While attorney general, Meese received Government Executive magazine’s annual award for excellence in management. When President Reagan was asked during a press conference about Meese’s service as attorney general, he replied, “If Ed Meese is not a good man, there are no good men.” In 1992, Meese published his memoirs, With Reagan: The Inside Story. In May 2006 Meese was named a member of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which was commissioned to assess and report on the status of the IRAQ WAR. Meese co-authored the group’s final report in December 2006. As of 2009 Meese serves on the boards of several institutions—including the American Civil Rights Union, Capital Research Center, the Junior Statesmen Foundation, and the Landmark Legal Foundation—and is Regent Emeritus of the National College of District Attorneys. He is a distinguished visiting fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford Univer- sity and an adjunct senior fellow at the Discovery Institute. Meese also serves as the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow at the HERITAGE FOUNDATION and is chair of the foundation’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. He received the founda- tion’s Clare Boothe Luce Award in 2005. Meese and his wife, Ursula, have two grown children and reside in McLean, Virginia. FURTHER READINGS Baker, James A., and Lee H. Hamilton. 2006. The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward—A New Approach. New York: Vintage Books. Meese, Edwin, and P.J. Ortmeier. 2009. Leadership, Ethics, and Policing: Challenges for the 21st Century. 2d ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Powell, H. Jefferson. 1999. The Constitution and the Attorneys General. Durham, N.C: Carolina Academy Press. Barrett, John Q. 1998. All or Nothing, or Maybe Cooperation: Attorney General Power, Conduct, and Judgment in Relation to the Work of an Independent Counsel. 49 Mercer Law Review. (Winter). MEETING OF CREDITORS One of the first steps in federal BANKRUPTCY proceedings whereby the creditors of a debtor meet in court to present their claims against him or her and a trustee is named to handle the application of the debtor’s assets to pay his or her debts. MEETING OF MINDS The mutual agreement and assent of the parties to a contract to its substance and terms. The “meeting of the minds” that is required to make a contract is not predicate d on the subjective purpose or intention of one of the parties that is not brought t o the attention of the other party, but it is based on the purpose and intention that has been made known or that, from all t he circumstances, should be known. MEGAN’S LAW Megan’s Laws are named for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old girl from New Jersey who was sexually assaulted and murdered in 1994 by a neighbor who, unknown to the victim’sfamily, had been previously convicted for SEX OFFENSES against children. Megan’s Laws are state and federal statutes that require convicted sex offen- ders to register with local police. Sex offenders are required to register with local police and to notify law enforcement authorities whenever they move to a new location. The statutes establish a notification process to provide information about sex offenders to law enforcement agencies and, when appropriate, to the public. The type of notification is based on an evaluation of the risk to the community from a particular offender. The brutality of the crimes in the Megan Kanka case provided the impetus for laws that mandate registration of sex offenders and cor- responding community notification. In 1994 Congress passed the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, Title 17, 108 Stat.2 038, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 14071. This precursor to a federal Megan’s Law conditioned certain federal law enforcement funds on state adoption of sex-offender registration laws and set mini- mum standards for state programs. By 1996, every state, the District of Columbia, and the federal government had enacted some variation of Megan’s Law. Under the federal Megan’s Law statute, states have discretion to establish criteria for disclosure, but they must make private and personal information on registered sex offen- ders available to the public. The premise of Megan’s Law is that communities will be better able to protect their children if they are informed of the descriptions and whereabouts of high-risk sex offenders. Notification of sex- offender information to the community assists law enforcement in investigations, provides legal grounds to detain known sex offenders, GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 38 MEETING OF CREDITORS may deter sex offenders from committing new offenses, and offers citizens information that they can use to protect their children. Megan’s Laws were not created without controversy. Opponents argue that the statutes encourage acts of vigilantism and do not give offenders who have paid their dues the chance to merge back into society. But actions taken against the convicted sex offender, including VANDALISM of property, verbal or written threats, or actual ph ysical violence against the offender, their family, or employer, could lead to arrest and prosecution for criminal acts. Despite these concerns, however, federal and state legislatures have continued to reinforce and broaden the scope of these statutes. On May 17, 1996, federal efforts to strengthen the Jacob Wetterling Act got a boost when Presid ent BILL CLINTON signed an amend- ment to the VIOLENT CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14071); the