terms of substance and procedure and has incorporated a number of civil law innovations.


title: Law of the United States

text: In the United States, the law is derived from five sources: constitutional law, statutory law, treaties, administrative regulations, and the common law (which includes case law).


title: Law of the United States

text: Where Congress enacts a statute that conflicts with the Constitution, state or federal courts may rule that law to be unconstitutional and declare it invalid.


title: Law of the United States

text: Notably, a statute does not automatically disappear merely because it has been found unconstitutional; it may, however, be deleted by a subsequent statute. Many federal and state statutes have remained on the books for decades after they were ruled to be unconstitutional. However, under the principle of "stare decisis", no sensible lower court will enforce an unconstitutional statute, and any court that does so will be reversed by the Supreme Court. Conversely, any court that refuses to enforce a constitutional statute (where such constitutionality has been expressly established in prior cases) will risk reversal by the Supreme Court.


title: Law of the United States

text: The United States and most Commonwealth countries are heirs to the common law legal tradition of English law. Certain practices traditionally allowed under English common law were expressly outlawed by the Constitution, such as bills of attainder and general search warrants.


title: Law of the United States

text: As common law courts, U.S. courts have inherited the principle of "stare decisis". American judges, like common law judges elsewhere, not only apply the law, they also make the law, to the extent that their decisions in the cases before them become precedent for decisions in future cases.


title: Law of the United States

text: The actual substance of English law was formally "received" into the United States in several ways. First, all U.S. states except Louisiana have enacted "reception statutes" which generally state that the common law of England (particularly judge-made law) is the law of the state to the extent that it is not repugnant to domestic law or indigenous conditions. Some reception statutes impose a specific cutoff date for reception, such as the date of a colony's founding, while others are deliberately vague. Thus, contemporary U.S. courts often cite pre-Revolution cases when discussing the evolution of an ancient judge-made common law principle into its modern form, such as the heightened duty of care traditionally imposed upon common carriers.


title: Law of the United States

text: Second, a small number of important British statutes in effect at the time of the Revolution have been independently reenacted by U.S. states. Two examples are the Statute of Frauds (still widely known in the U.S. by that name) and the Statute of 13 Elizabeth (the ancestor of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act). Such English statutes are still regularly cited in contemporary American cases interpreting their modern American descendants.


title: Law of the United States

text: Despite the presence of reception statutes, much of "contemporary" American common law has diverged significantly from English common law. Although the courts of the various Commonwealth nations are often influenced by each other's rulings, American courts rarely follow post-Revolution precedents from England or the British Commonwealth.


title: Law of the United States

text: Early on, American courts, even after the Revolution, often did cite contemporary English cases, because appellate decisions from many American courts were not regularly reported until the mid-19th century. Lawyers and judges used English legal materials to fill the gap. Citations to English decisions gradually disappeared during the 19th century as American courts developed their own principles to resolve the legal problems of the American people. The number of published volumes of American reports soared from eighteen in 1810 to over 8,000 by 1910. By 1879 one of the delegates to the California constitutional convention was already complaining: "Now, when we require them to state the reasons for a decision, we do not mean they shall write a hundred pages of detail. We [do] not mean that they shall include the small cases, and impose on the country all this fine judicial literature, for the Lord knows we have got enough of that already."


title: Law of the United States

text: Today, in the words of Stanford law professor Lawrence M. Friedman: "American cases rarely cite foreign materials. Courts occasionally cite a British classic or two, a famous old case, or a nod to Blackstone; but current British law almost never gets any mention." Foreign law has never been cited as binding precedent, but as a reflection of the shared values of Anglo-American civilization or even Western civilization in general.


title: Law of the United States

text: Federal law originates with the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to enact statutes for certain limited purposes like regulating interstate commerce. The United States Code is the official compilation and codification of the general and permanent federal statutes. Many statutes give executive branch agencies the power to create regulations, which are published in the Federal Register and codified into the Code of Federal Regulations. Regulations generally also carry the force of law under the "Chevron" doctrine. Many lawsuits turn on the meaning of a federal statute or regulation, and judicial interpretations of such meaning carry legal force under the principle of "stare decisis".


title: Law of the United States

text: During the 18th and 19th centuries, federal law traditionally focused on areas where there was an express grant of power to the federal government in the federal Constitution, like the military, money, foreign relations (especially international treaties), tariffs, intellectual property (specifically patents and copyrights), and mail. Since the start of the 20th century, broad interpretations of the Commerce and Spending Clauses of the Constitution have enabled federal law to expand into areas like aviation, telecommunications, railroads, pharmaceuticals, antitrust, and trademarks. In some areas, like aviation and railroads, the federal government has developed a comprehensive scheme that preempts virtually all state law, while in others, like family law, a relatively small number of federal statutes (generally covering interstate and international situations) interacts with a much larger body of state law. In areas like antitrust, trademark, and employment law, there are powerful laws at both the federal and state levels that coexist with each other. In a handful of areas like insurance, Congress has enacted laws expressly refusing to regulate them as long as the states have laws regulating them (see, e.g., the McCarran–Ferguson Act).


title: Law of the United States

text: After the president signs a bill into law (or Congress enacts it over the president's veto), it is delivered to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) where it is assigned a law number, and prepared for publication as a slip law. Public laws, but not private laws, are also given legal statutory citation by the OFR. At the end of each session of Congress, the slip laws are compiled into bound volumes called the United States Statutes at Large, and they are known as session laws. The Statutes at Large present a chronological arrangement of the laws in the exact order that they have been enacted.


title: Law of the United States

text: Public laws are incorporated into the United States Code, which is a codification of all general and permanent laws of the United States. The main edition is published every six years by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives, and cumulative supplements are published annually. The U.S. Code is arranged by subject matter, and it shows the present status of laws (with amendments already incorporated in the text) that have been amended on one or more occasions.


title: Law of the United States

text: Congress often enacts statutes that grant broad rulemaking authority to federal agencies. Often, Congress is simply too gridlocked to draft detailed statutes that explain how the agency should react to every possible situation, or Congress believes the agency's technical specialists are best equipped to deal with particular fact situations as they arise. Therefore, federal agencies are authorized to promulgate regulations. Under the principle of "Chevron" deference, regulations normally carry the force of law as long as they are based on a reasonable interpretation of the relevant statutes.


title: Law of the United States

text: Regulations are adopted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Regulations are first proposed and published in the Federal Register (FR or Fed. Reg.) and subject to a public comment period. Eventually, after a period for public comment and revisions based on comments received, a final version is published in the Federal Register. The regulations are codified and incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) which is published once a year on a rolling schedule.


