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Assault

An assault is the illegal act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both. Additionally, assault is a criminal act in which a person intentionally causes fear of physical harm or offensive contact to another person. Assault can be committed with or without a weapon and can range from physical violence to threats of violence. Assault is frequently referred to as an attempt to commit battery, which is the deliberate use of physical force against another person. The deliberate inflicting of fear, apprehension, or terror is another definition of assault that can be found in several legal systems. Depending on the severity of the offense, assault may result in a fine, imprisonment, or even death.

Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and tort law.

Traditionally, common law legal systems have separate definitions for assault and battery. When this distinction is observed, battery refers to the actual bodily contact, whereas assault refers to a credible threat or attempt to cause battery. Some jurisdictions combined the two offenses into a single crime called "assault and battery", which then became widely referred to as "assault". The result is that in many of these jurisdictions, assault has taken on a definition that is more in line with the traditional definition of battery. The legal systems of civil law and Scots law have never distinguished assault from battery.

Legal systems generally acknowledge that assaults can vary greatly in severity. In the United States, an assault can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. In England and Wales and Australia, it can be charged as either common assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) or grievous bodily harm (GBH). Canada also has a three-tier system: assault, assault causing bodily harm and aggravated assault. Separate charges typically exist for sexual assaults, affray and assaulting a police officer. Assault may overlap with an attempted crime; for example, an assault may be charged as attempted murder if it was done with intent to kill.

Battery
Battery is a criminal offense that involves the use of physical force against another person without their consent. It is a type of assault and is considered a serious crime. Battery can include a wide range of actions, from slapping someone to causing serious harm or even death. Depending on the severity of the offense, it can carry a wide range of punishments, including jail time, fines, and probation.

In jurisdictions that make a distinction between the two, assault usually accompanies battery if the assailant both threatens to make unwanted contact and then carries through with this threat. See common assault. The elements of battery are that it is a volitional act, done for the purpose of causing a harmful or offensive contact with another person or under circumstances that make such contact substantially certain to occur, and which causes such contact.

Aggravated assault
Aggravated assault is a violent crime that involves violence or the threat of violence. It is generally described as an intentional act that causes another person to fear imminent physical harm or injury. This can include the use of a weapon, or the threat of using a weapon. It is usually considered a felony offense and can carry severe penalties. Aggravated assault is often considered a very serious crime and can lead to long-term prison sentences.

Aggravated assault is, in some jurisdictions, a stronger form of assault, usually using a deadly weapon. A person has committed an aggravated assault when that person attempts to:
 * cause serious bodily injury to another person with a deadly weapon
 * have sexual relations with a person who is under the age of consent
 * cause bodily harm by recklessly operating a motor vehicle during road rage; often referred to as either vehicular assault or aggravated assault with a motor vehicle.

Aggravated assault can also be charged in cases of attempted harm against police officers or other public servants.

Defenses
Although the range and precise application of defenses varies between jurisdictions, the following represents a list of the defenses that may apply to all levels of assault:

Consent
Exceptions exist to cover unsolicited physical contact which amount to normal social behavior known as de minimis harm. Assault can also be considered in cases involving the spitting on, or unwanted exposure of bodily fluids to others.

Consent may be a complete or partial defense to assault. In some jurisdictions, most notably England, it is not a defense where the degree of injury is severe, as long as there is no legally recognized good reason for the assault. This can have important consequences when dealing with issues such as consensual sadomasochistic sexual activity, the most notable case being the Operation Spanner case. Legally recognized good reasons for consent include surgery, activities within the rules of a game (mixed martial arts, wrestling, boxing, or contact sports), bodily adornment (R v Wilson [1996] Crim LR 573), or horseplay (R v Jones [1987] Crim LR 123). However, any activity outside the rules of the game is not legally recognized as a defense of consent. In Scottish law, consent is not a defense for assault.

Arrest and other official acts
Police officers and court officials have a general power to use force for the purpose of performing an arrest or generally carrying out their official duties. Thus, a court officer taking possession of goods under a court order may use force if reasonably necessary.

Punishment
In some jurisdictions such as Singapore, judicial corporal punishment is part of the legal system. The officers who administer the punishment have immunity from prosecution for assault.

In the United States, England, Northern Ireland, Australia and Canada, corporal punishment administered to children by their parent or legal guardian is not legally considered to be assault unless it is deemed to be excessive or unreasonable. What constitutes "reasonable" varies in both statutory law and case law. Unreasonable physical punishment may be charged as assault or under a separate statute for child abuse.

In English law, s. 58 Children Act 2004 limits the availability of the lawful correction defense to common assault. This defence was abolished in Wales in 2022.

Many countries, including some US states, also permit the use of controversial corporal punishment for children in school or home.

Prevention of crime
This may or may not involve self-defense in that, using a reasonable degree of force to prevent another from committing a crime could involve preventing an assault, but it could be preventing a crime not involving the use of personal violence.

Defense of property
Some jurisdictions allow force to be used in defense of property, to prevent damage either in its own right, or under one or both of the preceding classes of defense in that a threat or attempt to damage property might be considered a crime (in English law, under s5 Criminal Damage Act 1971 it may be argued that the defendant has a lawful excuse to damage property during the defense and a defense under s3 Criminal Law Act 1967) subject to the need to deter vigilantes and excessive self-help. Furthermore, some jurisdictions, such as Ohio, allow residents in their homes to use force when ejecting an intruder. The resident merely needs to assert to the court that they felt threatened by the intruder's presence.

Regional details
The following are the countries with the most cases of assault according to the United Nations in 2018.

Australia
The term 'assault', when used in legislation, commonly refers to both common assault and battery, even though the two offences remain distinct. Common assault involves intentionally or recklessly causing a person to apprehend the imminent infliction of unlawful force, whilst battery refers to the actual infliction of force.

Each state has legislation relating to the act of assault, and offences against the act that constitute assault are heard in the magistrates' court of that state or indictable offences are heard in a district or supreme court of that state. The legislation that defines assault of each state outline what the elements are that make up the assault, where the assault is sectioned in legislation or criminal codes, and the penalties that apply for the offence of assault.

In New South Wales, the Crimes Act 1900 defines a range of assault offences deemed more serious than common assault and which attract heavier penalties. These include:

Assault with further specific intent

 * Acts done to the person with intent to murder
 * Wounding or grievous bodily harm
 * Use or possession of a weapon to resist arrest

Assault causing certain injuries

 * Actual bodily harm – the term is not defined in the Crimes Act, but case law indicates actual bodily harm may include injuries such as bruises and scratches, as well as psychological injuries if the injury inflicted is more than merely transient (the injury does not necessarily need to be permanent)
 * Wounding – where there is breaking of the skin;
 * Grievous bodily harm – which includes the destruction of a fetus, permanent or serious disfiguring, and transmission of a grievous bodily disease

Assault causing death

 * Death
 * Death when intoxicated (in regards to the offender)

Canada
Assault is an offence under s. 265 of the Canadian Criminal Code. There is a wide range of the types of assault that can occur. Generally, an assault occurs when a person directly or indirectly applies force intentionally to another person without their consent. It can also occur when a person attempts to apply such force, or threatens to do so, without the consent of the other person. An injury need not occur for an assault to be committed, but the force used in the assault must be offensive in nature with an intention to apply force. It can be an assault to "tap", "pinch", "push", or direct another such minor action toward another, but an accidental application of force is not an assault.

The potential punishment for an assault in Canada varies depending on the manner in which the charge proceeds through the court system and the type of assault that is committed. The Criminal Code defines assault as a dual offence (indictable or summary offence). Police officers can arrest someone without a warrant for an assault if it is in the public's interest to do so notwithstanding S.495(2)(d) of the Code. This public interest is usually satisfied by preventing a continuation or repetition of the offence on the same victim.

Some variations on the ordinary crime of assault include:

 * Assault: The offence is defined by section 265 of the Code.
 * Assault with a weapon: Section 267(a) of the Code.
 * Assault causing bodily harm: See assault causing bodily harm Section 267(b) of the Code.
 * Aggravated assault: Section 268 of the Code.
 * Assaulting a peace officer, etc.: Section 270 of the Code.
 * Sexual assault: Section 271 of the Code.
 * Sexual assault with a weapon or threats or causing bodily harm: Section 272 of the Code.
 * Aggravated sexual assault: See aggravated sexual assault.

An individual cannot consent to an assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, aggravated assault, or any sexual assault. Consent will also be vitiated if two people consent to fight but serious bodily harm is intended and caused (R v Paice; R v Jobidon). A person cannot consent to serious bodily harm.

Ancient Greece
Assault in Ancient Greece was normally termed hubris. Contrary to modern usage, the term did not have the extended connotation of overweening pride, self-confidence or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution. In Ancient Greece, "hubris" referred to actions which, intentionally or not, shamed and humiliated the victim, and frequently the perpetrator as well. It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich.

Violations of the law against hubris included, what would today be termed, assault and battery; sexual crimes ranging from forcible rape of women or children to consensual but improper activities; or the theft of public or sacred property. Two well-known cases are found in the speeches of Demosthenes, a prominent statesman and orator in ancient Greece. These two examples occurred when first, in addition to other acts of violence, Meidias allegedly punched Demosthenes in the face in the theater (Against Meidias), and second (Against Konon), when the defendant allegedly severely beat him.

Hubris, though not specifically defined, was a legal term and was considered a crime in classical Athens. It was also considered the greatest sin of the ancient Greek world. That was so because it not only was proof of excessive pride, but also resulted in violent acts by or to those involved. The category of acts constituting hubris for the ancient Greeks apparently broadened from the original specific reference to mutilation of a corpse, or a humiliation of a defeated foe, or irreverent, "outrageous treatment", in general.