amendment is known as Megan’s Law. This legislation directs all state legislatures to adopt laws requiring convicted sex offenders to register with their local law enforcement agency after release. Additionally, the federal Megan’s Law mandates states to grant access to sex- offender registries to the public. Although sex-offender registration for law enforcement purposes had be en required previously, the idea of community notification was relatively new. The legislation has undergone many adapta- tions in the states. While the details of state Megan’s Laws differ from jurisdiction to juris- diction, conviction of any one or more of the following offenses will require convicts to register pursuant to Megan’s Laws: n aggravated sexual ASSAULT, n sexual assault, n aggravated criminal sexual contact, n endangering the welfare of a child by engaging in sexual conduct that would impair or debauch the m orals of the child, n luring or enticing, n KIDNAPPING (if the victim is a minor and the offender not a parent), n criminal restraint, and n FALSE IMPRISONMENT . Megan’s Laws have guidelines that list factors that law enforcement agencies are to consider when weighing the risk of re-offense. These include some or all of the following: n post-incarceration supervision, n the status of therapy or counseling, n criminal background, n degree of remorse for criminal acts, n substance abuse, n employment or schooling status, n psychological or psychiatric profile, and n any history of threats or of STALKING locations where children congregate. State sex offender registries include sex offenders’ names, descriptions and photographs, addresses, places of employment or school (if applicable), descriptions of the offenders’ vehicles and license plate numbers, and brief descriptions of the offenses for which the sex offender was convicted. Prosecutors and courts are responsible for determining who should receive direct notice of the presence of a particular individual in a community. By 2009 the vast majority of states provi ded access to sex-offender information in searchable databases on the Internet. Various law enforce- ment agencies and some private citizens or civic groups also publish listings that are specifi c to counties or communities. Most, if not all, of these sites are freely available regardless of the residence of the individual who is searching for information. As with the state laws themselves, state sex- offender databases have little or no uniformity. Some, such as those for Alaska, Connecticut, and Florida, include photographs, physical de- scriptions, dates of birth, and details concerning A California Justice Department exhibit at the L.A. County Fair allows users to search a database of registered sex offenders. Under the federal Megan’s Law statute, states can establish criteria for disclosure but must make information on registered sex offenders available to the public. AP IMAGES GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3 RD E DITION MEGAN’ SLAW 39 the offenses for which offenders were convicted. The Virginia sex-offender list stores home and work addresses, while Indiana’s contains only the city where the sex offender resides. Most of the databases permit searching by zip code or name. Kansas allows searching by partial zip codes, while Alaska and Delaware allow searching by street name or by partial address, and Indiana permits searching by SOCIAL SECURITY number. Whereas Megan’s Laws do provide some measure of increased security for some parents and individuals who are concerned about the likelihood of convicted sex offenders in their midst, they cannot guarantee the public’s protection from offenders who are determined to re-offend. The statutes cannot even guarantee absolute accuracy of the information contained on their registries. Whereas offenders must register with the local police upon release from prison, many give incomplete or even false details. Others have given their details, but have traveled to areas where no one has been warned about them potentially committing additional sex offenses. Critics of the measures point out that, of the 603,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., at least 100,000 are noncompliant or missing. They also note that most cases of CHILD ABUSE occur within the family, and suggest that victims might stay silent if they know that a family member will be prosecuted. But in spite of these arguments, Megan’s Laws receive wide- spread support in communities and legislatures. In addition to compliance and enforcement problems with Megan’s Laws, privacy advocates have challenged existing public-records laws that allow the availability of personal data via Web sites. In 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down major decisions upholding the constitutionality of Megan’s Laws. The Court upheld Connecticut’s Megan’s Law by a vote of 9 to 0 and upheld Alaska’s legislation in a 6-to-3 decision. In Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety v. Doe, 538 U.S. 1, 123 S. Ct. 1160, 155 L. Ed. 2d 98 (2003), Connecticut’s Megan’s Law was chal- lenged by a convicted sex offender, John Doe. Doe protested that the Internet listing violated his due process rights because he was never given a hearing to disprove the suggestion that he might represent a continuing danger to the community. A federal judge and a three-judge federal appeals court panel agreed with Doe, striking down the law. But the Supreme Court overturned those decisions, stating that the key factor causing sex offenders to be listed in Connecticut’s Interne t registry is a prior conviction for a sex offense, not