title: Law of the United States

text: Besides regulations formally promulgated under the APA, federal agencies also frequently promulgate an enormous amount of forms, manuals, policy statements, letters, and rulings. These documents may be considered by a court as persuasive authority as to how a particular statute or regulation may be interpreted (known as "Skidmore" deference), but are not entitled to "Chevron" deference.


title: Law of the United States

text: Unlike the situation with the states, there is no plenary reception statute at the federal level that continued the common law and thereby granted federal courts the power to formulate legal precedent like their English predecessors. Federal courts are solely creatures of the federal Constitution and the federal Judiciary Acts. However, it is universally accepted that the Founding Fathers of the United States, by vesting "judicial power" into the Supreme Court and the inferior federal courts in Article Three of the United States Constitution, thereby vested in them the implied judicial power of common law courts to formulate persuasive precedent; this power was widely accepted, understood, and recognized by the Founding Fathers at the time the Constitution was ratified. Several legal scholars have argued that the federal judicial power to decide "cases or controversies" necessarily includes the power to decide the precedential effect of those cases and controversies.


title: Law of the United States

text: The difficult question is whether federal judicial power extends to formulating binding precedent through strict adherence to the rule of "stare decisis". This is where the act of deciding a case becomes a limited form of lawmaking in itself, in that an appellate court's rulings will thereby bind itself and lower courts in future cases (and therefore also implicitly binds all persons within the court's jurisdiction). Prior to a major change to federal court rules in 2007, about one-fifth of federal appellate cases were published and thereby became binding precedents, while the rest were unpublished and bound only the parties to each case.


title: Law of the United States

text: As federal judge Alex Kozinski has pointed out, binding precedent as we know it today simply did not exist at the time the Constitution was framed. Judicial decisions were not consistently, accurately, and faithfully reported on both sides of the Atlantic (reporters often simply rewrote or failed to publish decisions which they disliked), and the United Kingdom lacked a coherent court hierarchy prior to the end of the 19th century. Furthermore, English judges in the eighteenth century subscribed to now-obsolete natural law theories of law, by which law was believed to have an existence independent of what individual judges said. Judges saw themselves as merely declaring the law which had always theoretically existed, and not as making the law. Therefore, a judge could reject another judge's opinion as simply an incorrect statement of the law, in the way that scientists regularly reject each other's conclusions as incorrect statements of the laws of science.


title: Law of the United States

text: In turn, according to Kozinski's analysis, the contemporary rule of binding precedent became possible in the U.S. in the nineteenth century only after the creation of a clear court hierarchy (under the Judiciary Acts), and the beginning of regular "verbatim" publication of U.S. appellate decisions by West Publishing. The rule gradually developed, case-by-case, as an extension of the judiciary's public policy of effective judicial administration (that is, in order to efficiently exercise the judicial power). The rule of binding precedent is generally justified today as a matter of public policy, first, as a matter of fundamental fairness, and second, because in the absence of case law, it would be completely unworkable for every minor issue in every legal case to be briefed, argued, and decided from first principles (such as relevant statutes, constitutional provisions, and underlying public policies), which in turn would create hopeless inefficiency, instability, and unpredictability, and thereby undermine the rule of law. The contemporary form of the rule is descended from Justice Louis Brandeis's "landmark dissent in 1932’s "Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co".," which "catalogued the Court’s actual overruling practices in such a powerful manner that his attendant stare decisis analysis immediately assumed canonical authority."


title: Law of the United States

text: Here is a typical exposition of how public policy supports the rule of binding precedent in a 2008 majority opinion signed by Justice Breyer:


title: Law of the United States

text: Justice Brandeis once observed that "in most matters it is more important that the applicable rule of law be settled than that it be settled right." "Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co." [...] To overturn a decision settling one such matter simply because we might believe that decision is no longer "right" would inevitably reflect a willingness to reconsider others. And that willingness could itself threaten to substitute disruption, confusion, and uncertainty for necessary legal stability. We have not found here any factors that might overcome these considerations.


title: Law of the United States

text: It is now sometimes possible, over time, for a line of precedents to drift from the express language of any underlying statutory or constitutional texts until the courts' decisions establish doctrines that were not considered by the texts' drafters. This trend has been strongly evident in federal substantive due process and Commerce Clause decisions. Originalists and political conservatives, such as Associate Justice Antonin Scalia have criticized this trend as anti-democratic.


title: Law of the United States

text: Under the doctrine of "Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins" (1938), there is "no general federal common law". Although federal courts can create federal common law in the form of case law, such law must be linked one way or another to the interpretation of a particular federal constitutional provision, statute, or regulation (which was either enacted as part of the Constitution or pursuant to constitutional authority). Federal courts lack the plenary power possessed by state courts to simply make up law, which the latter are able to do in the absence of constitutional or statutory provisions replacing the common law. Only in a few narrow limited areas, like maritime law, has the Constitution expressly authorized the continuation of English common law at the federal level (meaning that in those areas federal courts can continue to make law as they see fit, subject to the limitations of "stare decisis").


title: Law of the United States

text: The other major implication of the "Erie" doctrine is that federal courts cannot dictate the content of state law when there is no federal issue (and thus no federal supremacy issue) in a case. When hearing claims under state law pursuant to diversity jurisdiction, federal trial courts "must" apply the statutory and decisional law of the state in which they sit, as if they were a court of that state, even if they believe that the relevant state law is irrational or just bad public policy.


title: Law of the United States

text: Under "Erie", such federal deference to state law applies only in one direction: state courts are not bound by federal interpretations of state law. Similarly, state courts are also not bound by most federal interpretations of federal law. In the vast majority of state courts, interpretations of federal law from federal courts of appeals and district courts can be cited as persuasive authority, but state courts are not bound by those interpretations. The U.S. Supreme Court has never squarely addressed the issue, but has signaled in dicta that it sides with this rule. Therefore, in those states, there is only one federal court that binds all state courts as to the interpretation of federal law and the federal Constitution: the U.S. Supreme Court itself.


title: Law of the United States

text: The fifty American states are separate sovereigns, with their own state constitutions, state governments, and state courts. All states have a legislative branch which enacts state statutes, an executive branch that promulgates state regulations pursuant to statutory authorization, and a judicial branch that applies, interprets, and occasionally overturns both state statutes and regulations, as well as local ordinances. They retain plenary power to make laws covering anything not preempted by the federal Constitution, federal statutes, or international treaties ratified by the federal Senate. Normally, state supreme courts are the final interpreters of state constitutions and state law, unless their interpretation itself presents a federal issue, in which case a decision may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by way of a petition for writ of certiorari. State laws have dramatically diverged in the centuries since independence, to the extent that the United States cannot be regarded as one legal system as to the majority of types of law traditionally under state control, but must be regarded as 50 "separate" systems of tort law, family law, property law, contract law, criminal law, and so on.