The meaning was eventually further generalized in its modern English usage to apply to any outrageous act or exhibition of pride or disregard for basic moral laws. Such an act may be referred to as an "act of hubris", or the person committing the act may be said to be hubristic. Atë, Greek for 'ruin, folly, delusion', is the action performed by the hero, usually because of their hubris, or great pride, that leads to their death or downfall.

Crucial to this definition are the ancient Greek concepts of honor (timē) and shame. The concept of timē included not only the exaltation of the one receiving honor, but also the shaming of the one overcome by the act of hubris. This concept of honor is akin to a zero-sum game. Rush Rehm simplifies this definition to the contemporary concept of "insolence, contempt, and excessive violence".

India
The Indian Penal Code covers the punishments and types of assault in Chapter 16, sections 351 through 358. "Whoever makes any gesture, or any preparation intending or knowing it to be likely that such gesture or preparation will cause any person present to apprehend that he who makes that gesture or preparation is about to use criminal force to that person, is said to commit an assault."

The Code further explains that "mere words do not amount to an assault. But the words which a person uses may give to their gestures or preparation such a meaning as may make those gestures or preparations amount to an assault". Assault is in Indian criminal law an attempt to use criminal force (with criminal force being described in s.350). The attempt itself has been made an offence in India, as in other states.

Nigeria
The Criminal Code Act (chapter 29 of Part V; sections 351 to 365) creates a number of offences of assault. Assault is defined by section 252 of that Act. Assault is a misdemeanor punishable by one year imprisonment; assault with "intent to have carnal knowledge of him or her" or who indecently assaults another, or who commits other more-serious variants of assault (as defined in the Act) are guilty of a felony, and longer prison terms are provided for.

Pacific Islands
Marshall Islands

The offence of assault is created by section 113 of the Criminal Code. A person is guilty of this offence if they unlawfully offer or attempt, with force or violence, to strike, beat, wound, or do bodily harm to, another.

Republic of Ireland
Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997 creates the offence of assault, and section 3 of that Act creates the offence of assault causing harm.

South Africa
South African law does not draw the distinction between assault and battery. Assault is a common law crime defined as "unlawfully and intentionally applying force to the person of another, or inspiring a belief in that other that force is immediately to be applied to him". The law also recognises the crime of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, where grievous bodily harm is defined as "harm which in itself is such as seriously to interfere with health". The common law crime of indecent assault was repealed by the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007, and replaced by a statutory crime of sexual assault.

United Kingdom

 * Piracy with violence: Section 2 of the Piracy Act 1837 provides that it is an offence, amongst other things, for a person, with intent to commit or at the time of or immediately before or immediately after committing the crime of piracy in respect of any ship or vessel, to assault, with intent to murder, any person being on board of or belonging to such ship or vessel.
 * Assault on an officer of Revenue and Customs: This offence (relating to officers of HMRC) is created by section 32(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.
 * Assaulting an immigration officer: This offence is created by section 22(1) of the UK Borders Act 2007.
 * Assaulting an accredited financial investigator: This section is created by section 453A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
 * Assaulting a member of an international joint investigation team: This offence is created by section 57(2) of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
 * Attacks on internationally protected persons: Section 1(1)(a) of the Internationally Protected Persons Act 1978 (c.17) makes provision for assault occasioning actual bodily harm or causing injury on "protected persons" (including Heads of State).
 * Attacks on UN Staff workers: Section 1(2)(a) of the United Nations Personnel Act 1997 (c.13) makes provision for assault causing injury, and section 1(2)(b) makes provision for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, on UN staff.
 * Assault by person committing an offence under the Night Poaching Act 1828: This offence is created by section 2 of the Night Poaching Act 1828.

Abolished offences:

 * Assault on customs and excise officers, etc.: Section 16(1)(a) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c.2) provided that it was an offence to, amongst other things, assault any person duly engaged in the performance of any duty or the exercise of any power imposed or conferred on him by or under any enactment relating to an assigned matter, or any person acting in his aid. For the meaning of "assault" in this provision, see Logdon v. DPP [1976] Crim LR 121, DC. This offence was abolished and replaced by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.
 * Assaulting a person designated under section 43 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005: This offence was created by section 51(1) of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. It related to officers of the Serious Organized Crime Agency and was repealed when that agency was abolished.

England and Wales
English law provides for two offences of assault: common assault and battery. Assault (or common assault) is committed if one intentionally or recklessly causes another person to apprehend immediate and unlawful personal violence. Violence in this context means any unlawful touching, though there is some debate over whether the touching must also be hostile. The terms "assault" and "common assault" often encompass the separate offence of battery, even in statutory settings such as section 40(3)(a) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33).

A common assault is an assault that lacks any of the aggravating features which Parliament has deemed serious enough to deserve a higher penalty. Section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 provides that common assault, like battery, is triable only in a magistrates' court in England and Wales (unless it is linked to a more serious offence, which is triable in the Crown Court). Additionally, if a defendant has been charged on an indictment with assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), or racially/religiously aggravated assault, then a jury in the Crown Court may acquit the defendant of the more serious offence, but still convict of common assault if it finds common assault has been committed.

Aggravated assault
An assault which is aggravated by the scale of the injuries inflicted may be charged as offences causing "actual bodily harm" (ABH) or, in the severest cases, "grievous bodily harm" (GBH).
 * Assault occasioning actual bodily harm: This offence is created by section 47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100).
 * Inflicting grievous bodily harm: Also referred to as "malicious wounding" or "unlawful wounding". This offence is created by section 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100).
 * Causing grievous bodily harm with intent: Also referred to as "wounding with intent". This offence is created by section 18 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100).

Other aggravated assault charges refer to assaults carried out against a specific target or with a specific intent:
 * Assault with intent to rob: The penalty for assault with intent to rob, a common law offence, is provided by section 8(2) of the Theft Act 1968.
 * Racially or religiously aggravated common assault: This offence is created by section 29(1)(c) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (c. 37), defined in terms of the common law offence.
 * Racially or religiously aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm: This offence is created by section 29(1)(b) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (c. 37), defined in terms of the common law offence.
 * Assault with intent to resist arrest: This offence is created by section 38 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100).
 * Assaulting a constable in the execution of his duty: Section 89(1) of the Police Act 1996 (c. 16) provides that it is an offence for a person to assault a constable acting in the execution of his duty or a person assisting a constable in the execution of his duty. It is a summary offence with the same maximum penalty as common assault.
 * Assaulting a traffic officer: This offence is created by section/10 section 10(1) of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (c. 18). This offence applies to Traffic Wardens, Civil Enforcement Officers and PCSOs if they have been conferred with road traffic powers by their force.
 * Assaulting a person designated or accredited under sections 38 or 39 or 41 or 41A of the Police Reform Act 2002: This offence is created by section/46 section 46(1) of the Police Reform Act 2002 (c. 30). Those sections relate respectively to persons given police powers by a chief police officer, such as PCSOs detention officers or contractors retained by police, accredited contractors under a community safety accreditation scheme, and weights and measures inspectors.
 * Assault on a prison custody officer: This offence is created by section 90(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (c. 53).
 * Assault on a secure training centre custody officer: This offence is created by section 13(1) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c. 33).
 * Assault on officer saving wreck: This offence is created by section 37 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100).
 * Assaulting an officer of the court: This offence is created by section 14(1)(b) of the County Courts Act 1984 (c. 28).
 * Cruelty to persons under sixteen: This offence is created by section 1(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5. c. 12) and applies to a person who has responsibility for the child. In England (but not Wales since 2022), common law provides a defence of "reasonable punishment" to battery (i.e. assaults involving touching); the Children Act 2004 (c. 31) limits the defence to exclude, among other offences, cruelty under the 1933 act, but not battery, which implies that smacking is not always to be considered cruelty.
 * Sexual assault: The offence of sexual assault is created by section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42). It is not defined in terms of the offences of common assault or battery. It instead requires intentional touching and the absence of a reasonable belief in consent.
 * Assault by penetration: This offence is defined by section 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42). Whereas rape consists only of penetration with the perpetrator's penis, assault by penetration can be committed with anything, though unlike rape it excludes penetration of the mouth. It carries the same maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
 * Assault on an emergency worker: The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 (c. 23) makes common assault an either way offence (section 1) when committed against an emergency worker (defined in section 3), with a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment if tried on indictment. The act did not repeal any enactments, so the existing offence of assault on a constable is still available, but that offence cannot be tried on indictment and is therefore limited to six months.

Scotland
In Scots law, assault is defined as an "attack upon the person of another". There is no distinction made in Scotland between assault and battery (which is not a term used in Scots law), although, as in England and Wales, assault can be occasioned without a physical attack on another's person, as demonstrated in Atkinson v. HM Advocate wherein the accused was found guilty of assaulting a shop assistant by simply jumping over a counter while wearing a ski mask. The court said:

"[A]n assault may be constituted by threatening gestures sufficient to produce alarm"

Scots law also provides for a more serious charge of aggravated assault on the basis of such factors as severity of injury, the use of a weapon, or Hamesucken (to assault a person in their own home). The mens rea for assault is simply "evil intent", although this has been held to mean no more than that assault "cannot be committed accidentally or recklessly or negligently" as upheld in Lord Advocate's Reference No 2 of 1992 where it was found that a "hold-up" in a shop justified as a joke would still constitute an offence.

It is a separate offence to assault on a constable in the execution of their duty, under section 90 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (asp 8) (previously section 41 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 (c. 77)) which provides that it is an offence for a person to, amongst other things, assault a constable in the execution of their duty or a person assisting a constable in the execution of their duty.

Northern Ireland
Several offences of assault exist in Northern Ireland. The Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) creates the offences of: The Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 1968 (c. 28 (N.I.)) creates the offences of:
 * Common assault and battery: a summary offence, under section 42;
 * Aggravated assault and battery: a summary offence, under section 43
 * Common assault: under section 47
 * Assault occasioning actual bodily harm: under section 47
 * Assault with intent to resist arrest: under section 7(1)(b); this offence was formerly created by section 38 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. 100).