whether an individual might present a continued danger to the community. The Court said that statutes such as Connecticut’s Megan’s Law provide an impor- tant service that helps to protect society from those who would prey on its weakest members. Even though Megan’s Laws create certain burdens for sex offenders, the Court wrote that such laws do not amount to a form of ex post facto punishment, nor do they violate the Constitution’s due process requirements. In the Alaska case, Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84, 123 S. Ct. 1140, 155 L. Ed. 2d 164 (2003), Alaska’s Megan’s Law was challenged by two convicted sex offenders who already had served their prison sentences prior to passage of that state’s version of the law. The two men, John Doe I and John Doe II, argued that the law was another form of punishment imposed after they already had completed their punishment. They claimed that the law failed to recognize the possibility that they might be rehabilitated and that they might no longer pose a danger to others. In previous LITIGATION, a federal judge found no ex post facto violation, but an appeals court panel reversed, striking down the law. The High Court wrote that Alaska’s Megan’s Law is a civil, non-punitive regulatory effort to account for the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders. Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy stated that there was nothing in the statute to suggest that the legislature intended to create anything other than a civil scheme designed to protect the public from harm. And even though the law applied to sex offenders who already had been released from prison, it was not an extra form of punishment. In these two cases, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively disposed of the principal legal argu- ments against Megan’s Laws. In short, the Court found that state laws that are designed to use the Internet to notify parents of the presence of convicted rapists and child molesters in their own neighborhoods do not violate the consti- tutional rights of the listed sex offenders. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, Pub. L. 109-248, supp lemented Megan’s Law in 2006. The Act calls for the GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 40 MEGAN’ SLAW registration of sex offenders, classifying them in a three-tiered system, which allocates diff erent reporting requirements based on the danger posed by the sex offender. For instance, Ti er 3 offenders, who are considered to be the most dangerous, are required to report their where- abouts every three months. Tier 2 offenders must update their w hereabouts every six months, and Tier 1 offenders must update their whereabouts annually. Another important as- pect of the Act required the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ) to create a publicly accessible Internet database, which permits users to search across state lines. In response to this require- ment, the DOJ created the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website. The Act also required states to make changes in the sex offender laws in order achieve greater unifor- mity by July 2009. FURTHER READINGS Ahearn, Laura A. 2001. Megan’s Law Nationwide and The Apple of My Eye: Childhood Sexual Abuse Prevention Program. N.Y.: Prevention Press USA. Cohen, Fred, and Elizabeth Rahmberg-Walsh. 2001. Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification: A 'Megan’s Law’ SourceBook. Kingston, N.J.: Civic Research Institute. Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website. Available online at www.nsopw.gov (accessed May 24, 2009). Hodgson, James F., and Debra S. Kelley, eds. 2002. Sexual Violence: Policies, Practices, and Challenges in the United States and Canada. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Salvemini, Karen A. 2008. “Sex-Offender Parents: Megan’s law and Schools’ Legal Options in Protecting Students Within Their Walls.” Widener Law Journal. 17. Wright, Richard Dr., 2009. Sex Offender Laws: Failed Policies, Ne w Dire ctions.New York: Springer Publishing Company. MEMBERSHIP CORPORATION A company or organization that is formed for purposes other than generating a profit. Common examples of membership corpora- tions are religious societies and trade unions. CROSS REFERENCE Beneficial Association. MEMORANDUM An informal record, in the form of a brief written note or outline, of a particular legal transaction or document for the purpose of aiding the parties in remembering particular points or for future reference. A memorandum may be used in court to prove that a particular contract was made. For instance, in a real estate transaction, a memo- randum can be used to show that the parties to a sale have entered into an agreement to sell a particular parcel at an indicated price, in addition to other details of the agreement. This type of memorandum is also referred to as a binder. An attorney might use a memorandum to explain and summarize a specific point of law for a judge or for another attorney. A memorandum decision is a written decision, issued by a court, which reports the ruling, and the decisions and orders of the court. It does not, however, contain an opinion, which is an explanation of the rationale upon which the decision was based. MEMORANDUM DECISION A court’s decision that gives the ruling (what it decides and orders done), but no opinion (reasons for the decision). A memorandum decision is not subject to appeal by the dissatisfied party. MENS REA As an element of criminal responsibility, a guilty mind; a guilty or wrongful purpose; a criminal intent. Guilty knowledge