BRIBERY (OF. briberic. from OF. bribe, bit of bread given to a beggar, from Breton breve, to break). The offering, promising, giving, or receiving of money, goods, employment. or per sonal advantage of any kind with a view to un lawfully influence the receiver in the exercise of a public duty. Sueb public duties are those of judges, legislators, executive officers of govern ment or state, voters in the exercise of suffrage, customs officers, and others. A contract founded on such a consideration is totally void, as being immoral and contrary to public policy. The per son giving, as well as the one receiving. the bribe is guilty of the crime of bribery. The United States and the several States in their statutes define the offense as applied to courts. officers, and voters within their jurisdiction, and they impose severe penalties of fine or imprisonment, or both. for conviction of bribery.
Judicial bribery is defined by Greenleaf as the "receiving or offering any undue reward by or to any person whose ordinary profession or busi ness relates to the administration of public jus tice, in order to influence his behavior in office and incline him to act contrary to the rules of honesty and integrity." It is a matter of congrat ulation that the higher courts of the United States have been almost uniformly free from the taint of suspicion of bribery. The United States Su preme Court has a spotless record in this respect, as have most of the higher courts of the several States. The offense has been rare, also, in the history of the administration of justice in Eng land. It was punishable at common law. Per.
baps the earliest reported ease of judicial brib ery is that of Sir William Thorpe, in 1351. This was followed by the impeachment of Chancellor Michael de la Pole in 1384. But the most cele brated ease of judicial bribery in England is that of Lord Bacon, who pleaded guilty to corruption in office, and who was sentenced to pay a fine of f40,000, and to imprisonment during the King's pleasure, incapacity for office, and ex clusion from Parliament.
The corruption of other public officials was also a common-law offense, whether the bribery was employed to induce the officer to act or to refrain from acting in his official capacity. The
mere offer of a bribe, though it was refused, con stituted a common-law misdemeanor. The bribery of jurors is considered under EMBRACERY (q.v.).
The form of bribery which is most dangerous at present. as well as the one which has called forth the greatest amount of legislation, is that which aims at the corruption of voters at public elections. Modern statutes upon this subject are dealt with under ELECTORAL REFORM and COR RUPT PRACTICES. An announcement by a can didate for office that, if elected, he will serve at a lens salary than that provided by law has been held to be an offer of a bribe to the voters. Consult the authorities referred to under ELEC TION: ELECTORAL REFORM; CORRUPT PRACTICES; and Ctusuxat. LAW.
(Fr., possibly from OF. de brie et de broc, by hook or by crook, or it may be a reduplication with change of vowel, like rick rack, riffraff, etc.). A word of uncertain origin denoting objects of many kinds used for decora tive purposes, such as old furniture, objets do vertu. or ornaments interesting because of rarity, or merely because they are quaint or obsolete. The term usually designates small objects, and differs from curio in that its connotation extends only to articles that have some claim to nsthetie merit. Indiscriminate collections of such objects were formerly very popular, but have largely gone out of fashion except in a small way. Brie b-brac is often of arclueological, and even of ethnological, interest, but the taste sometimes degenerates into a 'fad.' and often results in over loading spaces in dwellings. When systematic or historic collections are made on a large scale, as of musical instruments, snuff-boxes, fans, etc., they may he extremely useful as preserving for future generations the minor notes of many of the fast vanishing modes of life, manners, and practices of the past which can be traced and revived through their study.