GLOSSARY abrogate to pass an Act of Parliament; to cancel or abolish a law (precedent) made by the courts absolute dating techniques methods used to assess the age of something (e.g. radiocarbon dating, tree-ring dating) accused the party in a criminal trial against whom an action has been brought Act a law passed by parliament allocate assign resources to different uses within the economy althing Iceland’s parliament; Icelandic governing national assembly formed during the Viking Age, which met once a year altitude height above sea level ancient history the period from the beginning of civilisation to the fall of the Roman Empire aquifer a body of permeable rock below the Earth’s surface that contains water, known as groundwater arable land that can be ploughed for crops archbishop head bishop archipelago an area that contains a chain or group of islands scattered in lakes, rivers or the ocean artefact an object made or changed by humans artillery large mounted firearms such as the cannon artisan a skilled worker who produces handmade items asylum seeker a person whose request for sanctuary has yet to be processed Australian Constitution the foundational legal document that establishes the framework for the governing of Australia backwash the movement of water from a broken wave as it runs down a beach returning to the ocean balance of power the distribution of authority and responsibilities among the three branches of government balance of probabilities requires reasonable satisfaction that the facts as presented are probably correct and occurred as stated barbarian uncultured and uncivilised; not Christian beriberi a disease caused by a lack of vitamin B berserker Viking warrior who fought naked or near-naked and rushed wildly into battle. The word ‘berserk’ is derived from this. beyond reasonable doubt based on evidence, there is no other logical conclusion that can be made other than that the accused is guilty biased one-sided or prejudiced; seeing something from just one point of view bill a proposed law that has not yet been agreed to by parliament or received royal assent billabong a U-shaped body of water created when a wide meander is cut off from the main channel of a river after it changes its course. Also known as an oxbow lake. binding precedent a decision made in a higher court in the same court hierarchy that must be followed by a lower court where the facts of the cases are similar bishop a senior member of the clergy; one who governs a diocese, a large church district biwa a four-stringed Japanese musical instrument blasphemy any words or actions that were considered disrespectful or insulting towards God or religion, e.g. speaking rudely about religion or denying the existence of God bloodletting medieval medical practice where blood was deliberately removed using cuts or leeches; commonly used during plagues though it was often harmful boss metal bulge used as reinforcement in the centre of a shield breach of contract a situation where a legally binding agreement is not honoured by one or more of the parties to the contract bronze metal alloy, mainly of copper and tin
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