and wilfulness. A fundamental principle of CRIMINAL LAW is that a crime consists of both a mental and a physical element. Mens rea, a person’s aware- ness of the fact that his or her conduct is criminal, is the mental element, and actus reus, the act itself, is the physical element. The concept of mens rea developed in England during the latter part of the com- mon-law era (about the year 1600) when judges began to hold that an act alone could not create criminal liability unless it was accompanied by a guilty state of mind. The degree of mens rea required for a particular common-law crime varied. Murder, for example, required a mali- cious state of mind, whereas LARCENY required a felonious state of mind. In the early 2000s most crimes, including common-law crimes, are defined by statu t es that usually contain a word or phrase indicating the mens rea requirement. A typical statute, for GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION MENS REA 41 example, may require that a person act knowingly, purposely, or recklessly. Sometimes a statute creates criminal liability for the commission or omission of a particular act without designating a mens rea. These are called STRICT LIABILITY statutes. If such a statute is construed to purposely omit criminal intent, a person who commits the crim e may be guilty even though he or she had no knowledge that his or her act was criminal and had no thought of committing a crime. All that is required under such statutes is that the act itself is voluntary, since involuntary acts are not criminal. Occasionally mens rea is used synonymous- ly with the words general intent, although general intent is more commonly used to describe criminal liability when a defendant does not intend to bring about a particular result. SPECIFIC INTENT, another term related to mens rea, describes a particular state of mind above and beyond what is generally required. MENSA ET THORO [Latin, From bed and board.] A type of DIVORCE that is a partial termination of the duties of a marital relationship. A divorce mensa et thoro is one that does not provide a HUSBAND AND WIFE with the right to remarry but that permits them to live separate- ly. Such a divorce does not dissolve the marriage but amounts to a legal separation. MENTAL ANGUISH When connected with a physical injury, includes both the resultant mental sensation of pain and also the accompanying feelings of distress, fright, and anxiety. As an element of damages implies a relatively high de gree of mental pain and distress; it is more than mere disappointment, anger, worry, resentment, or embarrassment, although it may include all of these, and it includes mental sensation of pain resulting from such painful emotions as grief, severe disappointment, indigna- tion, wounded pride, shame, despair , and/or public humiliation. In other connections, and as a ground for DIVORCE or for compensable damages or an element of damages, it includes the mental suffering resulting from the excitation of the more poignant and painful emotions, such as grief, severe disappointment, indignation, wounded pride, shame, public humiliation, despair, etc. MENTAL CRUELTY A course of conduct on the part of one spouse toward the other spouse that can endanger the mental and physical health and efficiency of the other spouse to such an extent as to render CONTINUANCE of the marital relation intolerable. As a ground for DIVORCE, it is conduct that causes embarrassment, humiliation, and anguish so as to render life miserable and unendurable or to cause a spouse’s life, person, or health to become endangered. v MENTSCHIKOFF, SOIA Soia Mentschikoff was a distinguished legal scholar and educator whose career encom- passed several “firsts” for women in the legal profession. Mentschikoff was born April 2, 1915, in Russia where her father, a resident of New York City, was working. In 1918 her family returned Soia Mentschikoff 1915–1984 ❖ 1915 Born, Moscow, Russia ◆◆◆ 1934 Earned B.A. from Hunter College, N.Y. ◆◆ 1944 Became first woman partner at a major Wall Street firm 1984 Died, Coral Gables, Florida 1964 Served as U.S. representative to conference on uniform law on the international sale of goods, held in The Hague ◆ ◆◆ 1974–82 Served as dean of the University of Miami School of Law 1914–18 World War I 1961–73 Vietnam War 1939–45 World War II 1950–53 Korean War ▼▼ ▼▼ 19001900 19501950 19751975 20002000 19251925 ❖ 1961 International Unification of Private Law published 1918 Family returned to New York City 1937 Earned LL.B. from Columbia Law School 1947 Became first woman to join Harvard Law School faculty 1951 Joined University of Chicago Law School faculty ◆ 1949–54 Served as associate chief reporter of the Uniform Commercial Code 1970 Commercial Transactions published GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 42 MENSA ET THORO to New York where Mentschikoff graduated from Hunter College in 1934 and from Columbia Law School in 1937. At Columbia Mentschikoff met KARL LLEWEL- LYN , a professor of law and the chief reporter, or drafter, of the UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE (UCC) for the American Law Institute (the Uniform Commercial Code is a model for laws dealing with business and commercial transactions that has been adopted, at least in part, by all the states, except Louisiana, and the District of Columbia). Initially, Mentschikoff worked with Llewellyn on the UCC as his research assistant; from 1949 through 1954 she was the associate chief reporter of the code. Subsequently, she became a consultant to the Permanent Editorial Board for the UCC. After the UCC was