title: Law of the United States

text: Most cases are litigated in state courts and involve claims and defenses under state laws. In a 2012 report, the National Center for State Courts' Court Statistics Project found that state trial courts received 103.5 million newly filed cases in 2010, which consisted of 56.3 million traffic cases, 20.4 million criminal cases, 19.0 million civil cases, 5.9 million domestic relations cases, and 1.9 million juvenile cases. In 2010, state appellate courts received 272,795 new cases. By way of comparison, all federal district courts in 2016 together received only about 274,552 new civil cases, 79,787 new criminal cases, and 833,515 bankruptcy cases, while federal appellate courts received 53,649 new cases.


title: Law of the United States

text: States have delegated lawmaking powers to thousands of agencies, townships, counties, cities, and special districts. And all the state constitutions, statutes and regulations (as well as all the ordinances and regulations promulgated by local entities) are subject to judicial interpretation like their federal counterparts.


title: Law of the United States

text: It is common for residents of major U.S. metropolitan areas to live under six or more layers of special districts as well as a town or city, and a county or township (in addition to the federal and state governments). Thus, at any given time, the average American citizen is subject to the rules and regulations of several dozen different agencies at the federal, state, and local levels, depending upon one's current location and behavior.


title: Law of the United States

text: American lawyers draw a fundamental distinction between procedural law (which controls the procedure by which legal duties and rights are vindicated) and substantive law (the actual substance of law, which is usually expressed in the form of various legal rights and duties).


title: Law of the United States

text: Criminal law involves the prosecution by the state of wrongful acts which are considered to be so serious that they are a breach of the sovereign's peace (and cannot be deterred or remedied by mere lawsuits between private parties). Generally, crimes can result in incarceration, but torts (see below) cannot. The majority of the crimes committed in the United States are prosecuted and punished at the state level. Federal criminal law focuses on areas specifically relevant to the federal government like evading payment of federal income tax, mail theft, or physical attacks on federal officials, as well as interstate crimes like drug trafficking and wire fraud.


title: Law of the United States

text: All states have somewhat similar laws in regard to "higher crimes" (or felonies), such as murder and rape, although penalties for these crimes may vary from state to state. Capital punishment is permitted in some states but not others. Three strikes laws in certain states impose harsh penalties on repeat offenders.


title: Law of the United States

text: Some states distinguish between two levels: felonies and misdemeanors (minor crimes). Generally, most felony convictions result in lengthy prison sentences as well as subsequent probation, large fines, and orders to pay restitution directly to victims; while misdemeanors may lead to a year or less in jail and a substantial fine. To simplify the prosecution of traffic violations and other relatively minor crimes, some states have added a third level, infractions. These may result in fines and sometimes the loss of one's driver's license, but no jail time.


title: Law of the United States

text: On average, only three percent of criminal cases are resolved by jury trial; 97 percent are terminated either by plea bargaining or dismissal of the charges.


title: Law of the United States

text: For public welfare offenses where the state is punishing merely risky (as opposed to injurious) behavior, there is significant diversity across the various states. For example, punishments for drunk driving varied greatly prior to 1990. State laws dealing with drug crimes still vary widely, with some states treating possession of small amounts of drugs as a misdemeanor offense or as a medical issue and others categorizing the same offense as a serious felony.


title: Law of the United States

text: The law of criminal procedure in the United States consists of a massive overlay of federal constitutional case law interwoven with the federal and state statutes that actually provide the foundation for the creation and operation of law enforcement agencies and prison systems as well as the proceedings in criminal trials. Due to the perennial inability of legislatures in the U.S. to enact statutes that would actually force law enforcement officers to respect the constitutional rights of criminal suspects and convicts, the federal judiciary gradually developed the exclusionary rule as a method to enforce such rights. In turn, the exclusionary rule spawned a family of judge-made remedies for the abuse of law enforcement powers, of which the most famous is the Miranda warning. The writ of "habeas corpus" is often used by suspects and convicts to challenge their detention, while the Third Enforcement Act and "Bivens" actions are used by suspects to recover tort damages for police brutality.


title: Law of the United States

text: The law of civil procedure governs process in all judicial proceedings involving lawsuits between private parties. Traditional common law pleading was replaced by code pleading in 24 states after New York enacted the Field Code in 1850 and code pleading in turn was subsequently replaced again in most states by modern notice pleading during the 20th century. The old English division between common law and equity courts was abolished in the federal courts by the adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1938; it has also been independently abolished by legislative acts in nearly all states. The Delaware Court of Chancery is the most prominent of the small number of remaining equity courts.


title: Law of the United States

text: Thirty-five states have adopted rules of civil procedure modeled after the FRCP (including rule numbers). However, in doing so, they had to make some modifications to account for the fact that state courts have broad general jurisdiction while federal courts have relatively limited jurisdiction.


title: Law of the United States

text: New York, Illinois, and California are the most significant states that have not adopted the FRCP. Furthermore, all three states continue to maintain most of their civil procedure laws in the form of codified statutes enacted by the state legislature, as opposed to court rules promulgated by the state supreme court, on the ground that the latter are undemocratic. But certain key portions of their civil procedure laws have been modified by their legislatures to bring them closer to federal civil procedure.


title: Law of the United States

text: Generally, American civil procedure has several notable features, including extensive pretrial discovery, heavy reliance on live testimony obtained at deposition or elicited in front of a jury, and aggressive pretrial "law and motion" practice designed to result in a pretrial disposition (that is, summary judgment) or a settlement. U.S. courts pioneered the concept of the opt-out class action, by which the burden falls on class members to notify the court that they do not wish to be bound by the judgment, as opposed to opt-in class actions, where class members must join into the class. Another unique feature is the so-called American Rule under which parties generally bear their own attorneys' fees (as opposed to the English Rule of "loser pays"), though American legislators and courts have carved out numerous exceptions.


title: Law of the United States

text: Contract law covers obligations established by agreement (express or implied) between private parties. Generally, contract law in transactions involving the sale of goods has become highly standardized nationwide as a result of the widespread adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code. However, there is still significant diversity in the interpretation of other kinds of contracts, depending upon the extent to which a given state has codified its common law of contracts or adopted portions of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts.


title: Law of the United States

text: Parties are permitted to agree to arbitrate disputes arising from their contracts. Under the Federal Arbitration Act (which has been interpreted to cover "all" contracts arising under federal or state law), arbitration clauses are generally enforceable unless the party resisting arbitration can show unconscionability or fraud or something else which undermines the entire contract.