That act formerly created the offence of 'Assault on a constable in the execution of his duty'. under section 7(1)(a), but that section has been superseded by section 66(1) of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 (c. 32) which now provides that it is an offence for a person to, amongst other things, assault a constable in the execution of his duty, or a person assisting a constable in the execution of his duty.

United States

In the United States, assault may be defined as an attempt to commit a battery. However, the crime of assault can encompass acts in which no battery is intended, but the defendant's act nonetheless creates reasonable fear in others that a battery will occur.

Four elements were required at common law:
 * The apparent, present ability to carry out;
 * An unlawful attempt;
 * To commit a violent injury;
 * Upon another.

As the criminal law evolved, element one was weakened in most jurisdictions so that a reasonable fear of bodily injury would suffice. These four elements were eventually codified in most states.

The crime of assault generally requires that both the perpetrator and the victim of an assault be a natural person. Thus, unless the attack is directed by a person, an animal attack does not constitute an assault. However, under limited circumstances the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 treats a fetus as a separate person for the purposes of assault and other violent crimes.

Possible examples of defenses, mitigating circumstances, or failures of proof that may be raised in response to an assault charge include:
 * Lack of intent: A defendant could argue that since they were drunk, they could not form the specific intent to commit assault. This defense would most likely fail, however, since only involuntary intoxication is accepted as a defense in most American jurisdictions.
 * Mutual consent: A defendant could also argue that they were engaged in mutually consensual behavior. For example, boxers who are fighting in an organized boxing match and do not significantly deviate from the rules of the sport cannot be charged with assault.

State laws
Laws on assault vary by state. Since each state has its own criminal laws, there is no universal assault law. Acts classified as assault in one state may be classified as battery, menacing, intimidation, reckless endangerment, etc. in another state. Assault is often subdivided into two categories, simple assault and aggravated assault.
 * Simple assault involves an intentional act that causes another person to be in reasonable fear of an imminent battery. Simple assault may also involve an attempt to cause harm to another person, where that attempt does not succeed. Simple assault is typically classified as a misdemeanor offense, unless the victim is a member of a protected class, such as being a law enforcement officer. Even as a misdemeanor, an assault conviction may still result in incarceration and in a criminal record.
 * Aggravated assault involves more serious actions, such as an assault that is committed with the intent to cause a serious bodily injury, or an assault that is committed with a deadly weapon such as a firearm. Aggravated assault is typically classified as a felony offense.

Modern American statutes may define assault as including:
 * an attempt to cause or purposely, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to another
 * negligently causing bodily injury to another with a dangerous weapon (assault with a deadly weapon).
 * causing bodily harm by reckless operation of a motor vehicle (vehicular assault).
 * threatening another in a menacing manner.
 * knowingly causing physical contact with another person knowing the other person will regard the contact as offensive or provocative
 * causing stupor, unconsciousness or physical injury by intentionally administering a drug or controlled substance without consent
 * purposely or knowingly causing reasonable apprehension of bodily injury in another
 * any act which is intended to place another in fear of immediate physical contact which will be painful, injurious, insulting, or offensive, coupled with the apparent ability to execute the act.

In some states, consent is a complete defense to assault. In other jurisdictions, mutual consent is an incomplete defense to an assault charge such that an assault charge is prosecuted as a less significant offense such as a petty misdemeanor.

States vary on whether it is possible to commit an "attempted assault" since it can be considered a double inchoate offense.

Kansas
In Kansas the law on assault states:

"Assault is intentionally placing another person in reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm."

New York
In New York State, assault (as defined in the New York State Penal Code Article 120) requires an actual injury. Other states define this as battery; there is no crime of battery in New York. However, in New York if a person threatens another person with imminent injury without engaging in physical contact, that is called "menacing". A person who engages in that behavior is guilty of aggravated harassment in the second degree (a Class A misdemeanor; punishable with up to one year incarceration, probation for an extended time, and a permanent criminal record) when they threaten to cause physical harm to another person, and guilty of aggravated harassment in the first degree (a Class E felony) if they have a previous conviction for the same offense. New York also has specific laws against hazing, when such threats are made as requirement to join an organization.

North Dakota
North Dakota law states:

"Simple assault.
 * 1) A person is guilty of an offense if that person:1. Willfully causes bodily injury to another human being; or

2. Negligently causes bodily injury to another human being by means of a firearm, destructive device, or other weapon, the use of which against a human being is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury."

Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania, an offender can be charged with simple assault if they:

 * injure someone else recklessly, knowingly, or purposefully
 * accidentally injure someone with a firearm or weapon
 * cause a needle-stick to an officer or correctional employee during a search or arrest
 * threaten or intimidate someone causing fear of imminent serious bodily injury

A person convicted of simple assault can be ordered to up to two years in prison as a second-degree misdemeanor.

An offender can be charged with aggravated assault if the offender:

 * demonstrates extreme indifference to the victim's life
 * injures or threatens to injure a law enforcement officer, correctional officer, firefighter, police officer, or teacher on duty, or for incapacitating any of these individuals

A person convicted of aggravated assault can face up to 10 years in prison as a second-degree felony. However, if the crime is perpetrated against a firefighter or police officer, the offender may face first-degree felony charges carrying a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Tennessee
In Tennessee assault is defined as follows:

"39-13-101. Assault.(a) A person commits assault who:

(1) Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;

(2) Intentionally or knowingly causes another to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury; or

(3) Intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative."

title: Assault


text:
Talk:Assault

Ambiguity
"Assault is typically treated as a misdemeanor and not as a felony (unless it involves a law enforcement officer)."

Does it matter how the law enforcement officer was involved? That is to ask, is it a felony if the law enforcement officer is the accused?

--Crumbinator 00:00, 13 September 2007 (UTC

Yes, Men Can Be Raped
Yes, Men Can Be Raped

All though a large percentage of rapists are men, there are some male rape victims out there in the world. Male rape victims are usually boys, who's preditor can vary from there own mothers, teachers, and strangers. Many have made the claim that boys that have been raped have enjoyed the event, which is invalid because even if they did enjoy it, it is still not consent, and minors who are raped cannot give consent because they do not know any better. However, if the victim does like it, they should not be blamed for it because sex is too be pleasing, and it is still the woman's fualt for taking advantage of a minor. But despite these claims, many of the male rape victims may not enjoy it, because the women may threaten, beat, hurt, or make them uncomfortable during the event. Women have no excuse for raping a male minor as men have no excuse for raping a female minor. Male or female, the predator must be brought to justice.

Although a majority of male rape victims are minors, it is not impossible for a female to rape a grown man. A common way to rape a male is to drug them, or assualt them as they sleep, especially if they are drunk. Or, if the male is injured, then she could easily take advantage of him. Whether he likes it or not, the woman still assaulted him, because he did not give her consent. Rape is rape, even if the victim is silent. Many people may claim that the male should have been more alert, or that the male should have not been drunk. This is called victim blaming. While the situation could have been avoided if he did not get drunk, the rape is still rape, especially since the women took advantage of his dicision. Drunkenness is not a crime that the man committed, and he is a human being no matter how immature or uncareful he is. Drunk or not, he does not deserve to be raped. No human being does.

Another form of the raping of men is homosexual rape. A male can overpower a male, and the predator can use almost any scheme to get his hands on the victim.

Although the main issues on the subject of rape are on women, and have females as the usual victims, I am writing this article for people who make the fantasy that rape only hurts females, not males. Anyone can be victims of rape, no matter what gender, race, or background.

Article bye CarpetCoyote CarpetCoyote (talk) 20:07, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Please note that the number of males who have been raped a year is about 52,000 CarpetCoyote (talk) 20:09, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Rape definition, unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force CarpetCoyote (talk) 20:11, 9 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Details aside, this is covered at rape of males. Does this article suggest that men are not or cannot be victims of rape?  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) 05:38, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

No. As I said, men CAN be victims of rape/assualt CarpetCoyote (talk) 22:20, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Assault


text:
Álfheimr

In Norse cosmology, Álfheimr (Old Norse:, "Land of the Elves" or "Elfland"; anglicized as Alfheim), also called "Ljósálfheimr" (Ljósálf[a]heimr , "home of the Light Elves"), is home of the Light Elves.

Attestations
Álfheim as an abode of the Elves is mentioned only twice in Old Norse texts.

Grímnismál
The Eddic poem Grímnismál describes twelve divine dwellings beginning the stanza 5 with:

A tooth-gift is a gift given to an infant on the cutting of the first tooth.

Gylfaginning
In the 12th century Eddic prose Gylfaginning, Snorri Sturluson relates it in the stanza 17 as the first of a series of abodes in heaven:

Later in the section, in speaking of a hall in the Highest Heaven called Gimlé that shall survive when heaven and earth have died, explains:

title: Álfheimr


text:
Talk:Atlas (disambiguation)

Untitled
Wouldn't the term Atlantic be derived from the Atlas (person) not the architectural feature? -rmhermen

Question: Did Atlas hold the earth on his shoulders? Original sources indicate he stood on the earth and held up the heavens. Is holding the earth as well a modern retelling or does it have classical roots?

- The earth version dates at least from Rennaissance times, if not before. Could the change have been due to 'artistic license'? (Easier to draw someone holding the Earth than the sky.) Or just a mistranslation?

Reference:
 * "Atlas"
 * Encyclopedia Mythica
 * http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/articles/a/atlas.html
 * [Page accessed on April 7, 2001]

Holding up the earth doesn't seem to be classical, at any rate - none of the authors know anything about it.