completed, Mentschikoff became increasingly interested in the interna- tional aspects of COMMERCIAL LAW. In 1964 she was one of the U.S. representatives at a diplomatic conference held at The Hague to consider a uniform law on the international sale of goods. She later became an adviser to the STATE DEPARTMENT on matters involving interna- tional sales and international ARBITRATION. In 1947 Mentschikoff joined the faculty at the Harvard Law School, the first time a woman had taught at that school. Three years earlier in 1944, she had achieved another first by becoming the first woman partner at a major Wall Street firm. In 1951 Mentschikoff and Llewellyn, whom she had married in 1947, joined the faculty at the University of Chicago Law School. To satisfy the school’s anti-nepotism rule, Llewellyn was named a “professor” whereas Mentschikoff was a “pro- fessorial lecturer” until his death in 1962 when she became a professor. In 1974 Mentschikoff became the dean of the University of Miami School of Law, a position that she held until 1982. Mentschikoff died June 18, 1984, in Coral Gables, Florida. MERCANTILE Relating to trade or commerce; commercial; having to do with the business of buying and selling; relating to merchants. A mercantile agency is an individual or company in the business of collecting data about the financial status, ability, and credit of individuals who are engaged in business. Once this information is compiled, it is sold by the agency to its customers, who are known as subscribers. Mercantile agencies are known as credit bureaus in current usage. MERCHANTABLE Salable; of quality and type ordinarily acceptable among vendors and buyers. An item is deemed merchantable if it is reasonably fit for the ordinary purposes for which such products are man ufactured and sold. For example, soap is merchantable if it cleans. In general, a seller or manufacturer is required by law to make products of merchant- able quality. In the event that the items do not meet with the proper standards, a suit can be brought against the seller or manufacturer by anyone who is injured as a result. CROSS REFERENCES Product Liability; Sales Law. MERCIAN LAW A major body of Anglo-Saxon customs that, along with the Dane law and the West Saxon law, continued to constitute the law in England in the days immediately following the Norman Conquest. MERCY KILLING See EUTHANASIA. v MEREDITH, JAMES HOWARD CIVIL RIGHTS pioneer and activist James Howard Meredith put his life at risk by being the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962. After the state repeatedly blocked his attempts to register at the university, a legal battle waged by Meredith and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) achieved a landmark victory for INTEGRATION. When violence erupted on the day that Meredith enrolled, President JOHN F. KENNEDY sent several thousand U.S. Army troops to the campus to quell bloody rioting. Armed federal marshals protected Meredith in every classroom until he graduated in 1963. In 1966, the James Meredith March against Fear united traditiona l and radical civil rights leaders in a voter-registration march across Mississippi. Meredith was shot, but he recovered and joine d MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., and others in a month- long demonstration that marked a turning point in the civil rights stru ggle. In later years, GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION MEREDITH, JAMES HOWARD 43 Meredith, who had always maintained indepen- dence from the inheritors of the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT , became one of their sharpest critics. Meredith was born June 25, 1933, in Kosciusko, Mississipp i. He was one of ten children of Roxy Patterson Meredith and Moses Cap, a poor farmer in Kosciusko. As a young child, Meredith became aware of racism. He would refuse the nickels and dimes that a local white man regularly gave to black children, calling the gifts degrading. More painful was the realization he made as a young man on a trip to visit relatives in Detroit, where he saw blacks and whites sharing the same public facilities. He rode the train home from this brush with integration, and when he arrived in Memphis, the conductor told him to leave the whites- only car. “I cried all the way home,” Meredith later recalled, “and vowed to devote myself to changing the degrading conditions of black people.” He also had other ambitions and goals. Ever since a childhood visit to a white doctor’s office, he had harbored a dream of attending the University of Mississippi, the physician’s alma mater. After high school, in 1951, Meredith joined the U.S. Air Force. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant, earned credits toward a college degree, and served in the KOREAN WAR. Following his discharge in 1960, he attended the all-black Jackson State College, but the courses he wanted to take were offered only at t he state university. As a 28-year-old, he followed with hopefulness the speeches of President John F. Kennedy, which promised greater enjoyment of opportu- nity for all U.S. citizens. Change was in the air, and many African Americans were heartened by the portents in Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address. On the same day that Kennedy became president, Meredith applied for admission to the University of Mississippi. The school turned down his application. Mississippi still practiced SEGREGATION, and that meant that no African Americans could attend the all-white university. Even seven years after BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954), southern states