Family crests are not what you might think. The term “family crest” is sometimes used interchangeably with the heraldic terms “coat-of-arms” or “family shield,” but a family crest is actually only one portion of the heraldic display known as a coat-of-arms. The crest is usually the uppermost design element in a coat-of-arms, standing on top of an armor helmet depicted in the coat-of-arms. It is analogous to the crest on top of the heads of some birds.
Design Elements in Family Crests.
Different animals and other graphic representations may be used in the design of family crests. A hand or arm holding a weapon, a lion, horse or dragon, or the wings of an eagle or another bird are often seen.
A wreath (torse) in the family liveries (the principal colors of the family shield) usually surrounds the crest. In family crests of nobles such as princes, dukes or earls, a coronet often takes the place of the torse or sits on top of the torse.
Historical Underpinnings of Family Crests.
Heraldic coats-of-arms and family crests originated in Europe’s early Middle Ages, and they came into popular use during the feudal period. Medieval knights used their crests and coats-of-arms to quickly and easily identify themselves to friends and foes during tournaments and battles. For example, a knight’s shield and helmet were usually painted with colorful, vivid design elements from his coat-of-arms, oftentimes the family crest. A similar system – but with different graphics – evolved and came into use in feudal Japan.
Other than reigning Queens, women are generally not entitled to bear or use family crests, and neither are members of the clergy. These exclusions are an historical artifact that arose because women and clergymen did not fight in battle or participate in medieval tournaments, and accordingly they would not have had a helmet on which to display a family crest. Because the stylized representations which we now think of as being family crests originated as displays on top of actual armored helmets, there was no mechanism to ever create a family crest for a woman or clergyman.
Family Crests Today.
By law, in several countries, only certain specific people (“armigers”) are technically entitled to bear or use family crests and coats-of-arms, even today. But family crests are such attractive designs that they have become popular as wall displays and as part of the design of some jewelry. Like coats-of-arms, heraldic family crests relate to a specific historical individual or family name, and sometimes they symbolically portray that individual’s deeds or events that occurred during the family history. Typically, very specific symbolic devices, colors and patterns are combined to create a heraldic family crest, and each of these components tells part of the story of the person or family that the crest belongs to. They are, however, typically highly stylized and it is sometimes very difficult to accurately decipher the symbolism used in a family crest. But even when the meaning of a family crest has long been lost in the mists of time, it is a beautiful, highly decorative design that evoke the magic of the Middle Ages and links us to a noble past.
Find out all about family law mediation in this episode where Justice Brownstone interviews a family law lawyer and a non-lawyer mediator. Filmed in Victoria, BC 2010.
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What’s a family law attorney and why are they necessary? It’s even additional crucial you’re familiar with these consultants of family law since it appears robust families are changing into less and fewer in our modern day.
Here is a reality that’s unfortunate however all to often becomes reality in 2010. When a mother and father gets a divorce and therefore the family is divided the prices go means up. When all home expenses are shared by the man and woman the burden of making a living is also shared.
Once a divorce everybody’s customary of living is lowered due to the very fact that 2 separate households, versus one, should be maintained. The state courts are then given the duty, sadly, of dividing the resources that used to support one extended family into two parts.
Its sometimes impossible to do this equally as a result of many things the couple owned along can’t be merely cut in half. For example a home can’t be sawed in [*fr1] thus enabling each former spouse to get a [*fr1] of it. This especially is true when there are youngsters involved. The wants and expenses of the kids involved changes from each passing year. The costs involved in raising elementary aged youngsters are abundant not up to the prices in raising teenagers.
Additionally to that downside the circumstances of the adults concerned changes. The income of the person ordered to pay kid support or alimony, be it the father or mother, can drastically go up or down as time goes on.
And we haven’t even touched the difficulty of child custody together with outlining visitation rights. With the divorce rate as high as it is in 2010 it will not take a genius to surprise why family law courts are continually packed and system is overloaded. It is not possible to navigate all the courts, red tape, and legal documents with the help of an skilled who deals with those things for a living.