Should there be mention of Hercules temporarily holding the earth for Atlas during one of his labors?
 * Sure, but I realize now it's irrelevant to the Flat Earth thing, although we might wonder what Hercules and Atlas were standing on while holding that burden. I think I messed up by mentioning Atlas; I was just looking for a segue from X to Russell so the article wouldn't be all Russell. Does anyone have a bit more documentation of any pre-1600s belief in Flat Earth? Ed Poor

He was standing on the Atlas Mountains, which some people thought were reasonably high and therefore a logical place. The Pillars of Hercules are over that way, too. Check out the Russell Book and you'll find out why there isn't going to be much. --MichaelTinkler

Just curious; what was the original raionale (if any) behind labelling disambiguating pages as such, and linking them to the list? I don't see any point to it. -- Lee Daniel Crocker

True or false??
True or false: this article belongs at Atlas (disambiguation) and Atlas (cartography) at Atlas. 66.245.105.237 01:08, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Well, what certainly doesn't belong is this article at Atlas (disambiguation), Atlas (cartography) at Atlas (cartography), and Atlas a redirect to the latter. john k 15:53, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Instrument on ICESat-2
I propose adding Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), a space-based lidar instrument on ICESat-2. The instrument does not have it's own page. But, it's the main part of the sateille. Let me know if there are any objections. - DutchTreat (talk) 11:11, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Done. Added into the section on Space - DutchTreat (talk) 11:26, 2 December 2018 (UTC)

Atlas Sound, company
In the Brands and enterprises section, there is an entry Atlas Sound for "an audio and IP electronics company". The current wikilink is a redirect to the page Bradford Cox, a solo musical project. I propose that this wikilink should be removed from this article. DutchTreat (talk) 11:08, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
 * To further clarify, I was unable to find an article about the electronics company on the English WP. The entry about the company could stand without a wikilink or the entry could be removed.  I vote for keeping the entry with no wikilink. - DutchTreat (talk) 11:21, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Comments on my proposed change? My previous attempt was reverted. - DutchTreat (talk) 11:19, 5 August 2019 (UTC)
 * What is point of removing this? The entry satisfies WP:DABMENTION. A stand-alone article is not necessary for inclusion on disambiguation page. And to second suggestion, every entry on a disambiguation page should have a blue link. older ≠ wiser 23:08, 5 August 2019 (UTC)
 * The current wikilink to solo musical project of Bradford Cox is unrelated to Atlas Sound an audio and IP electronics company, known as Atlas Sound and Innovative Electronic Designs (IED).  Therefore, to me it seems confusing to retain this link to a musician.  When and if there is an article written on the WP about this audio/electronics company then the wikilink may be added.  I am comfortable keeping the item in the list without the internal WP wikilink. - DutchTreat (talk) 14:15, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Seeking a WP:THIRDOPINION on best way to wikilink. - DutchTreat (talk) 13:20, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
 * After receiving no input, I will go forth in good faith and implement what I see is the best solution. Add an entry under section on Entertainment about the Bradford Cox project which includes the wikilink and further clarify the name of the company. Feel free to comment below if there is a different way that you think this should be handled. - DutchTreat (talk) 13:18, 20 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Closed. The wikilink to Bradford Cox stands and the item (with no WP article) on the company of same name has been removed by User:Bkonrad. - DutchTreat (talk) 12:27, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Atlas (disambiguation)


text:
Ask and Embla

In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla (Askr ok Embla)—man and woman respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods. The pair are attested in both the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, composed in the 13th century. In both sources, three gods, one of whom is Odin, find Ask and Embla and bestow upon them various corporeal and spiritual gifts. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the two figures, and there are occasional references to them in popular culture.

Etymology
Old Norse askr literally means "ash tree" but the etymology of embla is uncertain, and two possibilities of the meaning of embla are generally proposed. The first meaning, "elm tree", is problematic, and is reached by deriving *Elm-la from *Almilōn and subsequently to almr ('elm'). The second suggestion is "vine", which is reached through *Ambilō, which may be related to the Greek term ἄμπελος (ámpelos), itself meaning "vine, liana". The latter etymology has resulted in a number of theories.

Linguist Gunlög Josefsson claims that the name Embla comes from the roots eim + la which would mean 'firemaker' or 'smokebringer' inflected for either gender. She connects this to the ancient practice of creating fire through a fire plough which was considered a magical and holy way of fire making in folk belief in Scandinavia long into modern times. She identifies the emergence of fire through the plowing symbolically to the moment of orgasm and hence fertilization and reproduction.

According to Benjamin Thorpe, "Grimm says the word embla, emla, signifies a busy woman, from amr, ambr, aml, ambl, assiduous labour; the same relation as Meshia and Meshiane, the ancient Persian names of the first man and woman, who were also formed from trees."

Attestations
In stanza 17 of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, the seeress reciting the poem states that Hœnir, Lóðurr and Odin once found Ask and Embla on land. The seeress says that the two were capable of very little, lacking in ørlög and says that they were given three gifts by the three gods: The meaning of these gifts has been a matter of scholarly disagreement and translations therefore vary.

According to chapter 9 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the three brothers Vili, Vé, and Odin, are the creators of the first man and woman. The brothers were once walking along a beach and found two trees there. They took the wood and from it created the first human beings; Ask and Embla. One of the three gave them the breath of life, the second gave them movement and intelligence, and the third gave them shape, speech, hearing and sight. Further, the three gods gave them clothing and names. Ask and Embla go on to become the progenitors of all humanity and were given a home within the walls of Midgard.

Indo-European origins
A Proto-Indo-European basis has been theorized for the duo based on the etymology of embla meaning "vine." In Indo-European societies, an analogy is derived from the drilling of fire and sexual intercourse. Vines were used as a flammable wood, where they were placed beneath a drill made of harder wood, resulting in fire. Further evidence of ritual making of fire in Scandinavia has been theorized from a depiction on a stone plate on a Bronze Age grave in Kivik, Scania, Sweden.

Jaan Puhvel comments that "ancient myths teem with trite 'first couples' similar to the type of Adam and his by-product Eve. In Indo-European tradition, these range from the Vedic Yama and Yamī and the Iranian Mašya and Mašyānag to the Icelandic Askr and Embla, with trees or rocks as preferred raw material, and dragon's teeth or other bony substance occasionally thrown in for good measure".

In his study of the comparative evidence for an origin of mankind from trees in Indo-European society, Anders Hultgård observes that "myths of the origin of mankind from trees or wood seem to be particularly connected with ancient Europe and Indo-Europe and Indo-European-speaking peoples of Asia Minor and Iran. By contrast the cultures of the Near East show almost exclusively the type of anthropogonic stories that derive man's origin from clay, earth or blood by means of a divine creation act".

Other potential Germanic analogues
Two wooden figures—the Braak Bog Figures—of "more than human height" were unearthed from a peat bog at Braak in Schleswig, Germany. The figures depict a nude man and a nude woman. Hilda Ellis Davidson comments that these figures may represent a "Lord and Lady" of the Vanir, a group of Norse gods, and that "another memory of [these wooden deities] may survive in the tradition of the creation of Ask and Embla, the man and woman who founded the human race, created by the gods from trees on the seashore".

A figure named Æsc (Old English "ash tree") appears as the son of Hengest in the Anglo-Saxon genealogy for the kings of Kent. This has resulted in a number of theories that the figures may have had an earlier basis in pre-Norse Germanic mythology.

Connections have been proposed between Ask and Embla and the Vandal kings Assi and Ambri, attested in Paul the Deacon's 7th century AD work Origo Gentis Langobardorum. There, the two ask the god Godan (Odin) for victory. The name Ambri, like Embla, likely derives from *Ambilō.

Catalog of dwarfs
A stanza preceding the account of the creation of Ask and Embla in Völuspá provides a catalog of dwarfs, and stanza 10 has been considered as describing the creation of human forms from the earth. This may potentially mean that dwarfs formed humans, and that the three gods gave them life. Carolyne Larrington theorizes that humans are metaphorically designated as trees in Old Norse works (examples include "trees of jewellery" for women and "trees of battle" for men) due to the origin of humankind stemming from trees; Ask and Embla.

Modern depictions
Ask and Embla have been the subject of a number of references and artistic depictions.

A sculpture depicting the two, created by Stig Blomberg in 1948, stands in Sölvesborg in southern Sweden.

Ask and Embla are depicted on two of the sixteen wooden panels by Dagfin Werenskiold on Oslo City Hall.

Ask to Embla is the title of a poem, parts of which are quoted, by R. H. Ash, one of the protagonists in A. S. Byatt's novel Possession: A Romance, which won the Booker prize in 1990.

In the video game Fire Emblem Heroes, the two main warring kingdoms are Askr and Embla, which is where the Summoner, the player, finds themselves in, as the kingdom has been at war with the Emblian Empire when the game starts. It is later revealed both kingdoms are named after a pair of Ancient Dragons; with Askr being male and Embla female.

In the videogame Valheim, the developers named an armor set after Embla, as stated in their development blog entry on November 21, 2023: "we have named this set after one of the two first humans in Norse mythology: Embla".

title: Ask and Embla


text:
Talk:Ask and Embla

Context
I think when we talk about mythological, religious or literary characters, there should be a note of context. Is it in Northern European Mythology? I think because of the reference to Odin, but if id never heard of Odin either?

Heh, editing a bit quick...Fixed now. If you note anything like this and know how to fix it, please do :-) -- Anders Torlind

The "Symbolism" section
I think the whole "Symbolism" section should be removed. There are virtually no facts mentioned and it includes phrases like "We all know" and a rhetorical question. It sounds more like a school essay than an article in an encyclopedia. I can't say I'm thrilled with the section "Microcosmos" either ("our ancestors", "have always been regarded", associations not backed by facts etc.), in fact, I think that too should be removed.