resisted complying with the U.S. Supre me Court’s decision that compulsory segregation was unconstitutional. Knowing that he had a constitutional right that the state refused to recognize, Meredith turned to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. This arm of the civil rights organization, accustomed to fighting segregation cases, extende d help to him. Mer- edith and his attorneys fought some 30 court actions against the state. At last, a federal court ruled that a qualified student could not be denied admission on the ground of race. Meredith had won, but the James Howard Meredith 1933– ▼▼ ▼▼ 1925 2000 1975 1950 ◆ ❖ ◆ 1939–45 World War II 1950–53 Korean War 1961–73 Vietnam War ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ 1933 Born, Kosciusko, Miss. 1951–60 Served in U.S. Air Force 1968 Graduated from Columbia University Law School 1966 Enrolled at Columbia Law School; ambushed and shot during March against Fear; Three Years in Mississippi published 1 9 6 2 B e c a m e firs t A fric a n A m e ric a n s tu d e n t to a tte n d U n iv e rs ity o f M is s . 1963 Graduated from University of Miss. 1989 Joined Senator Jesse Helm’s office staff 1997 Donated his papers to the University of Mississippi; ran for mayor of Jackson, Miss. 2002 Honored in University of Miss. ceremony commemorating 40th anniversary of his enrollment 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decided by Supreme Court 2008 Barack Obama elected first African American president James Meredith. AP IMAGES GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 44 MEREDITH, JAMES HOWARD court order infuriated segregationists. Playing to popular sentiment, Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett promised to stop Meredith. Barnett pressured the state legislature to give him authority over university admissions, a power that usually was exercised by the state college board. As Meredith’s enrollment date, September 20, 1962, approached, Meredith received death threats; Barnett continued to promise to prevent his enrollment; and segregationists spread the word to be at “Ole Miss” to save it from integration. On th e day th at Meredith arrived to register, white students massed around a Con- federate flag chanting anti-integration slogans. Barnett stood blocking the door to the admis- sions office. A university official read a procla- mation naming Barnett as acting registrar, by order of the university’s board of trustees, and a satisfied Barnett told Meredith that his applica- tion was denied. The governor’s action was purportedly good politics in his home state. Across the South, leaders such as Alabama Governor GEORGE WALLACE were prospering politically by staging similar acts of defiance. However, Barnett’s refusal to let Meredith in was a serious problem for Washington, D.C. It represented a challenge to the authority of the federal courts, and in a short time, the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT entered the dispute. Attorney General ROBERT F. KENNEDY confronted Barnett, demanding assurances that Meredith’s next attempt to register would be successful and that the student would be pro- tected. Barnett gave none. He replied that the situation was beyond his control. Where civil rights were concerned, the young attorney general was quickly learning that only federal intervention could bring the southern states under the mandate of the courts. He sent 500 federal marshals to the University of Mississippi campus with strict orders: They were to protect Meredith, but not to shoot anyone. Only tear gas and clubs were to be used for their own defense. On September 30, Meredith arrived at Ole Miss to try to enroll for a second time. Protected by the marshals, he finally registered, and then took refuge in his dormitory. Students and outsiders gathered in front of the school’s administration building, known as the Lyceum. The angry mob began throwing rocks at the outnumbered marshals, who were soon be- sieged by thousands of new protesters streaming onto the campus. A vicious riot erupted, with the armed agitators firing shots and hurling rocks, bricks, bottles, flaming gas, and acid. By late evening on the day Meredith registered, a French journalist and an onlooker were dead. More than 160 marshals were wounded; the rest were exhausted, and their tear gas supply was running out. Reluctantly, Kennedy dispatched 5,000 Army troops to Ole Miss; their numbers were finally enough to disperse the mob and to regain control of the battered campus. Meredith attended classes under armed guard, but persevered, graduating in August 1963. By the summer of 1966, Meredith was enrolled at Columbia University School of Law, but he interrupted his studies to launch a bold personal demonstration for civil rights. Mer- edith announced plans to march across the state of Mississippi, covering the 220 miles from Memphis to Jackson in 16 days. The James Meredith March against Fear would show African Americans that they could safely assert their right to vote, despite years of legal obstruction, harassment, and MURDER.Ashe had done at Ole Miss, Meredith ignored several death threats, proclaiming that he would survive his long march along the state’s back roads. On June 5, 1966, Meredith set out from Memphis with an ebony walking stick that an African chieftain had given him. When he crossed into Mississippi the following morning, he was ambushed and shot; remarkably, he survived. His assailant, an unemployed member of the KU KLUX KLAN , pleaded guilty and received a five-year prison sentence (of which three years were suspended). While Meredith recovered