French Surname Meanings and Origins

Coming from the medieval French word surnom, which translates as above-or-over name, descriptive surnames names trace their use in France back to 11th century when it first became necessary to add a second name to distinguish between individuals with the same given name. Even so, the use of surnames did not become common for several centuries. Patronymic Matronymic Surnames Based on a parent’s name, patronyms and matronyms are the most common method by which French last names were constructed. Patronymic surnames are based on the fathers name and matronymic surnames on the mothers name. The mothers name was usually used only when the fathers name was unknown. Patronymic and matronymic surnames in France were formed in several different ways. The majority of French patronymic and matronymic surnames have no identifying prefix and are direct derivations of the parents given name, such as August Landry, for August, son of Landri, or Tomas Robert, for Tomas, son of Robert. The typical format of attaching a prefix or suffix meaning son of (e.g., de, des, du, lu,  or  the Norman fitz) to a given name was less common in France than in many European countries, although still prevalent. Examples include Jean de Gaulle, meaning John, son of Gaulle, or Tomas FitzRobert, or Tomas, son of Robert. Suffixes meaning little son of (-eau, -elet, -elin, -elle, -elet, and so forth) were also used. Occupational Surnames Also very common among French surnames, occupational last names are based on the person’s job or trade, such as Pierre Boulanger or Pierre, the baker. Several common occupations found prevalently as French surnames include Caron (cartwright), Fabron (blacksmith), and  Pelletier (fur trader). Descriptive Surnames Based on a unique quality of the individual, descriptive French surnames were often developed from nicknames or pet names, such as Jacques Legrand, for Jacques, the Big. Other common examples include Petit (small) and LeBlanc (blonde hair or fair complexion). Geographical Surnames Geographical or habitational French surnames are based on a person’s residence, often a former residence (for example, Yvonne Marseille means Yvonne from the village of Marseille). They may also describe the individuals specific location within a village or town, such as Michel Là ©glise, who lived  next to the church.  The prefixes de, des, du, and le (which translate to of) are also used in French geographical surnames.   Alias Surnames or Dit Names In some areas of France, a second surname may have been adopted to distinguish between different branches of the same family, especially when the families remained in the same town for generations. These alias surnames can often be found preceded by the word dit. Sometimes an individual even adopted the dit name as the family name and dropped the original surname. This practice was most common in France among soldiers and sailors. French Names With Germanic Origins As so many French surnames are derived from first names, its important to know that many common French first names have Germanic origins. However, these names became part of French culture as a result of German invasions, so having a name with Germanic origins does not necessarily mean you have German ancestors. Official Name Changes in France Beginning in 1474, those who wished to change their names were required to get permission from the King. (These official name changes can be found indexed in L Archiviste Jà ©rà ´me. Dictionnaire des changements de noms de 1803–1956 (Dictionary of changed names from 1803 to 1956). Paris: Librairie Francaise, 1974.) 100 Common French Surnames and their Meanings Abadie (abbey or family chapel)Alarie (all-powerful)Allard (noble)Anouilh (slow worm)Archambeau (bold, daring)Arsenault (gun maker, keeper of the arsenal)Auclair (clear)Barbeau (a type of fish, fisherman)Barbier (barber)Bassett (low, short, or of humble origins)Baudelaire (small sword, dagger)Beauregard (beautiful outlook)Beausoleil (beautiful sun, a sunny place)Bellamy (beautiful friend)Berger (shepherd)Bisset (weaver)Blanchet (blond, pure)Bonfils (good son)Boucher (butcher)Boulanger (baker)Brun (dark hair or complexion)Camus (snub-nosed, shirt-maker)Carpentier (carpenter)Carre (square)Cartier (transporter of goods)Chapelle (near the chapel)Charbonnier (who sells or makes charcoal)Chastain (chestnut tree)Chatelain (constable, prison warder from the Latin word  castellum, meaning â€Å"watchtower†)Chevalier (knight, horseman)Chevrolet (keeper of goats)Corbin (crow, little raven)De la Cour (of the court)De la Croix (of the cross)De la Rue (of the street)Desjardins (from the g ardens)Donadieu/Donnadieu (â€Å"given to God,† this name was often bestowed on children who became priests or nuns, or were orphaned with unknown parentage.)Dubois (by the woods or forest)Dupont (by the bridge)Dupuis (by the well)Durand (enduring)Escoffier (to dress)Farrow (ironworker)Fontaine (well or fountain)Forestier (keeper of the king’s forest)Fortier (stronghold/fort or someone who works there)Fortin (strong)Fournier (communal baker)Gagneux (farmer)Gagnon (guard dog)Garcon (boy, servant)Garnier (keeper of the granary)Guillaume (from William, meaning strength)Jourdain (one who descends)Laferriere (near an iron mine)Lafitte (near the border)Laflamme (torchbearer)Laframboise (raspberry)Lagrange (who lived near a granary)Lamar (the pool)Lambert (bright land or lamb herder)Lane (wool or wool trader)Langlois (Englishman)Laval (of the valley)Lavigne (near the vineyard)Leclerc (clerk, secretary)Lefebre (craftsman)Legrand (large or tall)Lemaitre (master craftsman)Lenoir (black, dark)Leroux (redheaded)Leroy (the king)Le Sueur (one who sews, cobbler, shoemaker)Marchand (merchant)Martel (blacksmith)Moreau (dark-skinned)Moulin (mill or miller)Petit (small or slender)Picard (someone from Picard)Poirier/Poirot (near a pear tree or orchard)Pomeroy (apple orchard)Porcher (swineherd).Proulx (brave, valiant)Remy (oarsman or cure/remedy)Richelieu (place of wealth)Roche (near a rocky hill)Sartre (tailor, someone who sews clothing)Sergeant (one who serves)Serrurier (locksmith)Simon (one who listens)Thibaut (brave, bold)Toussaint (all saints)Travers (near the bridge or ford)Vachon (cowherd)Vaillancourt (low-lying farm)Vercher (farmland)Verne (alder tree)Vieux (old)Violette (violet)Voland (one who flies, agile)