title: Law of the United States

text: Tort law generally covers any civil action between private parties arising from wrongful acts which amount to a breach of general obligations imposed by law and not by contract. This broad family of civil wrongs involves interference "with person, property, reputation, or commercial or social advantage."


title: Law of the United States

text: Tort law covers the entire imaginable spectrum of wrongs which humans can inflict upon each other, and partially overlaps with wrongs also punishable by criminal law. It is primarily a matter of state law and is usually developed through case law from state appellate courts; it is rarely a matter of federal law, and tort-related statutes are focused on discrete issues like authorizing wrongful death claims (which did not exist at common law). Although the American Law Institute has attempted to standardize tort law through the development of several versions of the Restatement of Torts, many states have chosen to adopt only certain sections of the Restatements and to reject others. Thus, because of its immense size and diversity, American tort law cannot be easily summarized.


title: Law of the United States

text: For example, a few jurisdictions allow actions for negligent infliction of emotional distress even in the absence of physical injury to the plaintiff, but most do not. For any particular tort, states differ on the causes of action, types and scope of remedies, statutes of limitations, and the amount of specificity with which one must plead the cause. With practically any aspect of tort law, there is a "majority rule" adhered to by most states, and one or more "minority rules."


title: Law of the United States

text: Notably, the most broadly influential innovation of 20th-century American tort law was the rule of strict liability for defective products, which originated with judicial glosses on the law of warranty. In 1963, Roger J. Traynor of the Supreme Court of California threw away legal fictions based on warranties and imposed strict liability for defective products as a matter of public policy in the landmark case of "Greenman v. Yuba Power Products". The American Law Institute subsequently adopted a slightly different version of the "Greenman" rule in Section 402A of the "Restatement (Second) of Torts", which was published in 1964 and was very influential throughout the United States. Outside the U.S., the rule was adopted by the European Economic Community in the Product Liability Directive of July 1985, by Australia in July 1992, and by Japan in June 1994.


title: Law of the United States

text: By the 1990s, the avalanche of American cases resulting from "Greenman" and Section 402A had become so complicated that another restatement was needed, which occurred with the 1997 publication of the "Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability".


title: Law of the United States

text: Historically, American property law has been heavily influenced by English land law, and is therefore concerned with real property first and personal property second. It is also primarily a matter of state law, and the level of interstate diversity in the law of property is much more substantial than in contract and tort. In the 1970s, the Uniform Law Commission's project to standardize state real property law was a spectacular failure. The majority of states use a title recording system (coupled with privately provided title insurance) to manage title to real property, although title registration ("Torrens" title) is also allowed in a small minority of states. Title to personal property is usually not registered, with the notable exceptions of motor vehicles (through a state department of motor vehicles or equivalent), bicycles (in certain cities and counties), and some types of firearms (in certain states).


title: Law of the United States

text: In the United States, family law governs relationships between adults, and relationships between parents and their children. As a discrete area of law worthy of its own specialists and law professors, American family law is relatively young in comparison to European family law; it did not take flight until the no-fault divorce revolution of the 1960s. Before the 1950s, widespread religious, legal, and social prohibitions against divorce in the United States meant that divorces were rare, were often seen as fact-driven matters (meaning that they were perceived as turning on each case's facts and not broadly generalizable legal principles), and rarely went up on appeal. The rise of no-fault divorce caused divorce litigation to shift away from the question of who was at fault for the collapse of the marital relationship and to focus instead on issues such as division of property, spousal support, and child support.


title: Law of the United States

text: Family cases are traditionally a matter of state law and are virtually always heard only in state courts. Certain kinds of contract, tort, and property civil actions involving state law issues can be heard in federal courts under diversity jurisdiction, but federal courts decline to hear family cases under the "domestic relations exception" to diversity jurisdiction.


title: Law of the United States

text: Although family cases are heard in state courts, there has been a trend towards federalization of certain specific issues in family law. State courts and the lawyers who practice before them must be aware of federal income tax and bankruptcy implications of a divorce judgment, federal constitutional rights to abortion and paternity, and federal statutes governing interstate child custody disputes and interstate child support enforcement.


title: Brian Brobbey

text: Brian Ebenezer Adjei Brobbey (born 1 February 2002) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker for Eredivisie club Ajax.


title: Brian Brobbey

text: Brobbey made his Ajax debut in the Eredivisie on 31 October 2020, coming on as a substitute and scoring in a 5–2 victory over Fortuna Sittard. He made his European debut in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League against Atalanta on 9 December 2020 and his performance was praised by coach Erik ten Hag.


title: Brian Brobbey

text: On 3 February 2021, Ajax director of football Marc Overmars, confirmed that Brobbey would leave the club at the expiry of his contract at the end of the season. Brobbey scored his first goal in a European competition on 18 February, netting Ajax's second goal in their Europa League round of 32 first leg away win over Lille.


title: Brian Brobbey

text: On 27 December 2021, it was announced that Brobbey would return to Ajax on a six-month loan spell without an option to buy. He was assigned shirt number 18, previously worn that season by Jurgen Ekkelenkamp. He made his first appearance on 16 January 2022 in an away match against FC Utrecht as the starting striker, securing two goals before being substituted-off in the 70th minute for Davy Klaassen in a 3–0 victory.


title: Brian Brobbey

text: On 22 July 2022, Ajax confirmed the re-signing of Brian Brobbey on a five-year contract for a fee of €16.35 million plus €3 million in potential add ons.


title: Brian Brobbey

text: Born in the Netherlands, Brobbey is of Ghanaian descent. Brobbey represented the Netherlands U17 at both the 2018 and 2019 editions of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, winning both competitions respectively.


title: Brian Brobbey

text: He is a younger brother of fellow football player Samuel Brobbey and cousin to Derrick Luckassen and Kevin Luckassen.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Ansible is a suite of software tools that enables infrastructure as code. It is open-source and the suite includes software provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment functionality.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Originally written by Michael DeHaan and acquired by Red Hat in 2015, Ansible is designed to configure both Unix-like systems and Microsoft Windows. Ansible is agentless, relying on temporary remote connections via SSH or Windows Remote Management which allows PowerShell execution. The Ansible control node runs on most Unix-like systems that are able to run Python, including Windows with Windows Subsystem for Linux installed. System configuration is defined in part by using its own declarative language.


title: Ansible (software)

text: The term "ansible" was coined by Ursula K. Le Guin in her 1966 novel "Rocannon's World", and refers to fictional instantaneous communication systems.