in his hospital bed, he was visited by the leaders of major civil rights organizations. A group includ- ing STOKELY CARMICHAEL,oftheSTUDENT NON- VIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE (SNCC), and Dr. King wanted to stage a protest. Meredith wanted to go on. He continued the march joined by other civil rights workers. The marchers completed their journey by late June against often-violent opposition. It was a great symbolic victory for civil rights, but the movement itself had begun to factionalize. King and his supporters, who advocated peaceful resistance, were at odds with Carmichael’s BLACK POWER MOVEMENT , which advocated violence if necessary to secure equal rights for African Americans. Meredith returned to Columbia, completing his law degree in 1968. In the years that followed, THERE IS NO WAY FOR ONE NEGRO TO CHANGE HIS BASIC STATUS WITHOUT FIRST CHANGING THAT OF ALL NEGROES. —JAMES MEREDITH GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION MEREDITH, JAMES HOWARD 45 Meredith embarked on a series of pursuits. He studied economics at a Nigerian university, established the African Development and Reuni- fication Association, and worked as a consultant, financial planner, tree farmer, and educator. In the 1980s Meredith returned to the public eye, this time as a critic of integration, WELFARE, and AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, programs that he believed did more to hurt black people than to help them. He joined the staff of conservative senator JESSE HELMS and later supported former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke, whose welfare views he praised, in Duke’s campaign for governor of Louisiana. He also took a series of walks that were reminiscent of his 1966 march, to promote his conservative vision. Meredith is the au thor o f Three Years in Mississippi (1966). Meredith published a historical work entitled Mississippi: A Volume of Eleven Books in 1995. In March 1997, the University of Mississippi’s J.D. Williams Library accepted Meredith’s donation of his personal papers, which are now housed in the library’s Special Collections branch. In September 2002 Meredith was a participant in a forum spon- sored by the Kennedy Library to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his admission to the University of Mississippi. On February 8, 2008, James Meredith’s son, Joseph Howard Meredith, died at age 39 from complications stemming from having lupus. In July of 2009 a book about Meredith, The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss, was published. FURTHER READINGS Doyle, William. 2001. An American Insurrection: The Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962. New York: Doubleday. Eagles, Charles W. 2009. The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss. Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press. Harris, Janet. 1967. The Long Freedom Road: The Civil Rights Story. Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: McGrawHill. Levy, Peter B. 1992. Let Freedom Ring: A Documentary History of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. New York: Praeger. Motley, Constance Baker. 1999. Equal Justice under Law: An Autobiography. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux. Weisbrot, Robert. 1990. Freedom Bound: A History of America’s Civil Rights Movement. New York: Norton. MERGER The combination or fusion of one thing or right into another thing or right of greater or larger importance so that the lesser thing or right loses its individuality and becomes identified with the greater whole. In contract law, agreements are merged when one contract is absorbed into another. The merger of contracts is generally based on the lang uage of the agreement and the intent of the parties. The merger of contracts is not the same as a merger clause, which is a provision in a contract stating that the written terms cannot be varied by prior or oral agreements. Estates affecting ownership of land are merged where a greater estate and a lesser estate coincide and are held by the same individual. For example, merger occurs when a person who leases land from another subsequently is given ownership of it upon the death of the lessor who has so provided in his will. In CRIMINAL LAW, the commission of a major crime that includes a lesser offense results in the latter being merged in the former. For example, the crime of rape includes the lesser offense of SEXUAL ABUSE which is merged into one prosecu- tion for rape. CROSS REFERENCES Lesser Included Offense; Mergers and Acquisitions. MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS Methods by which corporations legally unify ownership of assets formerly subject to separate controls. A merger or acquisition is a combination of two companies where one corporation is completely absorbed by another corporation. The less important compan y loses its identity and becomes part of the more important corporation, which retains its identity. A merger extinguishes the merged corporation, and the surviving corporation assumes all the rights, privileges, and liabilities of the merged corpora- tion. A merger is not the same as a consolidation, in which two corporations lose their separate identities and unite to form a completely new corporation. Federal and state laws regulate mergers and acquisitions. Regulation is based on the concern that mergers inevitably eliminate competition between the merging firms. This concern is most acute where the participants are direct rivals, because co urts often presume that such arrangements are more prone to restrict output and to increase prices. On