Hurricane Katrin A Horrific Day For The City Of New Orleans

August 29, 2005, was a horrific day for the city of New Orleans. That day was when the deadly storm Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans. It was one of the worst hurricanes in the United States history. On August 28, 2005, Katrina was upgraded to a category five hurricane, which is the worst category that a hurricane can be named. A category five hurricane means catastrophic damage will occur since the wind was going 157 miles per hour or higher. Ray Nagin the mayor of New Orleans called for the first mandatory evacuation of the city and he announced that the Superdome were some of the places that were listed as places as shelters for people who cannot leave. After the hurricane hit the city of New Orleans, the city was†¦show more content†¦New Orleans had a huge poverty problem and the hurricane made it worst for the poor people. New Orleans was one of the poorest cities in the United States even before Katrina. Even the police department had been in tons of tro ubles before Katrina. The NOPD has had a terrible reputation for years. In April 1996, NOPD officer Len Davis was imprisoned for killing a person who was complaining about police brutality. Another NOPD officer was involved in a robbery that left three dead including a police officer. From the years, 1995 to 1997 more than 500 police officers were being investigated and more than a 100 officers were fired. Even before Katrina happened the rate of murders went up twenty percent from the year before. The NOPD were not properly run before Hurricane Katrina and they were not properly run after Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans. After Katrina hit the city of New Orleans, it turns the city into a hopeless place to be. Eighty percent of the city was flooded and some parts of the city were fifteen under water. During the aftermath of the hurricane, there were tons of looting, shootings, murders, and rapes. Some of those events took place in the Superdome where people live before and after the hurricane hit the city since they were not able to leave the city beforehand. A lot of people lost their homes. Also, local business was destroyed. There were people sitting on their rooftops since their homes were under water and they were