title: Ansible (software)

text: The Ansible tool was developed by Michael DeHaan, the author of the provisioning server application Cobbler and co-author of the Fedora Unified Network Controller (Func) framework for remote administration.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Ansible, Inc. (originally AnsibleWorks, Inc.) was the company founded in 2013 by DeHaan, Timothy Gerla, and Saïd Ziouani to commercially support and sponsor Ansible. Red Hat acquired Ansible in October 2015.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Ansible is included as part of the Fedora distribution of Linux, owned by Red Hat, and is also available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, openSUSE, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Debian, Ubuntu, Scientific Linux, and Oracle Linux via Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux, as well as for other operating systems.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Ansible helps to manage multiple machines by selecting portions of Ansible's inventory stored in simple ASCII text files. The inventory is configurable, and target machine inventory can be sourced dynamically or from cloud-based sources in different formats (YAML, INI).


title: Ansible (software)

text: In contrast with other popular configuration-management software — such as Progress Chef, Puppet, Salt and CFEngine — Ansible uses an "agentless" architecture, with


title: Ansible (software)

text: Ansible software not normally running or even installed on the controlled node. Instead, Ansible orchestrates a node by installing and running modules on the node temporarily via SSH. For the duration of an orchestration task, a process running the module communicates with the controlling machine with a JSON-based protocol via its standard input and output. When Ansible is not managing a node, it does not consume resources on the node because no daemons are run or software installed.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Ansible requires Python to be installed on all managing machines, including pip package manager along with configuration-management software and its dependent packages. Managed network devices require no extra dependencies and are agentless.


title: Ansible (software)

text: The control node (master host) is intended to manage (orchestrate) target machines (nodes termed as "inventory", see below). Control nodes are only available for Linux and the like; Windows OSs are not supported. Multiple control nodes are allowed. Ansible does not require a single controlling machine for orchestration, ensuring that disaster recovery is simple. Nodes are managed by the controlling node over SSH.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Modules are mostly standalone and can be written in a standard scripting language (such as Python, Perl, Ruby, Bash, etc.). One of the guiding goals of modules is idempotency, which means that even if an operation is repeated multiple times (e.g., upon recovery from an outage), it will always place the system into the same state.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Location of target nodes is specified through inventory configuration lists (INI or YAML formatted) located at (on Linux). The configuration file lists either the IP address or hostname of each node that is accessible by Ansible. In addition, nodes can be assigned to groups.


title: Ansible (software)

text: This configuration file specifies three nodes: the first node is specified by an IP address, and the latter two nodes are specified by hostnames. Additionally, the latter two nodes are grouped under the codice_1 group.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Ansible can also use a custom "Dynamic Inventory" script, which can dynamically pull data from a different system, and supports groups of groups.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Playbooks are YAML files that store lists of tasks for repeated executions on managed nodes. Each Playbook maps (associates) a group of hosts to a set of roles. Each role is represented by calls to Ansible tasks.


title: Ansible (software)

text: The Ansible Automation Platform (APP) is a REST API, web service, and web-based interface (application) designed to make Ansible more accessible to people with a wide range of IT skillsets. It is a platform composed of multiple components including developer tooling, an operations interface, as well as an Automation Mesh to enable automation tasks at scale across data centers. AAP is a commercial product supported by Red Hat, Inc. but derived 17+ upstream open source projects including the AWX upstream project (formerly Ansible Tower derived from), which has been open source since September 2017.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Control machines have to be a Linux/Unix host (for example BSD, CentOS, Debian, macOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Ubuntu), and Python 2.7 or 3.5 is required.


title: Ansible (software)

text: Managed nodes, if they are Unix-like, must have Python 2.4 or later. For managed nodes with Python 2.5 or earlier, the codice_2 package is also required. Since version 1.7, Ansible can also manage Windows nodes. In this case, native PowerShell remoting supported by the WS-Management protocol is used instead of SSH.


title: Adam West (Family Guy)

text: Mayor Adam West is a fictional character voiced by actor [[Adam West]] on the American [[animated series|animated television]] series "[[Family Guy]]". He was depicted as the [[mayor]] of the town of [[Quahog, Rhode Island]], where the show is set. He appeared on a recurring basis from his first appearance in [[Family Guy (season 2)|season 2]] until his final appearance in [[Family Guy (season 17)|season 17]].


title: Adam West (Family Guy)

text: Mayor West is characterized as an intense yet friendly, soft-spoken, childish crackpot whose [[delusion]]s often came at great expense and sometimes danger to citizens of Quahog. His [[psychotic]] whims include dispatching the entire Quahog police department to [[Cartagena, Colombia]], to search for the fictional character Elaine Wilder from the 1984 film "[[Romancing the Stone]]", or wasting council money on a solid gold statue of the [[Honey Smacks|Dig 'Em]] frog, and cementing coffins since he is afraid the dead will return as [[zombie]]s.


title: Adam West (Family Guy)

text: In the episode "[[420 (Family Guy)|420]]", he legalizes [[marijuana]] after listening to a song Brian sings ("A Bag o' Weed"), only to re-criminalize it a few days later when Brian is bribed to sing a song condemning the substance. He was also a [[brainwashing|brainwashed]] Russian sleeper spy activated by the phrase "Gosh, that Italian family at the next table sure is quiet". In the episode "[[Brothers & Sisters (Family Guy)|Brothers & Sisters]]", he marries Lois' sister Carol. In "[[Road to the Multiverse]]", it is revealed that he is 95% helium. The episode "[[Dr. C and the Women]]" strongly suggests he is fully sane and his bizarre antics are actually a smokescreen to throw people off and cover up a dark, murderous side.


title: Adam West (Family Guy)

text: "[[Family Guy]]" creator [[Seth MacFarlane]] wrote several episodes of the cartoon series "[[Johnny Bravo]]". West played a similarly intense and odd rendition of himself in an episode written by MacFarlane, "Johnny Meets Adam West!", first broadcast in December 1997. In the episode, West's fictionalized persona displays similar deluded characteristics to the later "Family Guy" character, such as believing a race of megalomaniac mole-people lives under a local golf course. However, he dressed formally and behaved slightly similarly to his character in the 1960s series of "[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]". MacFarlane found West's character and performance in "Johnny Bravo" so funny that he created a similar character for "Family Guy".


title: Adam West (Family Guy)

text: Following the real [[Adam West]]'s death on June 9, 2017, Mayor West died offscreen in "Family Guy" as revealed in the episode "[[Family Guy (season 17)|Adam West High]]". Following his death, MacFarlane said, ""Family Guy" has lost its mayor. He is irreplaceable". Producer [[Steve Callaghan]] told "[[Entertainment Weekly]]" that there were still five unaired episodes featuring West that would air in the upcoming season. Callaghan revealed that they had not decided how they were going to address the departure of West's character from the series, while also revealing that it is something they have been dealing with concerning the loss of [[Carrie Fisher]] in December 2016. Callaghan went on to say that both the departures of Fisher and West from the show will certainly reflect the importance that each of their characters and actors had within the series.


title: Adam West (Family Guy)

text: Starting in the episode "Wild Wild West", West's position as Mayor of Quahog was later assumed by the character's rural cousin, Wild West, who is portrayed by [[Sam Elliott]].