I am not saying we don't need these sections, but they should be written from an objective point of view and contain hard facts. Does anybody else feel this way?--Tail 10:25, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

 * Agreed. Haukur 10:39, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Popular Culture
CAD isn't popular culture; it's a bad webcomic drawn by a hack. Removing this section. 190.224.156.13 (talk) 15:14, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Further information
There is quite a lot of information that should be added to this article in Hultgård, Anders (2007). "The Askr and Embla Myth in a Comparative Perspective" in Old Norse in Long-Term Perspectives. Nordic Academic Press. ISBN 918911681X. bloodofox: (talk) 01:01, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

 * I was wondering whether there was some source which raised a parallel with Adam and Eve (as first two humans?) Casliber (talk · contribs) 19:53, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

 * I'm sure it's out there, and likely most of it falls into two categories: the rejected school of "they got it all from the Christians" and Christian-centric "Ask and Embla, you know, the Norse Adam and Eve" commentary. As far as I can tell, Ask and Embla and Adam and Eve don't really have anything in common outside of simply being legendary progenitors. Ask and Embla's ultimate origin in Proto-Indo-European religion seems to be pretty well established. bloodofox: (talk) 00:55, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

 * Yeah, the more I thought about it, I think most religions have a first man-and-woman-type story. Be nice to have a discussion somewhere - maybe next time I see a full set of the Golden Bough somewhere...Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:43, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

One thing the article leaves out (unless I missed it somewhere) is which person is which gender. Is Ask or Embla the male or the female? I don't want to assume that Ask is the male just because that name comes first when the two are listed, or that Embla is female because her name is the second of the two. So which is which? Silmalel (talk) 19:42, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

 * Good point, I'll correct that. Ask is male and Embla is female. bloodofox: (talk) 21:25, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the clarification. Silmalel (talk) 13:29, 21 August 2010 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Ask and Embla


text:
Alabama River

The Alabama River, in the U.S. state of Alabama, is formed by the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which unite about 6 mi north of Montgomery, near the town of Wetumpka.

The river flows west to Selma, then southwest until, about 45 mi from Mobile, it unites with the Tombigbee, forming the Mobile and Tensaw rivers, which discharge into Mobile Bay.

Description
The run of the Alabama is highly meandering. Its width varies from 50 to 200 yd, and its depth from 3 to 40 ft. Its length as measured by the United States Geological Survey is 318.5 mi, and by steamboat measurement, 420 mi.

The river crosses the richest agricultural and timber districts of the state. Railways connect it with the mineral regions of north-central Alabama.

After the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, the principal tributary of the Alabama is the Cahaba River, which is about 194 mi long and joins the Alabama River about 10 mi below Selma. The Alabama River's main tributary, the Coosa River, crosses the mineral region of Alabama and is navigable for light-draft boats from Rome, Georgia, to about 117 mi above Wetumpka (about 102 mi below Rome and 26 mi below Greensport), and from Wetumpka to its junction with the Tallapoosa. The channel of the river has been considerably improved by the federal government.

The navigation of the Tallapoosa River – which has its source in Paulding County, Georgia, and is about 265 mi long – is prevented by shoals and a 60 ft fall at Tallassee, a few miles north of its junction with the Coosa. The Alabama is navigable throughout the year.

The river played an important role in the growth of the economy in the region during the 19th century as a source of transportation of goods, which included slaves. The river is still used for transportation of farming produce; however, it is not as important as it once was due to the construction of roads and railways.

Documented by Europeans first in 1701, the Alabama, Coosa, and Tallapoosa rivers were central to the homeland of the Creek Indians before their removal by United States forces to the Indian Territory in the 1830s.

Lock and dams
The Alabama River has three lock and dams between Montgomery and the Mobile River. The Robert F. Henry Lock & Dam is located at river mile 236.2, the Millers Ferry Lock & Dam is located at river mile 133.0, and the Claiborne Lock & Dam is located at river mile 72.5.

title: Alabama River


text:
Alain de Lille

Alain de Lille (Alan of Lille) (Latin: Alanus ab Insulis; c. 1128 – 1202/03) was a French theologian and poet. He was born in Lille, some time before 1128. His exact date of death remains unclear as well, with most research pointing toward it being between 14 April 1202, and 5 April 1203. He is known for writing a number of works on that are based upon the teachings of the liberal arts, with one of his most renowned poems, De planctu Naturae (The Complaint of Nature), focusing on sexual conduct among humans. Although, Alain was widely known during his lifetime, little is known about his personal life.

As a theologian, Alain de Lille opposed scholasticism in the second half of the 12th century. His philosophy is characterized by rationalism and mysticism. Alan claimed that reason, guided by prudence, could discover most truths about the physical order without help; but in order to understand religious truth and to know God, the wise must be believers.

Life
Little is known of his life. Alain entered the schools no earlier than the late 1140s; first attending the school at Paris, and then at Chartres. He probably studied under masters such as Peter Abelard, Gilbert of Poitiers, and Thierry of Chartres. This is known through the writings of John of Salisbury, who is thought to have been a contemporary student of Alain of Lille. His earliest writings were probably written in the 1150s, and probably in Paris. Alain spent many years as a professor of Theology at the University of Paris and he attended the Lateran Council in 1179. Though the only accounts of his lectures seem to show a sort of eccentric style and approach, he was said to have been good friends with many other masters at the school in Paris, and taught there, as well as some time in southern France, into his old age. He afterwards inhabited Montpellier (he is sometimes called Alanus de Montepessulano), lived for a time outside the walls of any cloister, and finally retired to Cîteaux, where he died in 1202.

He had a very widespread reputation during his lifetime, and his knowledge caused him to be called Doctor Universalis. Many of Alain's writings cannot be exactly dated, and the circumstances surrounding his writing are often unknown as well. It does seem clear that his first notable work, Summa Quoniam Homines, was completed between 1155 and 1165, with the most conclusive date being 1160, and was probably developed through his lectures at the school in Paris. Among his numerous works two poems entitle him to a distinguished place in the Latin literature of the Middle Ages; one of these, the De planctu Naturae, is an ingenious satire on the vices of humanity. He created the allegory of grammatical "conjugation" which was to have its successors throughout the Middle Ages. The Anticlaudianus, a treatise on morals as allegory, the form of which recalls the pamphlet of Claudian against Rufinus, is agreeably versified and relatively pure in its latinity.

Theology and philosophy
As a theologian Alain de Lille shared in the mystic reaction of the second half of the 12th century against the scholastic philosophy. His mysticism, however, is far from being as absolute as that of the Victorines. In the Anticlaudianus he sums up as follows: Reason, guided by prudence, can unaided discover most of the truths of the physical order; for the apprehension of religious truths it must trust to faith. This rule is completed in his treatise, Ars catholicae fidei, as follows: Theology itself may be demonstrated by reason. Alain even ventures an immediate application of this principle, and tries to prove geometrically the dogmas defined in the Christian creed. This bold attempt is entirely factitious and verbal, and it is only his employment of various terms not generally used in such a connection (axiom, theorem, corollary, etc.) that gives his treatise its apparent originality.

Alan's philosophy was a sort of mixture of Aristotelian logic and Neoplatonic philosophy. The Platonist seemed to outweigh the Aristotelian in Alan, but he felt strongly that the divine is all intelligibility and argued this notion through much Aristotelian logic combined with Pythagorean mathematics.

Works and attributions
One of Alain's most notable works was one he modeled after Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, to which he gave the title De planctu Naturae, or The Plaint of Nature, and which was most likely written in the late 1160s. In this work, Alan uses prose and verse to illustrate the way in which nature defines its own position as inferior to that of God. He also attempts to illustrate the way in which humanity, through sexual perversion and specifically homosexuality, has defiled itself from nature and God. In Anticlaudianus, another of his notable works, Alan uses a poetical dialogue to illustrate the way in which nature comes to the realization of her failure in producing the perfect man. She has only the ability to create a soulless body, and thus she is "persuaded to undertake the journey to heaven to ask for a soul," and "the Seven Liberal Arts produce a chariot for her... the Five Senses are the horses". The Anticlaudianus was translated into French and German in the following century, and toward 1280 was re-worked into a musical anthology by Adam de la Bassée. One of Alan's most popular and widely distributed works is his manual on preaching, Ars Praedicandi, or The Art of Preaching. This work shows how Alan saw theological education as being a fundamental preliminary step in preaching and strove to give clergyman a manuscript to be "used as a practical manual" when it came to the formation of sermons and art of preaching.

Alain wrote three very large theological textbooks, one being his first work, Summa Quoniam Homines. Another of his theological textbooks that strove to be more minute in its focus, is his De Fide Catholica, dated somewhere between 1185 and 1200, Alan sets out to refute heretical views, specifically that of the Waldensians and Cathars. In his third theological textbook, Regulae Caelestis Iuris, he presents a set of what seems to be theological rules; this was typical of the followers of Gilbert of Poitiers, of which Alan could be associated. Other than these theological textbooks, and the aforementioned works of the mixture of prose and poetry, Alan of Lille had numerous other works on numerous subjects, primarily including Speculative Theology, Theoretical Moral Theology, Practical Moral Theology, and various collections of poems.

Alain de Lille has often been confounded with other persons named Alain, in particular with another Alanus (Alain, bishop of Auxerre), Alan, abbot of Tewkesbury, Alain de Podio, etc. Certain facts of their lives have been attributed to him, as well as some of their works: thus the Life of St Bernard should be ascribed to Alain of Auxerre and the Commentary upon Merlin to Alan of Tewkesbury. Alan of Lille was not the author of a Memoriale rerum difficilium, published under his name, nor of Moralium dogma philosophorum, nor of the satirical Apocalypse of Golias once attributed to him; and it is exceedingly doubtful whether the Dicta Alani de lapide philosophico really issued from his pen. On the other hand, it now seems practically demonstrated that Alain de Lille was the author of the Ars catholicae fidei and the treatise Contra haereticos.

In his sermons on capital sins, Alain argued that sodomy and homicide are the most serious sins, since they call forth the wrath of God, which led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. His chief work on penance, the Liber poenitenitalis dedicated to Henry de Sully, exercised great influence on the many manuals of penance produced as a result of the Fourth Lateran Council. Alain's identification of the sins against nature included bestiality, masturbation, oral and anal intercourse, incest, adultery and rape. In addition to his battle against moral decay, Alan wrote a work against Islam, Judaism and Christian heretics dedicated to William VIII of Montpellier.