Arab music Essay Example For Students

Arab music Essay The word music comes from the Greek word Mousiki which means the science of composing melodies. Ilm al-musiqa was the name given by the Arabs to the Greek theory of music as to distinguish it from ilm al-ghinaa, the Arabian theory. The Arab music tradition developed in the courts of dynasties in the Islamic Empire from the seventh to the thirteenth century. It flourished during the Umayyad dynasty in the seventh and eighth centuries in Syria. Although the major writings of Arab music appeared after the spread of the Islamic religion in the beginning of the seventh century, the music tradition had already begun. Before the spread of Islam, Arab music incorporated music traditions of the Sassanid dynasty (224-651) in Persia and the early Byzantine empire (fourth to sixth century) and of sung poetry from the Arabian Peninsula. Arab music is created using non-harmonized melodic and rhythmic systems. Arabic melodies draw from a vast array of models, or melodic modes, known as maqamat. Ara bic books on music include as many as 52 melodic modes, of which at least 12 are commonly used. These modes feature more tones than are present in the Western musical system, including notably smaller intervals that are sometimes called microtones, or half-flats and half-sharps. Arab melodies frequently use the increased second interval, an interval larger than those of most Western melodies. The sound of Arab music is richly melodic and offers freedom for subtle nuance and creative diversity. The rhythmic structure of Arab music is also complex. Rhythmic patterns have up to forty-eight beats and typically include several downbeats (called dums) as well as upbeats (called taks) and rests. To grasp a rhythmic mode, the listener must hear a relatively long pattern. Moreover, the performers do not simply play the pattern; they decorate and elaborate upon it. Often the pattern is recognizable only by the arrangement of downbeats. The order of these systems of melody and rhythm is essential to the composition and performance of Arab music. Students learn pieces of music, both songs and instrumental works, but rarely perform them exactly as they were originally composed or presented. In Arab tradition, a good musician is someone who can offer something new in each performance by varying and improvising on known pieces or models in a fashion similar to that of musicians. The creations of musicians can be lengthy, extending ten-minute compositions into hour-long performances that bear only a skeletal resemblance to the models. The style of the new works traditionally depends upon the response of the audience. Listeners are expected to react during the performance, either verbally or with applause. Quiet is interpreted as disinterest or dislike. The audience members, in this tradition, are active participants in determining the length of the performance and in shaping the piece of music by encouraging musicians to either repeat a section of the piece or to move to the next section. Instruments typically used in an Arab musical performance include the ud, a prototype of the European lute, and the nay, an end-blown reed flute. Frame drums, with or without jingles, and hourglass-shaped drums are common percussion instruments. These instruments vary in name and shape depending upon the region of their origin. Double-reed instruments of varying sizes, such as the Lebanese mijwiz and the Egyptian mizmar, are played at outdoor celebrations. The Arab rababah, a spike fiddle, may have been the prototype for the European violin, which is now also found in many Arab regions. Solo performance consisting of the interactive invention of good music with an appreciative audience represents a peak of musical accomplishment for the instrumentalist similar to that which the singing of poetry represents for the vocalist. In a taqsim, a form of instrumental improvisation, the instrumentalist chooses a melodic mode, offers interpretation of the mode, and in pitch, and modulates to other modes. Eventually the instrumentalist descends to close in the original mode. Musical accomplishment lies in the musicians technical virtuosity, creativity, and subtlety in suggesting other modes, other compositions, or even the music of other artists. .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 , .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .postImageUrl , .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 , .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867:hover , .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867:visited , .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867:active { border:0!important; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867:active , .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867 .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ue33e082033a22d13e5a2f43b7b731867:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: A Clean Well Lighted Place Analysis EssayPerformances considered traditionalwhether they are neoclassical events in concert halls, entertainment in hotels, or television programmesusually include both song and instrumental performances, although often not played in unison, that last about an hour and are arranged to reach a high peak in a vocal performance. Such collections of piecesmetrical and non-metrical, vocal and instrumental, simple and complex, and often unified by modeare central to Arab music.Examples include the North African nawbah, thought to have originated in Andaluca, and the eastern Mediterranean waslah musical forms, which were previously the standard of entertainment for small gatherings of elite Arab men. While the general principles have remained the same, the tradition of Arab music has changed throughout the centuries. Distinctive local practices have evolved and become important to the cultural identity of their respective societies. For example, the North African cities of Fs, Tlemcen, Tetuan, and Tunis have distinct versions of the Andalusian nawbah that help define local culture and are closely associated with the histories of their regions.Melodic modes of the same name are tuned slightly differently in Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and the countries of North Africa. Music of these regions is distinguishable by pitch. Rhythmic modes also have varying articulations in different locales, and the styles of melodies and renditions differ. Sung poetry, particularly informal verse, changes with local dialects. The Iraqi maqam is not simply a melodic mode, but an unfolding of pieces in a particular mode. The word maqam in Iraq carries a me aning closer to that of waslah or nawbah than it does maqam in other places. Because of the absence of recording or notation until the 20th century, it is impossible to be certain of the age of the melodies. Particular melodies, specifically those of Andalusian or Syrian muwashshahat, may be centuries old, but it is highly unlikely that they have remained exactly the same throughout the years. Widely known musical pieces of early times were probably subject to reinterpretation at different places throughout history. Bibliography:

Women In Politics Essays - Gender Studies, Womens Rights

Women In Politics Women in Politics Beginning with the early nineteen hundreds, women from all over the country have bounded together, forming leagues and clubs for equal rights. However, it wasn't until today at the dawn of the twenty-first century, states and international community can no longer refute the fact that humanity is made up of two sexes, not just one (Oliveria 26). Why has the womans move for equality just now started to balance itself out? Well, the answer is quite simple; women are just now being looked at as semi-equals. They are beginning to become corporate executives in businesses, and popular in the field of medicine and law. Women have tried hard to push themselves forward in society to create a balanced and harmonious economy and so far it has been successful. Barriers of all kinds have been broken, well, all except a few, mainly in politics and with the information I have collected I will show why. Politicswhen one stops and thinks of the word politics what naturally comes to mind? Our founding fathers, Presidents George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; the popular political figures of today, President Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Al Gore; or do we think about Belva Ann Lockwood, Jeannette Rankin, Frances Perkins, and Eugenie Moore - who? When American's think about politics, Lyn Kathlene, journalist for the Higher Education Chronicles, states that ninety-five percent of the time they envision a man who is in charge of running, or helping to run, their country. Is society to blame for this misconception that women do not hold important roles in government and participate in making important decisions for our country? Not really, people just dont hear or read about women in politics as often as they do about men. As most people learn throughout elementary and junior high or middle school, our nation first formed government in 1776 when Thomas Jefferson first drafted our constitution. During this time women did not have a role in government, nor would they for the next one hundred and eight years, until a woman would try to run for office. In 1884, Belva Ann Lockwood the first woman to try a case before the United States Supreme Court ran for Presidency (Arenofsky 14). Well, to no surprise she lost, but her groundbreaking campaign made it possible and easier for Jeannette Rankin, thirty-three years later, to run and become elected to Congress for the state of Montana. However, even with this groundbreaking experience, women were still looked down upon for their lack of experience. It wasnt until 1920 when women's suffrage ended and the nineteenth amendment to the constitution, granting women the right to vote, that women were formally introduced into politics. However, even with voting privileges, women were still looked at as weak feeble creatures. The lack of confidence and the inability to be seen as strong-minded females who were not afraid to voice their opinion hurt the female gender immensely. It wasnt until Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, crisscrossed the country speaking about social problems and serving as the quintessential role model for the politically active female that women began to witness how to present themselves with confidence (Arenofsky 14). Finally, with women's confidence on the rise and their new understanding and attitudes toward government, women were starting to attain a higher status in the political arena. The big break for women came from the decision by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1933 appointed Frances Perkins to the cabinet as Secretary of labor (Hogan 4). With this big break, women were finally moving forward in government and there was no looking back. So, after all of this hard work and dedication by early feminists to achieve a voice in politics, was it worth the struggles and did it pay off? Rosiska Darcy de Oliveria, journalist for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Courier, believes so. She states, women's rise to power and their participation in politics are the vital signs of a healthy democracy, which would make good sense since the United States is a free country where everyone is suppose to be equal to their neighbor (26). However, others believe that political