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from "Yehudei Teman"; ) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population immigrated to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet. After several waves of persecution throughout Yemen, the vast majority of Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, while smaller communities live in the United States and elsewhere. Only a handful remain in Yemen. The few remaining Jews experience intense, and at times violent, anti-Semitism on a daily basis.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Yemenite Jews have a unique religious tradition that distinguishes them from Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardi Jews, and other Jewish groups. They have been described as "the most Jewish of all Jews" and "the ones who have preserved the Hebrew language the best". Yemenite Jews fall within the "Mizrahi" (eastern) category of Jews, though they differ from other Mizrahi Jews who have undergone a process of total or partial assimilation to Sephardic liturgy and custom. While the Shami sub-group of Yemenite Jews did adopt a Sephardic-influenced rite, this was mostly due to it being forced upon them, and did not reflect a demographic or general cultural shift among the vast majority of Yemenite Jews.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Some Jewish families have preserved traditions relating to their tribal affiliation, based on partial genealogical records passed down generation after generation. In Yemen, for example, some Jews trace their lineage to Judah, others to Benjamin, while yet others to Levi and Reuben. Of particular interest is one distinguished Jewish family of Yemen who traced their lineage to Bani, one of the sons of Peretz, the son of Judah.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: There are numerous accounts and traditions concerning the arrival of Jews in various regions in Southern Arabia. One tradition suggests that King Solomon sent Jewish merchant marines to Yemen to prospect for gold and silver with which to adorn his Temple in Jerusalem. In 1881, the French vice consulate in Yemen wrote to the leaders of the Alliance (the Alliance Israelite Universelle) in France, that he read in a book by the Arab historian Abu-Alfada that the Jews of Yemen settled in the area in 1451 BCE. Another legend says that Yemeni tribes converted to Judaism after the Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon. The Sanaite Jews have a tradition that their ancestors settled in Yemen forty-two years before the destruction of the First Temple. It is said that under the prophet Jeremiah some 75,000 Jews, including priests and Levites, traveled to Yemen. Another legend states that when Ezra commanded the Jews to return to Jerusalem they disobeyed, whereupon he pronounced a ban upon them. According to this legend, as a punishment for this hasty action, Ezra was denied burial in Israel. As a result of this local tradition, which cannot be validated historically, it is said that no Jew of Yemen gives the name of Ezra to a child, although all other Biblical appellatives are used. The Yemenite Jews claim that Ezra cursed them to be a poor people for not heeding his call. This seems to have come true in the eyes of some Yemenites, as Yemen is extremely poor. However, some Yemenite sages in Israel today emphatically reject this story as myth, if not outright blasphemy.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Because of Yemenite Jewry's cultural affiliation with Babylon, historian Yehuda Ratzaby opines that the Jews of Yemen migrated to Yemen from places in Babylonia. Archaeological records referring to Judaism in Yemen started to appear during the rule of the Himyarite Kingdom, established in Yemen in 110 BCE. Various inscription in Musnad script in the second century CE refer to constructions of synagogues approved by Himyarite Kings. In the aftermath of the Bar-Kokhba revolt, there was significant Jewish emigration from Judea to Yemen, which was then famous in the Greco-Roman world for its prosperous trade, particularly in spices. According to local legends, the kingdom's aristocracy converted to Judaism in the 6th century CE. The Christian missionary, Theophilos, who came to Yemen in the mid-fourth century, complained that he had found great numbers of Jews. By 380 CE, Himyarites religious practices had undergone fundamental changes. The inscriptions were no longer addressed to El Maqah or 'Athtar, but to a single deity called Rahman. Debate among scholars continues as to whether the Himyarite monotheism was influenced by Judaism or Christianity. Jews became especially numerous and powerful in the southern part of Arabia, a rich and fertile land of incense and spices and a way station on the routes to Africa, India, and East Asia. The Yemeni tribes did not oppose Jewish presence in their country. By 516, tribal unrest broke out, and several tribal elites fought for power. One of those elites was Joseph Dhu Nuwas or "Yûsuf 'As'ar Yaṯ'ar" as mentioned in ancient south Arabian inscriptions. The actual story of Joseph is murky. Greek and Ethiopian accounts, portray him as a Jewish zealot. Some scholars suggest that he was a converted Jew. Nestorian accounts claim that his mother was a Jew taken captive from Nisibis and bought by a king in Yemen, whose ancestors had formerly converted to Judaism. Syriac and Byzantine sources maintain that Yûsuf ’As’ar sought to convert other Yemeni Christians, but they refused to renounce Christianity. The actual picture, however, remains unclear.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Some scholars believe that Syriac sources reflected a great deal of hatred toward Jews. In 2009 a BBC broadcast defended a claim that Yûsuf ’As’ar offered villagers the choice between conversion to Judaism or death and then massacred 20,000 Christians. The program's producers stated that, "The production team spoke to many historians over 18 months, among them Nigel Groom, who was our consultant, and Professor Abdul Rahman Al-Ansary [former professor of archaeology at the King Saud University in Riyadh]." Inscriptions attributed to Yûsuf ’As’ar himself show the great pride he expressed after killing more than 22,000 Christians in Ẓafār and Najran. According to Jamme, Sabaean inscriptions reveal that the combined war booty (excluding deaths) from campaigns waged against the Abyssinians in Ẓafār, the fighters in ’Ašʻarān, Rakbān, Farasān, Muḥwān (Mocha), and the fighters and military units in Najran, amounted to 12,500 war trophies, 11,000 captives and 290,000 camels and bovines and sheep.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Historian Glen Bowersock described this as a "savage pogrom that the Jewish king of the Arabs launched against the Christians in the city of Najran. The king himself reported in excruciating detail to his Arab and Persian allies about the massacres he had inflicted on all Christians who refused to convert to Judaism." There were also reports of massacres and destruction of places of worship by Christians too. Francis Edward Peters wrote that while there is no doubt that this was a religious persecution, it is equally clear that a political struggle was going on as well. It is likely that Dhu Nuwas was a leader of a liberation movement seeking to free Yemen from an increasing foreign meddling in the nation's affairs, and Judaism became a vital element in the resistance.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: According to ‘Irfan Shahid's "Martyrs of Najran – New Documents", Dhu-Nuwas sent an army of some 120,000 soldiers to lay siege to the city of Najran, which siege lasted for six months, and the city taken and burnt on the 15th day of the seventh month (i.e. the lunar month Tishri). The city had revolted against the king and they refused to deliver it up unto the king. About three hundred of the city's inhabitants surrendered to the king's forces, under the assurances of an oath that no harm would come to them, and these were later bound, while those remaining in the city were burnt alive within their church. The death toll in this account is said to have reached about two thousand. However, in the Sabaean inscriptions describing these events, it is reported that by the month Dhu-Madra'an (between July and September) there were “1000 killed, 1500 prisoners [taken] and 10,000 head of cattle.”