one hand, the fear that mergers and acquisitions reduce competition has GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION 46 MERGER meant that the government carefully scrutinizes proposed mergers. On the other hand, since the 1980s the federal government has become less aggressive in seeking the prevention of mergers. Despite concerns about a lessening of com- petition, U.S. law has left firms relatively free to buy or sell entire companies or specific parts of a company. Mergers and acquisitions often result in a number of social benefits. Mergers can bring better management or technical skill to bear on underused assets. They also can produce econo- mies of scale and scope that reduce costs, improve quality, and increase output. The possibility of a takeover can discourage company managers from behaving in ways that fail to maximize profits. A merger can enable a business owner to sell the firm to someone who is already familiar with the industry and who would be in a better position to pay the highest price. The prospect of a lucrative sale induces entrepreneurs to form new firms. Finally, many mergers pose few risks to competition. Antitrust merger law seeks to prohibit trans- actions whose probable anticompetitive con- sequences outweigh their likely benefits. The critical time for review usually is when the merger is first proposed. This requires enforcement agencies and courts to forecast market trends and future effects. Merger cases examine past events or periods to understand each merging party’s position in its market and to predict the merger’s competitive impact. Types of Mergers Mergers appear in three forms, based on the competitive relationships between the merging parties. In a horizontal merger, one firm acquires another firm that produces and sells an identical or similar product in the same geographic area and thereby eliminates competition between the two firms. In a VERTICAL MERGER, one firm acquires either a customer or a supplier. Conglomerate mergers encompass all other acquisitions, includ- ing pure conglomerate transactions where the merging parties have no evident relationship (e.g., when a shoe producer buys an appliance manufacturer), geographic extension mergers, where the buyer makes the same product as the target firm but does so in a different geographic market (e.g., when a baker in Chicago buys a bakery in Miami), and product-extension mer- gers, where a firm that produces one product buys a firm that makes a different product that requires the application of similar manufacturing or marketing techniques (e.g., when a producer of household detergents buys a producer of liquid bleach). Corporate Merger Procedures State statutes establish procedures to accom- plish corporate mergers. Generally, the board of directors for each corporation must initially pass a resolution adopting a plan of merger that specifies the names of the corporations that are involved, the name of the proposed merged company, the manner of converting shares of both corporations, and any other legal provision to which the corporations agree. Each corpora- tion notifies all of its shareholders that a meeting will be held to approve the merger. If the proper number of shareholders approves the plan, the directors sign the papers and file them with the state. The SECRETARY OF STATE issues a certificate of merger to authorize the new corporation. Some statutes permit the directors to abandon the plan at any point up to the filing of the final papers. States with the most liberal corporation laws permit a surviving corporation to absorb another company by merger without submitting the plan to its shareholders for approval unless otherwise required in its certificate of incorporation. Statutes often provide that corporations that are formed in two different states must follow the rules in their respective states for a merger to be effective. Some corporation statutes require the surviving corporation to purchase the shares of stockholders who voted against the merger. Competitive Concerns Horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate mergers each raise distinctive competitive concerns. Horizontal Mergers Horizontal mergers raise three basic competitive problems. The first is the elimination of competition between the merging firms, which, depending on their size, could be significant. The second is that the unification of the merging firms’ operations might create substantial market power and might enable the merged entity to raise prices by reducing output unilaterally. The third problem is that, by increasing concentration in the relevant market, the transaction might strengthen the ability of the market’s remaining participants to coordinate their pricing and output decisions. The fear is not that the entities will engage in secret collaboration GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD E DITION MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS 47 . on registered sex offenders available to the public. AP IMAGES GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3 RD E DITION MEGAN’ SLAW 39 the offenses for which offenders were convicted. The Virginia sex-offender. sex offenders. Notification of sex- offender information to the community assists law enforcement in investigations, provides legal grounds to detain known sex offenders, GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN. rights of the listed sex offenders. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, Pub. L. 109-248, supp lemented Megan’s Law in 2006. The Act calls for the GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 3RD