Overview of the Great Awakening U.S. Religious Revival

Overview of the Great Awakening U.S. Religious Revival The Great Awakening of 1720-1745 was a period of intense religious revivalism that spread throughout the American colonies. The movement deemphasized the higher authority of church doctrine and instead put greater importance on the individual and his or her spiritual experience.   The Great Awakening arose at a time when people in Europe and the American colonies were questioning the role of the individual in religion and society. It began at the same time as the Enlightenment which emphasized logic and reason and stressed the power of the individual to understand the universe based on scientific laws. Similarly, individuals grew to rely more on a personal approach to salvation than church dogma and doctrine. There was a feeling among believers that established religion had become complacent. This new movement emphasized an emotional, spiritual, and personal relationship with God.   Historical Context of Puritanism By the early 18th century, the New England theocracy clung to a medieval concept of religious authority. At first, the challenges of living in a colonial America isolated from its roots in Europe served to support an autocratic leadership; but by the 1720s, the increasingly diverse, commercially successful colonies had a stronger sense of independence. The church had to change. One possible source of inspiration for great change occurred in October of 1727 when an earthquake rattled the region. Ministers preached that the Great Earthquake was Gods latest rebuke to New England, a universal shock that might presage the final conflagration and the day of judgment. The number of religious converts increased for some months afterward. Revivalism The Great Awakening movement divided longstanding denominations such as the Congregational and Presbyterian churches and created an opening for new evangelical strength in Baptists and Methodists. That began with a series of revival sermons from preachers who were either not associated with mainstream churches, or who were diverging from those churches. Most scholars date the beginning of the revival era of the Great Awakening to the Northampton revival which began in the church of Jonathan Edwards in 1733. Edwards gained the post from his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, who had exercised a great deal of control over the community from 1662 until his death in 1729. By the time Edwards took the pulpit, though, things had slipped; licentiousness prevailed particularly with young people. Within a few years of Edwards leadership, the young people by degrees left off their frolics and returned to spirituality. Edwards who preached for close to ten years in New England emphasized a personal approach to religion. He bucked the Puritan tradition and called for an end to intolerance and unity among all Christians. His most famous sermon was Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, delivered in 1741. In this sermon, he explained that salvation was a direct result of God and could not be attained by human works as the Puritans preached. So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men’s earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction. The Grand Itinerant A second important figure during the Great Awakening was George Whitefield. Unlike Edwards, Whitefield was a British minister who moved to colonial America. He was known as the Great Itinerant because he traveled and preached all around North America and Europe between 1740 and 1770. His revivals led to many conversions, and the Great Awakening spread from North America back to the European continent. In 1740 Whitefield left Boston to begin a 24-day journey through New England. His initial purpose was to collect money for his Bethesda orphanage, but he lit religious fires, and the ensuing revival engulfed most of New England. By the time he returned to Boston, crowds at his sermons grew, and his farewell sermon was said to have included some 30,000 people. The message of the revival was to return to religion, but it was a religion that would be available to all sectors, all classes, and all economies. New Light Versus Old Light The church of the original colonies was various versions of entrenched Puritanism, underpinned by Calvinism. The orthodox Puritan colonies were societies of status and subordination, with the ranks of men arranged in strict hierarchies. Lower classes were subservient and obedient to a class of spiritual and governing elite, made up of upper-class gentlemen and scholars. The church saw this hierarchy as a status that was fixed at birth, and the doctrinal emphasis was placed on the depravity of (common) man, and the sovereignty of God as represented by his church leadership. But in the colonies before the American Revolution, there were clearly social changes at work, including a rising commercial and capitalist economy, as well as increased diversity and individualism. This, in turn, created a rise of class antagonism and hostilities. If God bestows his grace on an individual, why did that gift have to be ratified by a church official? The Significance of the Great Awakening The Great Awakening had a major impact on Protestantism, as a number of new offshoots grew out of that denomination, but with an emphasis on individual piety and religious inquiry. The movement also prompted a rise in evangelicalism, which united believers under the umbrella of like-minded Christians, regardless of denomination, for whom the path to salvation was the acknowledgment that Jesus Christ died for our sins. While a great unifier among the people living in the American colonies, this wave of religious revivalism did have its opponents. Traditional clergy asserted that it fomented fanaticism and that the emphasis on extemporaneous preaching would increase the number of uneducated preachers and downright charlatans. It pushed individual religious experience over established church doctrine, thereby decreasing the importance and weight of the clergy and the church in many instances.New denominations arose or grew in numbers as a result of the emphasis on individual faith and salvation.It unified the American colonies as it spread through numerous preachers and revivals. This unification was greater than had ever been achieved previously in the colonies. Sources Cowing, Cedric B. Sex and Preaching in the Great Awakening. American Quarterly 20.3 (1968): 624-44. Print.Rossel, Robert D. The Great Awakening: An Historical Analysis. American Journal of Sociology 75.6 (1970): 907-25. Print.Van de Wetering, John E. The Christian History of the Great Awakening. Journal of Presbyterian History (1962-1985) 44.2 (1966): 122-29. Print.