title: Yemenite Jews

text: There are two dates mentioned in the “letter of Simeon of Beit Aršam.” One date indicates the letter was written in Tammuz in the year 830 of Alexander (518/519 CE), from the camp of GBALA (Jebala), king of the ‘SNYA (Ghassanids or the Ġassān clan). In it, he tells of the events that transpired in Najran, while the other date puts the letter's composition in the year 835 of Alexander (523/524 CE). The second letter, however, is actually a Syriac copy of the original, copied in the year 1490 of the Seleucid Era (= 1178/79 CE). Today, it is largely agreed that the latter date is the accurate one, as it is confirmed by the Martyrium Arethae, as well as by epigraphic records, namely Sabaean inscriptions discovered in the Asir of Saudi-Arabia (Bi’r Ḥimâ), photographed by J. Ryckmans in Ry 507, 8 ~ 9, and by A. Jamme in Ja 1028, which give the old Sabaean year 633 for these operations (said to correspond with 523 CE).


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Jacques Ryckmans, who deciphered these inscriptions, writes in his "La Persécution des Chrétiens Himyarites", that Sarah'il Yaqbul-Yaz'an was both the tribal chief and the lieutenant of Yûsuf ’As’ar (the king) at the time of the military campaign, and that he was sent out by the king to take the city of Najran, while the king watched for a possible Abyssinian/Ethiopian incursion along the coastal plains of Yemen near Mokhā (al-Moḫâ) and the strait known as Bāb al-Mandab. The Ethiopian church in Ẓafâr, which had been built by the king of Yemen some years earlier, and another church built by him in Aden (see: "Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius", Epitome of Book III, chapter 4), had been seen by Constantius II during the embassage to the land of the Ḥimyarites (i.e. Yemen) in "circa" 340 CE. By the 6th-century CE, this church was set on fire and razed to the ground, and its Abyssinian inhabitants killed. Later, foreigners (presumably Christians) living in Haḏramawt were also put to death before the king's army advanced to Najran in the far north and took it.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Byzantine emperor Justin I sent a fleet to Yemen and Joseph Dhu Nuwas was killed in battle in 525 CE. The persecutions ceased, and the western coasts of Yemen became a tributary state until Himyarite nobility (also Jews) managed to regain power.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: There are also several historical works which suggest that a Jewish kingdom existed in Yemen during pre-Islamic late antiquity. In Yemen, several inscriptions dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries CE have been found in Hebrew and Sabaean praising the ruling house in Jewish terms for "helping and empowering the People of Israel". In Bayt al-Ḥāḍir, a village east of Sana'a, German specialist in Semitic epigraphy, Walter W. Müller, discovered in the village mosque an important Judeo-Ḥimyarite inscription showing a partial list of the 24-priestly wards described in "IChronicles 24", which said inscription happened to be engraved upon a column believed to have formerly belonged to a synagogue. Yet, even here, part of the inscription was embedded in the ground belonging to the mosque. The inscription is believed to date back to the 4th century CE, and attests to the antiquity of the Jews in that area. To that same period belongs another bilingual Sabaean-Hebrew inscription, which orientalist of Naples discovered in 1970. The inscription is found on a column in Bayt al-Ašwāl near Ẓafār [Dhofār] (c. 17 km. from the town of Yarim) and shows, interposed on an earlier writing, the words, "The writing of Judah, of blessed memory, Amen shalom amen," engraved in antiquated Assyrian (Hebrew) script in between larger, sculpted Sabaean script. The inscription is thought to date back to either the 4th or 5th-century CE.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: As "Ahl al-Kitab" (lit. "The People of the Scriptures"), Jews were assured freedom of religion only in exchange for payment of a poll-tax (Arabic: "jizya"), imposed on certain non-Muslim monotheists (people of the Book). Feudal overlords imposed the annual poll-tax upon Jews, which, under Islamic law, was to ensure their status as protected persons of the state. This tax (tribute) was assessed against every male thirteen years and older, and its remittance varied between the wealthy and the poor. In the early 20th century, this amounted to one Maria Theresa thaler ("riyal") for a poor man, two thalers in specie for the middle classes, and four or more thalers for the rich. Upon payment, Jews were also exempt from paying the "zakat" which must be paid by Muslims once their residual wealth reaches a certain threshold. Active persecution of Jews did not gain full force until the Zaydi clan seized power, from the more tolerant Sunni Muslims, early in the 10th century. The legal status of Jews in Yemen started to deteriorate around the time the Tahirids took Sana'a from Zaidis, mainly because of new discriminations established by the Muslim rulers. Such laws were not included in Zaidi legal writings till comparatively late with "Kitab al-Azhar" of Imam al-Murtada in the first half of the 15th century. This also led to deterioration of economic and social situation of Jews.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Jewish intellectuals wrote in both Hebrew and Arabic and engaged in the same literary endeavours as the Muslim majority. According to a late 9th century document, the first Zaydi imam al-Hadi had imposed limitations and a special tax on land held by Jews and Christians of Najran. In the mid-11th century, Jews from a number of communities in Yemen highlands including Sana'a appear to have been attracted to Sulayhids' capital of Dhu Jibla. The city was founded by Abdullah bin Muhammad al-Sulaihi in the mid-11th century and according to "Tarikh al-Yamman" of the famed Yemenite author Umara al-Yamani (1121–74), was named after a Jewish pottery merchant.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: During the 12th century, Aden was first ruled by Fatimids and then Ayyubids. The city formed a great emporium on the sea route to India. Documents of the Cairo Geniza pertaining to Aden reflect a thriving Jewish community led by the prominent Bundar family. Abu Ali Hasan ibn Bundar (Heb. Japheth) served as the head of the Jewish communities in Yemen as well as a representative of the merchants in Aden. His son Madmun was the central figure in Yemenite Jewry during the flourishing of trade with India. The Bundar family produced some celebrated "negidim" who exerted authorities over Jews of Yemen as well as Jewish merchants in India and Ceylon. The community developed communal and spiritual connection in addition to business and family ties with other Jewish communities in the Islamic world. They also developed ties with and funded Jewish centers and academies of Babylon, Palestine and Egypt. Due to the trade, Jews also emigrated to Aden for mercantile and personal reasons.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Yemenite Jews also experienced violent persecution at times. In the late 1160s, the Yemenite ruler 'Abd-al-Nabī ibn Mahdi gave Jews a choice of conversion to Islam or martyrdom. Mahdi also imposed his beliefs upon the Muslims besides the Jews. This led to a revival of Jewish messianism, but also led to mass-conversion. While a popular local Yemenite Jewish preacher called on Jews to choose martyrdom, Maimonides sent what is known by the name "Iggeret Teman" ("Epistle to Yemen"), requesting that they remain faithful to their religion, but if at all possible, not to cast affronts before their antagonists. The persecution ended in 1173 with the defeat of Ibn Mahdi and conquest of Yemen by Turan-Shah, the brother of Saladin, and they were allowed to return to their faith. According to two Genizah documents, the Ayyubid ruler of Yemen, al-Malik al-Mu'izz al-Ismail (reigned 1197—1202) attempted to force the Jews of Aden to convert. The second document details the relief of Jewish community after his murder and those who had been forced to convert reverted to Judaism.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: The rule of Shafi'i Rasulids which lasted from 1229 to 1474 brought stability to the region. During this period, Jews enjoyed social and economic prosperity. This changed with the rise of the Tahiri dynasty that ruled until the conquest by the Ottoman Empire of Yemen in 1517. A note written in a Jewish manuscript mentions the destruction of the old synagogue in Sana'a in 1457 under the rule of the dynasty's founder Ahmad 'Amir. An important note of the treatment of Jews by Tahirids is found in the colophon of a Jewish manuscript from Yemen in 1505, when the last Tahirid Sultan took Sana'a from the Zaydis. The document describes one kingdom as exploitive and the other as repressive.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: The Jewish communities experienced a messianic episode with the rise of another Messiah claimant in Bayhan District, mentioned by Hayim bin Yahya Habhush in "History of the Jews in Yemen" written in 1893 and Ba'faqia al-Shihri's "Chronicle" written in the 16th century. The messiah was acknowledged as a political figure and gathered many people around him into what seemed to be an organized military force. The Tahirid Sultan Amir ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab attacked the messiah, killing many Jews and crushing the movement. He saw it as a violation of the protection agreement and liquidated the Jewish settlement in Hadhramaut as collective punishment. Presumably some of them were killed, many converted to Islam or migrated to Aden and the adjacent mainland of Yemen. It seems, however, the liquidation wasn't immediate. Jews of the place are recorded by 1527, but not by the 1660s. After the 15th century, Jewish communities only existed in Hadhramaut's western periphery. The oppression at the hands of pious Muslim rulers and endangerment of the community because of the plots of a few Jewish messianists, are common themes in the history of Yemenite Jews. The Ottoman conquest allowed Yemenite Jews a chance to have contact with other Jewish communities; contact was established with the Kabbalists in Safed, a major Jewish center, as well as with Jewish communities throughout the Ottoman Empire.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Moses Maimonides (1138–1204), the 12th-century philosopher, scholar and codifier of Jewish law, was greatly endeared by the Jews of Yemen for his having intervened on their behalf during a time of religious persecution, heresy and heavy taxes levied on the community. When the writings of Maimonides reached the heads of the community, they continued to address their questions unto him and sent emissaries to purchase several copies of his books, just as he, himself, acknowledged. In all the subjects of the Torah, Yemenite Jews customarily base their rule of practice (halakhah) on Maimonides' teachings, and will instruct in accordance with his view, whether in lenient rulings or in strict rulings, even where most other halakhic authorities disagree. Even so, some ancient customs remained with the Yemenite Jews, especially in those matters committed unto the masses and to the general public, which are still adhered to by them from an ancient period, and which they did not change even though Maimonides rules otherwise. In common Jewish practice, the Jews of Yemen dissented with Maimonides' rulings in more than 50 places, ten of which places are named explicitly by Rabbi Yosef Qafih.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: The Zaydi enforced a statute known as the Orphan's Decree, anchored in their own 18th-century legal interpretations and enforced at the end of that century. It obligated the Zaydi state to take under its protection and to educate in Islamic ways any dhimmi (i.e. non-Muslim) child whose parents had died when he was a minor. The Orphan's Decree was ignored during the Ottoman rule (1872–1918), but was renewed during the period of Imam Yahya (1918–1948).