Hopefully you understand the rationale why a family law attorney at law is critical when handling these sticky situations. These types of attorneys specialize in the sphere of law that deals with all family connected issues and relations of the domestic nature. These fields embrace anything having to try and do with wedding, civil unions, domestic partnerships, abuse, legitimacy, adoption, divorce, wedding annulment, alimony, and child support payments.
The better they’re acquainted with every subject the better they are at winning the case (though really no one ever wins when it comes to those types of cases). Many family law attorneys focus on a distinct segment somewhere among this big field that gets bigger every year. One family law attorney will doubtless be more adept at marriage contracts than divorce proceedings. Another one would possibly be wonderful at property division whereas another attorney in the same general field can excel in nullity.
Relying on your needs it is a sensible idea to ask a prospective family law attorney what she or he focuses on and judge if that space of experience is what you require.
Part two in a series on how to find a (good) Minnesota Family Law Lawyer. Some simple questions to ask, some tips on what to avoid. Rosengren Kohlmeyer, Law Office Chtd. WWW.MankatoFamilyLaw.com
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Supreme Court on patents: Thank heavens they got one right.
The Supreme Court’s recent patent decision was really good news and nobody is covering it.
This week, the Supreme Court ruled that lower courts had awarded too much power to patent holders. And they limited the reach of intellectual property in some cases. This story has been painted as a disaster for business and technological development. Honestly, could there be anything more ridiculous?
Loosening the intellectual property rules is not only not bad for tech, it is probably the smartest thing that can be done for the sector. As professional thinkers, we can assure you that we go on thinking whether someone is paying us or not. So opening the terrain of what we can think about without some knucklehead showing up expecting to get paid is the best thing for us. It makes it easier to develop an idea since we can just run with it and not worry whether we’re stepping in an ancient patent.
Anybody who has anything to do with technological development knows that advancement rarely hinges on whether something can be done. It’s more often a question of whether anyone has bothered to try it yet. And the profits in technology come from making those ideas work for somebody, not just having the ideas. Technology, at the end of the day, is about service — focusing the ways of the universe down so one single person can take advantage of them. Allowing strict control over ideas only hurts that development.
Our courts usually get nothing but contempt from us. Could there be anything more dumb than the way our judicial system thinks about Napster, or Kazaa, or Grokster? But here the court got it right.
Within reason, less intellecutal property control is better.
News Corp’s bid for the Wall Street Journal: The greatest capitalist story ever told.
What happens when free market economics comes to the champion of free market economics? It certainly won’t be pretty and it is certainly a huge story.
Somebody in this little media world of ours owes it to all of us to do the full case study of just what might happen to the Wall Street Journal once unfettered, pure economic freedom comes to the newspaper. News Corp., as everyone knows by now, has made a ridiculous billion bid to buy Dow Jones, which almost certainly will be accepted.
If it is, News Corp. will have spent an incredible amount of money. And in order to make some of that money back, they’re going to have to cut costs somewhere. Labor cost is always a favorite place to save money. That puts the staff at the Wall Street Journal in an interesting position: For three decades the company has championed the tough economic love of labor flexibility, commoditized human resources and personal freedom that allows the few to replace the efforts of the many with technology without sharing the rewards.
The story here is finding out what happens when those who have espoused that kind of freedom actually face the consequences.
Obviously, there will be winners in the New Corp./Dow Jones deal. Rupert Murdoch is a terrific innovator. And as we have said before, there is much room for innovation in newspapers. But we wonder how well the people who built the Wall Street Journal will adapt to their newfound freedom.
Cool stuff worth tracking.
New phones from Nokia.
The RFID carwash. Finally something useful with this technology.
Alaska village falls into the sea.
The 100 year old electric comedian. Oh, sorry, electric car!
Launch 2007 will be at the Microsoft Campus this year. Hummmm.
Digital picture frame with an IP address. It can get and receive e-mails.
And finally … a fly on drugs.
Did the fly inhale? You be the judge.