Movie Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Movie Review - Essay Example The actions of both Kevin O’Donnel and Sean Miller amply convey this fact. â€Å" Our society in the West has, quite literally, an investment in perpetuating the myth of an evil force... Without it, movies and writing would be less interesting because evil villains represent in some powerful manner the way many people perceive the world†(R. F. Baumeister, W.H. Freeman & Co, 1996). People often think of evil as what is outside of them, and even if an evil action is chosen, there is a justification since there is something good in the expected outcome. This is the outlook of the terrorists. The discussion shows how people can be properly be made aware of the dangers of terrorism and how realistic the two movies are in conveying the facts regarding terrorism. In the movie Patriot Games, we see the fear of terrorism casting its spell throughout the life of Jack Ryan and his family. He and his family are on a visit England. He has worked as an intelligence agent in the U.S. A. his helps him to be vigilant. He is also making use of his London vacation for his research, as he is writing a book. He has met his wife Cathy an ophthalmological surgeon and daughter Sally and they are discussing where to go for dinner that evening. At that time there is an explosion behind them. He gets his family under cover and sees three men attacking a Rolls Roys. Taking advantage of his perfect position to interfere, he charges in and kills one man and has wounded another. The men are from the Ulster Liberation Army (ULA), an ultra-violent off shoot of the violent Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Now he becomes a local hero in England, as the occupants of the car he saved are the members of the Royal Family. But the head of the ULA Kevin O’Donnell is quite upset. Sean Miller, who had planned the operation, who is now caught, is also furious at Jack’s interference. The PIRA is also not happy with Kevin O’Donnell for attacking the Royal

Assess the role of law, and determine its importance,compare key Essay

Assess the role of law, and determine its importance,compare key arguements in the writting of thomass hobbes and john locke - Essay Example It is the contrasts observable in the philosophical arguments that form the basis of this analytical essay on the importance and role of law, with a view to reaching a credible conclusion. Introduction The concept of the role of law has been presented differently by different scholars. While there is a general agreement on the role and importance of law in the society, the philosophy behind this concept differs according to different scholars. There is a general agreement that the fundamental role of law is to maintain order in the society, through the protection of the basic rights of individuals (Collins, 2005 p42). In a society where people are living together, it is inevitable to develop rules of conduct that guide the relationship and interactions between the people. While such rules of conducts may be developed and applied differently by different societies, the objective is simply the same; to protect the fundamental rights of individuals within the society (Grant, 1987 p12). Therefore, this essay will argue on the role and importance of law, as advocated for by two different scholars, namely Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Discussion The prime essence of law in the society is to regulate social behavior (Brown, 1965 p7). ... However, according to Thomas Hobbes, who was a renowned English philosopher, the major problem that exists in the world is that of establishing political and social order (Dietz, 1990 p114). Therefore, the fundamental question regarding social interaction is on how people can live together, without the danger and fear of conflict. This forms the basis of his Moral and Political Philosophy, which postulates that to realize peaceful coexistence in the society full of undue danger and fear of conflict, people should give their obedience to an unaccountable sovereign, which could take the form of an individual or a group that is vested with the powers of deciding on the political and social issues facing the society (Collins, 2005 p45). This point to the inevitable need for some form of law that is vested on certain social institutions, which have the powers to interpret and apply the laws for the common benefit of the society and al individuals, who have committed their obedience to suc h institutions. Thus according to Thomas Hobbes, the need for law in the society stems from the fact that the state of nature is one full of universal insecurity, where all people have the right to fear violent death (Brown, 1965 p12). Therefore, the role of law is to guarantee such people their security, and thus eliminate the danger and fear of violent death that is present in the state of nature, which is likened to a state of civil war. Hobbes further observes that it is practically impossible to achieve a rewarding human cooperation (Franklin, 1978 p61). This is because; individuals will always take advantage of their strengths to dominate over the weaker ones in the society, and thus expose them to the danger and fear of violent death. Thus according