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Under the Zaydi rule, the Jews were considered to be impure and therefore forbidden to touch a Muslim or a Muslim's food. They were obligated to humble themselves before a Muslim, to walk to the left side, and greet him first. They could not build houses higher than a Muslim's or ride a camel or horse, and when riding on a mule or a donkey, they had to sit sideways. Upon entering the Muslim quarter a Jew had to take off his foot-gear and walk barefoot. If attacked with stones or fists by youth, a Jew was not allowed to fight them. In such situations, he had the option of fleeing or seeking intervention by a merciful Muslim passerby.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: Ottoman rule ended in 1630, when the Zaydis took over Yemen. Jews were once again persecuted. In 1679, under the rule of Al-Mahdi Ahmad, Jews were expelled "en masse" from all parts of Yemen to the distant province of Mawza, and many Jews died there of starvation and disease as consequence. As many as two-thirds of the exiled Jews did not survive. Their houses and property were seized, and many synagogues were destroyed or converted into mosques. This event was later known as the Mawza exile, and it is recalled in many writings of the Yemenite Jewish rabbi and poet Shalom Shabazi, who experienced it himself. About a year after the expulsion, the survivors were allowed to return for economic reasons; Jews were the majority of craftsmen and artisans, and thus a vital asset in the country's economy. However, they were not allowed to return to their former homes, and found that most of their religious articles had been destroyed. They were instead resettled in special Jewish quarters outside the cities.


title: Yemenite Jews

text: The Jewish community recovered partly because of Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, also called "Sahib al-Mawahib", who protected them and allowed them to return to their previous status. He rejected the pleas for Jewish deportation by the clerics and maintained ties with the Jewish 'Iraqi family which was charged with the mint house. From the end of the 17th century, the Jews ran the mint house of the imams. In 1725, Imam Al-Mutawakkil ordered closure of synagogues because of the Jews selling wine to Muslims. However, their closure was rejected by a religious legal ruling that these synagogues were permitted by his predecessors.