List of known works

 * De planctu Naturae
 * Anticlaudianus
 * Rhythmus de Incarnatione et de Septem Artibus
 * De Miseria Mundi
 * Quaestiones Alani Textes
 * Summa Quoniam Homines
 * Regulae Theologicae
 * Hierarchia Alani
 * De Fide Catholica: Contra Haereticos, Valdenses, Iudaeos et Paganos
 * De Virtutibus, de Vitiis, de Donis Spiritus Sancti
 * Liber Parabolarum
 * Distinctiones Dictionum Theologicalium
 * Elucidatio in Cantica Canticorum
 * Glosatura super Cantica
 * Expositio of the Pater Noster
 * Expositiones of the Nicene and Apostolic Creeds
 * Expositio Prosae de Angelis
 * Quod non-est celebrandum bis in die
 * Liber Poenitentialis
 * De Sex Alis Cherubim
 * Ars Praedicandi
 * Sermones

Translations

 * Alan of Lille, A Concise Explanation of the Song of Songs in Praise of the Virgin Mary, trans Denys Turner, in Denys Turner, Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995), 291–308
 * The Plaint of Nature, translated by James J Sheridan, (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1980)
 * Anticlaudian: Prologue, Argument and Nine Books, edited by W. H. Cornog, (Philadelphia, 1935)

title: Alain de Lille


text:
Alemanni

The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the Agri Decumates in 260, and later expanded into present-day Alsace and northern Switzerland, leading to the establishment of the Old High German language in those regions, which by the eighth century were collectively referred to as Alamannia.

In 496, the Alemanni were conquered by the Frankish leader Clovis and incorporated into his dominions. Mentioned as still pagan allies of the Christian Franks, the Alemanni were gradually Christianized during the seventh century. The Lex Alamannorum is a record of their customary law during this period. Until the eighth century, Frankish suzerainty over Alemannia was mostly nominal. After an uprising by Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, however, Carloman executed the Alamannic nobility and installed Frankish dukes.

During the later and weaker years of the Carolingian Empire, the Alemannic counts became almost independent, and a struggle for supremacy took place between them and the Bishopric of Constance. The chief family in Alamannia was that of the counts of Raetia Curiensis, who were sometimes called margraves, and one of whom, Burchard II, established the Duchy of Swabia, which was recognized by Henry the Fowler in 919 and became a stem duchy of the Holy Roman Empire.

The area settled by the Alemanni corresponds roughly to the area where Alemannic German dialects remain spoken, including German Swabia and Baden, French Alsace, German-speaking Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austrian Vorarlberg. The French-language name of Germany, Allemagne, is derived from their name, from Old French aleman(t), and from French was loaned into a number of other languages, including Middle English, which commonly used the term Almains for Germans. Likewise, the Arabic name for Germany is ألمانيا (Almania), the Turkish is Almanya, the Spanish is Alemania, the Portuguese is Alemanha, the Welsh is Yr Almaen and the Persian is آلمان (Alman).

Name
According to Gaius Asinius Quadratus (quoted in the mid-sixth century by Byzantine historian Agathias), the name Alamanni (Ἀλαμανοι) means "all men". It indicates that they were a conglomeration drawn from various Germanic tribes. The Romans and the Greeks called them as such (Alamanni, all men, in the sense of a group composed of men of all groups in the region). This derivation was accepted by Edward Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and by the anonymous contributor of notes assembled from the papers of Nicolas Fréret, published in 1753. This etymology has remained the standard derivation of the name. An alternative suggestion proposes derivation from *alah "sanctuary".

Walafrid Strabo in the ninth century remarked, in discussing the people of Switzerland and the surrounding regions, that only foreigners called them the Alemanni, but that they gave themselves the name of Suebi. The Suebi are given the alternative name of Ziuwari (as Cyuuari) in an Old High German gloss, interpreted by Jacob Grimm as Martem colentes ("worshippers of Mars"). Annio da Viterbo a scholar and historian of the 15th century claimed the Alemanni had their name from the Hebrew language, as in Hebrew the river Rhine was translated into Mannum and the people who live at its shores were called Alemannus. This was refuted by Beatus Rhenanus, a humanist of the 16th century. Rhenanus argued the term Alemanni was meant for the whole Germanic people only in late antiquity and before it was only meant to designate the population of an island in the North Sea.

First appearance in historical record
Early Roman writers did not mention the Alemanni, and it is likely that they had not yet come to exist. In his Germania Tacitus (AD 90) does not mention the Alemanni. He uses the term Agri Decumates to describe the region between the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers. He says that it had once been the home of the Helvetians, who had moved westwards into Gaul in the time of Julius Caesar. The people living there in Caesar's time are not Germanic. Instead, "Reckless adventurers from Gaul, emboldened by want, occupied this land of questionable ownership. After a while, our frontier having been advanced, and our military positions pushed forward, it was regarded as a remote nook of our empire and a part of a Roman province."

The Alemanni were first mentioned by Cassius Dio describing the campaign of Caracalla in 213. At that time, they apparently dwelt in the basin of the Main, to the south of the Chatti.

Cassius Dio portrays the Alemanni as victims of this treacherous emperor. They had asked for his help, according to Dio, but instead he colonized their country, changed their place names, and executed their warriors under a pretext of coming to their aid. When he became ill, the Alemanni claimed to have put a hex on him. Caracalla, it was claimed, tried to counter this influence by invoking his ancestral spirits.

In retribution, Caracalla then led the Legio II Traiana Fortis against the Alemanni, who lost and were pacified for a time. The legion was as a result honored with the name Germanica. The fourth-century fictional Historia Augusta, Life of Antoninus Caracalla, relates (10.5) that Caracalla then assumed the name Alemannicus, at which Helvius Pertinax jested that he should really be called Geticus Maximus, because in the year before he had murdered his brother, Geta.

Through much of his short reign, Caracalla was known for unpredictable and arbitrary operations launched by surprise after a pretext of peace negotiations. If he had any reasons of state for such actions, they remained unknown to his contemporaries. Whether or not the Alemanni had been previously neutral, they were certainly further influenced by Caracalla to become thereafter notoriously implacable enemies of Rome.

This mutually antagonistic relationship is perhaps the reason why the Roman writers persisted in calling the Alemanni "barbari," meaning "savages." The archaeology, however, shows that they were largely Romanized, lived in Roman-style houses and used Roman artifacts, the Alemannic women having adopted the Roman fashion of the tunica even earlier than the men.

Most of the Alemanni were probably at the time, in fact, resident in or close to the borders of Germania Superior. Although Dio is the earliest writer to mention them, Ammianus Marcellinus used the name to refer to Germans on the Limes Germanicus in the time of Trajan's governorship of the province shortly after it was formed, around 98–99 AD. At that time, the entire frontier was being fortified for the first time. Trees from the earliest fortifications found in Germania Inferior are dated by dendrochronology to 99–100 AD.

Ammianus relates (xvii.1.11) that much later the Emperor Julian undertook a punitive expedition against the Alemanni, who by then were in Alsace, and crossed the Main (Latin Menus), entering the forest, where the trails were blocked by felled trees. As winter was upon them, they reoccupied a "fortification which was founded on the soil of the Alemanni that Trajan wished to be called with his own name".

In this context, the use of Alemanni is possibly an anachronism, but it reveals that Ammianus believed they were the same people, which is consistent with the location of the Alemanni of Caracalla's campaigns.

Conflicts with the Roman Empire

The Alemanni were continually engaged in conflicts with the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries. They launched a major invasion of Gaul and northern Italy in 268, when the Romans were forced to denude much of their German frontier of troops in response to a massive invasion of the Goths from the east. Their raids throughout the three parts of Gaul were traumatic: Gregory of Tours (died ca 594) mentions their destructive force at the time of Valerian and Gallienus (253–260), when the Alemanni assembled under their "king", whom he calls Chrocus, who acted "by the advice, it is said, of his wicked mother, and overran the whole of the Gauls, and destroyed from their foundations all the temples which had been built in ancient times. And coming to Clermont he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine which they call Vasso Galatae in the Gallic tongue," martyring many Christians (Historia Francorum Book I.32–34). Thus sixth-century Gallo-Romans of Gregory's class, surrounded by the ruins of Roman temples and public buildings, attributed the destruction they saw to the plundering raids of the Alemanni.

In the early summer of 268, the Emperor Gallienus halted their advance into Italy, but then had to deal with the Goths. When the Gothic campaign ended in Roman victory at the Battle of Naissus in September, Gallienus' successor Claudius Gothicus turned north to deal with the Alemanni, who were swarming over all Italy north of the Po River.

After efforts to secure a peaceful withdrawal failed, Claudius forced the Alemanni to battle at the Battle of Lake Benacus in November. The Alemanni were routed, forced back into Germany, and did not threaten Roman territory for many years afterwards.

Their most famous battle against Rome took place in Argentoratum (Strasbourg), in 357, where they were defeated by Julian, later Emperor of Rome, and their king Chnodomarius was taken prisoner to Rome.

On January 2, 366, the Alemanni yet again crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers, to invade the Gallic provinces, this time being defeated by Valentinian (see Battle of Solicinium). In the great mixed invasion of 406, the Alemanni appear to have crossed the Rhine river a final time, conquering and then settling what is today Alsace and a large part of the Swiss Plateau. The crossing is described in Wallace Breem's historical novel Eagle in the Snow. The Chronicle of Fredegar gives the account. At Alba Augusta (Alba-la-Romaine) the devastation was so complete, that the Christian bishop retired to Viviers, but in Gregory's account at Mende in Lozère, also deep in the heart of Gaul, bishop Privatus was forced to sacrifice to idols in the very cave where he was later venerated. It is thought this detail may be a generic literary ploy to epitomize the horrors of barbarian violence.

List of battles between Romans and Alemanni

 * 259, Battle of Mediolanum – Emperor Gallienus defeats the Alemanni to rescue Rome
 * 268, Battle of Lake Benacus – Romans under Emperor Claudius II defeat the Alemanni.
 * 271
 * Battle of Placentia – Emperor Aurelian is defeated by the Alemanni forces invading Italy
 * Battle of Fano – Aurelian defeats the Alemanni, who begin to retreat from Italy
 * Battle of Pavia – Aurelian destroys the retreating Alemanni army.
 * 298
 * Battle of Lingones – Caesar Constantius Chlorus defeats the Alemanni
 * Battle of Vindonissa – Constantius defeats the Alemanni.
 * 356, Battle of Reims – Caesar Julian is defeated by the Alemanni
 * 357, Battle of Strasbourg – Julian expels the Alemanni from the Rhineland
 * 368, Battle of Solicinium – Romans under Emperor Valentinian I defeat an Alemanni incursion.
 * 378, Battle of Argentovaria – Western Emperor Gratianus is victorious over the Alemanni.
 * 451, Battle of the Catalaunian Fields – Roman General Aetius and his army of Romans and barbarian allies defeat Attila's army of Huns and other Germanic allies, including the Alemanni.
 * 457, Battle of Campi Cannini – Alemanni invade Italy and are defeated near Lake Maggiore by Majorian
 * 554, Battle of the Volturnus – Byzantine General Narses defeats a combined force of Franks and Alemanni in southern Italy.

Subjugation by the Franks
The kingdom of Alamannia between Strasbourg and Augsburg lasted until 496, when the Alemanni were conquered by Clovis I at the Battle of Tolbiac. The war of Clovis with the Alemanni forms the setting for the conversion of Clovis, briefly treated by Gregory of Tours. (Book II.31) After their defeat in 496, the Alemanni bucked the Frankish yoke and put themselves under the protection of Theodoric the Great of the Ostrogoths but after his death they were again subjugated by the Franks under Theudebert I in 536. Subsequently, the Alemanni formed part of the Frankish dominions and were governed by a Frankish duke.

In 746, Carloman ended an uprising by summarily executing all Alemannic nobility at the blood court at Cannstatt, and for the following century, Alemannia was ruled by Frankish dukes. Following the treaty of Verdun of 843, Alemannia became a province of the eastern kingdom of Louis the German, the precursor of the Holy Roman Empire. The duchy persisted until 1268.

Language

The German spoken today over the range of the former Alemanni is termed Alemannic German, and is recognised among the subgroups of the High German languages. Alemannic runic inscriptions such as those on the Pforzen buckle are among the earliest testimonies of Old High German. The High German consonant shift is thought to have originated around the fifth century either in Alemannia or among the Lombards; before that the dialect spoken by Alemannic tribes was little different from that of other West Germanic peoples.

Alemannia lost its distinct jurisdictional identity when Charles Martel absorbed it into the Frankish empire, early in the eighth century. Today, Alemannic is a linguistic term, referring to Alemannic German, encompassing the dialects of the southern two thirds of Baden-Württemberg (German State), in western Bavaria (German State), in Vorarlberg (Austrian State), Swiss German in Switzerland and the Alsatian language of the Alsace (France).

Political organization
The Alemanni established a series of territorially defined pagi (cantons) on the east bank of the Rhine. The exact number and extent of these pagi is unclear and probably changed over time.

Pagi, usually pairs of pagi combined, formed kingdoms (regna) which, it is generally believed, were permanent and hereditary. Ammianus describes Alemanni rulers with various terms: reges excelsiores ante alios ("paramount kings"), reges proximi ("neighbouring kings"), reguli ("petty kings") and regales ("princes"). This may be a formal hierarchy, or they may be vague, overlapping terms, or a combination of both. In 357, there appear to have been two paramount kings (Chnodomar and Westralp) who probably acted as presidents of the confederation and seven other kings (reges). Their territories were small and mostly strung along the Rhine (although a few were in the hinterland). It is possible that the reguli were the rulers of the two pagi in each kingdom. Underneath the royal class were the nobles (called optimates by the Romans) and warriors (called armati by the Romans). The warriors consisted of professional warbands and levies of free men. Each nobleman could raise an average of c. 50 warriors.

Religion
The Christianization of the Alemanni took place during Merovingian times (sixth to eighth centuries). We know that in the sixth century, the Alemanni were predominantly pagan, and in the eighth century, they were predominantly Christian. The intervening seventh century was a period of genuine syncretism during which Christian symbolism and doctrine gradually grew in influence.

Some scholars have speculated that members of the Alemannic elite such as king Gibuld due to Visigothic influence may have been converted to Arianism even in the later fifth century.

In the mid-6th century, the Byzantine historian Agathias records, in the context of the wars of the Goths and Franks against Byzantium, that the Alemanni fighting among the troops of Frankish king Theudebald were like the Franks in all respects except religion, since "they worship certain trees, the waters of rivers, hills and mountain valleys, in whose honour they sacrifice horses, cattle and countless other animals by beheading them, and imagine that they are performing an act of piety thereby."

He also spoke of the particular ruthlessness of the Alemanni in destroying Christian sanctuaries and plundering churches while the genuine Franks were respectful towards those sanctuaries. Agathias expresses his hope that the Alemanni would assume better manners through prolonged contact with the Franks, which is by all appearances, in a manner of speaking, what eventually happened.

Apostles of the Alemanni were Columbanus and his disciple Saint Gall. Jonas of Bobbio records that Columbanus was active in Bregenz, where he disrupted a beer sacrifice to Wodan. Despite these activities, for some time, the Alemanni seem to have continued their pagan cult activities, with only superficial or syncretistic Christian elements. In particular, there is no change in burial practice, and tumulus warrior graves continued to be erected throughout Merovingian times. Syncretism of traditional Germanic animal-style with Christian symbolism is also present in artwork, but Christian symbolism becomes more and more prevalent during the seventh century. Unlike the later Christianization of the Saxons and of the Slavs, the Alemanni seem to have adopted Christianity gradually, and voluntarily, spread in emulation of the Merovingian elite.

From c. the 520s to the 620s, there was a surge of Alemannic Elder Futhark inscriptions. About 70 specimens have survived, roughly half of them on fibulae, others on belt buckles (see Pforzen buckle, Bülach fibula) and other jewelry and weapon parts. Use of runes subsides with the advance of Christianity. The Nordendorf fibula (early seventh century) clearly records pagan theonyms, logaþorewodanwigiþonar  read as "Wodan and Donar are magicians/sorcerers", but this may be interpreted as either a pagan invocation of the powers of these deities, or a Christian protective charm against them. A runic inscription on a fibula found at Bad Ems reflects Christian pious sentiment (and is also explicitly marked with a Christian cross), reading god fura dih deofile ᛭ ("God for/before you, Theophilus!", or alternatively "God before you, Devil!"). Dated to between AD 660 and 690, it marks the end of the native Alemannic tradition of runic literacy. Bad Ems is in Rhineland-Palatinate, on the northwestern boundary of Alemannic settlement, where Frankish influence would have been strongest.

The establishment of the bishopric of Konstanz cannot be dated exactly and was possibly undertaken by Columbanus himself (before 612). In any case, it existed by 635, when Gunzo appointed John of Grab bishop. Constance was a missionary bishopric in newly converted lands, and did not look back on late Roman church history unlike the Raetian bishopric of Chur (established 451) and Basel (an episcopal seat from 740, and which continued the line of Bishops of Augusta Raurica, see Bishop of Basel). The establishment of the church as an institution recognized by worldly rulers is also visible in legal history. In the early seventh century Pactus Alamannorum hardly ever mentions the special privileges of the church, while Lantfrid's Lex Alamannorum of 720 has an entire chapter reserved for ecclesial matters alone.

Genetics
A genetic study published in Science Advances in September 2018 examined the remains of eight individuals buried at a seventh-century Alemannic graveyard in Niederstotzingen, Germany. This is the richest and most complete Alemannic graveyard ever found. The highest ranking individual at the graveyard was a male with Frankish grave goods. Four males were found to be closely related to him. They were all carriers of types of the paternal haplogroup R1b1a2a1a1c2b2b. A sixth male was a carrier of the paternal haplogroup R1b1a2a1a1c2b2b1a1 and the maternal haplogroup U5a1a1. Along with the five closely related individuals, he displayed close genetic links to northern and eastern Europe, particularly Lithuania and Iceland. Two individuals buried at the cemetery were found to be genetically different from both the others and each other, displaying genetic links to Southern Europe, particularly northern Italy and Spain. Along with the sixth male, they might have been adoptees or slaves.

title: Alemanni


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NYSE American

NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange.

NYSE Euronext acquired AMEX on October 1, 2008, with AMEX integrated with the Alternext European small-cap exchange and renamed the NYSE Alternext U.S. In March 2009, NYSE Alternext U.S. was changed to NYSE Amex Equities. On May 10, 2012, NYSE Amex Equities changed its name to NYSE MKT LLC.

Following the SEC approval of competing stock exchange IEX in 2016, NYSE MKT rebranded as NYSE American and introduced a 350-microsecond delay in trading, referred to as a "speed bump", which is also present on the IEX.

The Curb market
The exchange grew out of the loosely organized curb market of curbstone brokers on Broad Street in Manhattan. Efforts to organize and standardize the market started early in the 20th century under Emanuel S. Mendels and Carl H. Pforzheimer. The curb brokers had been kicked out of the Mills Building front by 1907, and had moved to the pavement outside the Blair Building where cabbies lined up. There they were given a "little domain of asphalt" fenced off by the police on Broad Street between Exchange Place and Beaver Street. As of 1907, the curb market operated starting at 10 AM, each day except Sundays, until a gong at 3 PM. Orders for the purchase and sale of securities were shouted down from the windows of nearby brokerages, with the execution of the sale then shouted back up to the brokerage.

Organizing and 'Curb list'
As of 1907, E. S. Mendels gave the brokers rules "by right of seniority", but the curb brokers intentionally avoided organizing. According to the Times, this came from a general belief that if a curb exchange was organized, the exchange authorities would force members to sell their other exchange memberships. However, in 1908 the New York Curb Market Agency was established, which developed appropriate trading rules for curbstone brokers, organized by Mendels. The informal Curb Association formed in 1910 to weed out undesirables. The curb exchange was for years at odds with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), or "Big Board", operating several buildings away. Explained the New York Times in 1910, the Big Board looked at the curb as "a trading place for 'cats and dogs.'" On April 1, 1910, however, when the NYSE abolished its unlisted department, the NYSE stocks "made homeless by the abolition" were "refused domicile" by the curb brokers on Broad Street until they had complied with the "Curb list" of requirements. In 1911, Mendels and his advisers drew up a constitution and formed the New York Curb Market Association, which can be considered the first formal constitution of American Stock Exchange.

1920s-1940s: Move indoors
In 1920, journalist Edwin C. Hill wrote that the curb exchange on lower Broad Street was a "roaring, swirling whirlpool" that "tears control of a gold-mine from an unlucky operator, and pauses to auction a puppy-dog. It is like nothing else under the astonished sky that is its only roof." After a group of Curb brokers formed a real estate company to design a building, Starrett & Van Vleck designed the new exchange building on Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan between Thames and Rector, at 86 Trinity Place. It opened in 1921, and the curbstone brokers moved indoors on June 27, 1921. In 1929, the New York Curb Market changed its name to the New York Curb Exchange. The Curb Exchange soon became the leading international stock market, and according to historian Robert Sobel, "had more individual foreign issues on its list than [...] all other American securities markets combined."

Edward Reid McCormick was the first president of the New York Curb Market Association and is credited with moving the market indoors. George Rea was approached about the position of president of the New York Curb Exchange in 1939. He was unanimously elected as the first paid president in the history of the Curb Exchange. He was paid $25,000 per year (equivalent to $ today) and held the position for three years before offering his resignation in 1942. He left the position having "done such a good job that there is virtually no need for a full-time successor."

Modernization as the American Stock Exchange
In 1953 the Curb Exchange was renamed the American Stock Exchange. The exchange was shaken by a scandal in 1961, and in 1962 began a reorganization. Its reputation recently damaged by charges of mismanagement, in 1962 the American Stock Exchange named Edwin Etherington its president. Writes CNN, he and executive vice president Paul Kolton were "tapped in 1962 to clean up and reinvigorate the scandal-plagued American Stock Exchange."

As of 1971, it was the second largest stock exchange in the United States. Paul Kolton succeeded Ralph S. Saul as AMEX president on June 17, 1971, making him the first person to be selected from within the exchange to serve as its leader, succeeding Ralph S. Saul, who announced his resignation in March 1971. In November 1972, Kolton was named as the exchange's first chief executive officer and its first salaried top executive. As chairman, Kolton oversaw the introduction of options trading. Kolton opposed the idea of a merger with the New York Stock Exchange while he headed the exchange saying that "two independent, viable exchanges are much more likely to be responsive to new pressures and public needs than a single institution". Kolton announced in July 1977 that he would be leaving his position at the American Exchange in November of that year.

In 1977, Thomas Peterffy purchased a seat on the American Stock Exchange. Peterffy created a major stir among traders by introducing handheld computers onto the trading floor in the early 1980s.

Introducing ETFs
ETFs or exchange-traded funds had their genesis in 1989 with Index Participation Shares, an S&P 500 proxy that traded on the American Stock Exchange and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. This product was short-lived after a lawsuit by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was successful in stopping sales in the United States.

In 1990, a similar product, Toronto Index Participation Shares, which tracked the TSE 35 and later the TSE 100 indices, started trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) in 1990. The popularity of these products led the American Stock Exchange to try to develop something that would satisfy regulations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nathan Most and Steven Bloom, under the direction of Ivers Riley, designed and developed Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (NYSE Arca: SPY), which were introduced in January 1993. Known as SPDRs or "Spiders", the fund became the largest ETF in the world. In May 1995, State Street Global Advisors introduced the S&P 400 MidCap SPDRs (NYSE Arca: MDY).

Barclays, in conjunction with MSCI and Funds Distributor Inc., entered the market in 1996 with World Equity Benchmark Shares (WEBS), which became iShares MSCI Index Fund Shares. WEBS originally tracked 17 MSCI country indices managed by the funds' index provider, Morgan Stanley. WEBS were particularly innovative because they gave casual investors easy access to foreign markets. While SPDRs were organized as unit investment trusts, WEBS were set up as a mutual fund, the first of their kind.

In 1998, State Street Global Advisors introduced "Sector Spiders", separate ETFs for each of the sectors of the S&P 500 Index. Also in 1998, the "Dow Diamonds" (NYSE Arca: DIA) were introduced, tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In 1999, the influential "cubes" (Nasdaq: QQQ), were launched, with the goal of replicate the price movement of the NASDAQ-100.

The iShares line was launched in early 2000. By 2005, it had a 44% market share of ETF assets under management. Barclays Global Investors was sold to BlackRock in 2009.

NYSE merger
As of 2003, AMEX was the only U.S. stock market to permit the transmission of buy and sell orders through hand signals.

In October 2008 NYSE Euronext completed acquisition of the AMEX for $260 million in stock. Before the closing of the acquisition, NYSE Euronext announced that the AMEX would be integrated with the Alternext European small-cap exchange and renamed the NYSE Alternext U.S. The American Stock Exchange merged with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Euronext) on October 1, 2008. Post merger, the Amex equities business was branded "NYSE Alternext US". As part of the re-branding exercise, NYSE Alternext US was re-branded as NYSE Amex Equities. On December 1, 2008, the Curb Exchange building at 86 Trinity Place was closed, and the Amex Equities trading floor was moved to the NYSE Trading floor at 11 Wall Street. 90 years after its 1921 opening, the old New York Curb Market building was empty but remained standing. In March 2009, NYSE Alternext U.S. was changed to NYSE Amex Equities. On May 10, 2012, NYSE Amex Equities changed its name to NYSE MKT LLC.

In June 2016, a competing stock exchange IEX (which operated with a 350-microsecond delay in trading), gained approval from the SEC, despite lobbying protests by the NYSE and other exchanges and trading firms. On July 24, 2017, the NYSE renamed NYSE MKT to NYSE American, and announced plans to introduce its own 350-microsecond "speed bump" in trading on the small and mid-cap company exchange.

Products

 * Intellidex
 * Stocks
 * Options
 * Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
 * Structured Products
 * Warrants

Management
Past presidents of the American Stock Exchange include:

 * John L. McCormack (1911–1914)
 * Edward R. McCormick (1914–1923)
 * John W. Curtis (1923–1925)
 * David U. Page (1925–1928)
 * William S. Muller (1928–1932)
 * Howard C. Sykes (1932–1934)
 * E. Burd Grubb (1934–1935)
 * Fred C. Moffatt (1935–1939; 1942–1945)
 * George P. Rea (1939–1942)
 * Edwin Posner (1945–1947; January–September, 1962)
 * Edward C. Werle (February–March, 1947)
 * Francis Adams Truslow (1947–1951)
 * Edward T. McCormick (1951–1961)
 * Joseph F. Reilly (1961–1962)
 * Edwin D. Etherington (1962–1966)
 * Ralph S. Saul (1966–1971)
 * Paul Kolton (1971–1973)
 * Richard M. Burdge (1973–1977)
 * Robert J. Birnbaum (1977–1986)
 * Kenneth R. Leibler (1986–1990)

Past chairmen of the American Stock Exchange include:

 * Clarence A. Bettman (1939–1941)
 * Fred C. Moffatt (1941–1945)
 * Edwin Posner (1945–1947; 1962–1965)
 * Edward C. Werle (1947–1950)
 * Mortimer Landsberg (1950–1951)
 * John J. Mann (1951–1956)
 * James R. Dyer (1956–1960)
 * Joseph E. Reilly (1960–1962)
 * David S. Jackson (1965–1968)
 * Macrae Sykes (1968–1969)
 * Frank C. Graham, Jr. (1969–1973)
 * Paul Kolton (1973–1978)
 * Arthur Levitt, Jr. (1978–1989)
 * James R. Jones (1989–1993)

title: NYSE American


text:
Talk:Åland/Archive 1

Untitled
This is an excellent example of the unpleasant fact that the world has changed since August, 1914. There is almost nothing of any value in the 1911 encyclopedia's geographical entries other than physical dimensions of the earth - and those are all too often in fathoms, which I'm sure you devotees of the SI system find as annoying as I find it's appalling pope-baiting in the history articles. It is well worth evaluating your time and effort porting these sad little documents and thinking of what we often have to do with them once they're here. --MichaelTinkler

-

The following has been moved from Talk:Aland:

 * 1) Can we do better than to turn Å into A? E.g., is "Aa" an acceptable orthography here as it sometimes is in Danish?
 * 2) Åland "is mentioned as a member of the Nordic countries" --- but by whom? By Wikipedia?

I know of an island off the coast of Sweden called Oland (I think there may be some sort of diacritical mark on the 'o') Is this the same island?

No, Öland is another island in the Baltic sea and quite traditionally a part of Sweden might I add :-) --Anders Törlind

This article need to be rewritten from scratch. While some historical fact are correct some were correct only at the time of writing (1911). The worst is what's left out. As an intermediate action you should scrap the article and just leave a refernce to http://www.aland.fi/ where more up-to-date and hence correct information may be found. I also find it amusing/saddening that you even bother looking at such ancient materials as a 1911 encyclopedia. If the rest of the wikipedia holds the same quality it is just a waste of precious cyberspace. Can't wait to read the article on "Germany" ... or "negro" -- Robin Rosenberg

title: Talk:Åland/Archive 1