Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CIRCUIT (Lat. circuitus, from circum,...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 387 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

CIRCUIT (See also:Lat. circuitus, from circum, See also:round, and ire, to go) , the See also:act of moving round; so circumference, or anything encircling or en-circled. The word is particularly known as a See also:law See also:term, signifying the periodical progress of a legal tribunal for the purpose of carrying out the See also:administration of the law in the several provinces of a See also:country. It has See also:long been applied to the See also:journey or progress which the See also:judges have been in the See also:habit of making through the several counties of See also:England, to hold courts and administer See also:justice, where recourse could not be had to the See also:king's See also:court at See also:Westminster (see AssrzE). In England, by sec. 23 of the Judicature Act 1875, See also:power was conferred on the See also:crown, by See also:order in See also:council, to make regulations respecting circuits, including the discontinuance of any circuit, and the formation of any new circuit, and the See also:appointment of the See also:place at which assizes are to be held on any circuit. Under this power an order of council, dated the 5th of See also:February 1876, was made, whereby the circuit See also:system was remodelled. A new circuit, called the See also:North-Eastern circuit, was created, consisting of See also:Newcastle and See also:Durham taken out of the old See also:Northern circuit, and See also:York and See also:Leeds taken out of the Midland circuit. See also:Oakham, See also:Leicester and See also:Northampton, which had belonged to the See also:Norfolk circuit, were added to the Midland. The Norfolk circuit and the See also:Home circuit were abolished and a new See also:South-Eastern circuit was created, consisting of See also:Huntingdon, See also:Cambridge, See also:Ipswich, See also:Norwich, See also:Chelmsford, See also:Hertford and See also:Lewes, taken partly out of the old Norfolk circuit and partly out of the Home circuit. The counties of See also:Kent and See also:Surrey were See also:left out of the circuit system,. the assizes for these counties being held by the judges remaining in See also:London. Subsequently See also:Maidstone and See also:Guildford were See also:united under the revived name of the Home circuit for the purpose of - the summer and See also:winter assizes, and the assizes in these towns were held by one of the judges of the Western circuit, who, after disposing of the business there, rejoined his colleague in See also:Exeter. In 1849 this arrangement was abolished, and Maid-See also:stone and Guildford were added to the South-Eastern circuit.

Other See also:

minor changes in the See also:assize towns were made, which it is unnecessary to particularize. See also:Birmingham first became a circuit See also:town in the See also:year 1884, and the See also:work there became, by arrangement; the See also:joint See also:property of the Midland and See also:Oxford circuits. There are alternative assize towns in the following counties, viz.:—On the Western circuit, See also:Salisbury and See also:Devizes for See also:Wiltshire, and See also:Wells and See also:Taunton for See also:Somerset; on the South-Eastern, Ipswich and See also:Bury St See also:Edmunds for See also:Suffolk; on the North See also:Wales circuit, See also:Welshpool and See also:Newtown for See also:Montgomery; and on the South Wales circuit, See also:Cardiff and See also:Swansea for Glamorgan. - According to the arrangements in force in 1909 there are four assizes in each year. There are two See also:principal assizes, viz. the winter assizes, beginning in See also:January, and the summer assizes, beginning at the end of May. At these two assizes criminal and See also:civil business is disposed of in all the circuits. There are two other assizes, viz. the autumn assizes and the See also:Easter assizes. The autumn assizes are regulated by acts of 1876 and 1877 (Winter Assizes Acts 1876 and 1877), and orders of council made under the former act. They are held for the whole of England and Wales, but for the purpose of these assizes the work is to a large extent " grouped," so that not every See also:county has a See also:separate assize. For example., on the. South-Eastern circuit Huntingdon A condensed See also:record s ompiled by J. W.

L. See also:

Glaisher of Math. ii. 122) is as follows: Date. Computer. No. of No. of Place of Publication. fr. digits fr. digits calcd. correct. 1842 See also:Rutherford . 208 152 Trans. See also:Roy. See also:Soc. (London, 1841), p. 283.

1844 Dase . . . 205 200 Crelle's Journ. See also:

xxvii. 198. 1847 See also:Clausen . . 250 248 Astron. Nachr. See also:xxv. See also:col. 207. 1853 Shanks . . 318 318 Proc. Roy. Soc.

(London, 1853), 273. 1853 Rutherford 440 440 Ibid. 1853 Shanks . . 530 .. Ibid. 1853 Shanks . . 607 .. W. Shanks, Rectification of the Circle 1853 See also:

Richter . 333 330 (London, 1853). Grunert's Archiv, XXI. 119.

1854 Richter . . 400 330 Ibid. xxii. 473. 1854 Richter . 400 400 Ibid. See also:

xxiii. 476. 1854 Richter . 500 50o Ibid. xxv. 472. 1873 Shanks . . 707 .. Proc.

Roy. Soc. (London), xxi. By these computers Machin's identity, or identities analogous to it, e.g. it/4 = tan '1+tan ' i +tan ' s (Dase, 1844) X14=4tan 'k—tan 'A+tan '5i (Rutherford), and See also:

Gregory's See also:series were employed.' A much less See also:wise class than the vr-computers of See also:modern times are the pseudo-circle-squarers, or circle-squarers technically so called, that is to say, persons who, having obtained by illegitimate means a Euclidean construction for the See also:quadrature or a finitely expressible value for it, insist on using faulty reasoning and defective See also:mathematics to establish their assertions. Such persons have flourished at all times in the See also:history of mathematics; but the See also:interest attaching to them is more psychological than mathematical., It is of See also:recent years that the most important advances in the theory of circle-quadrature have been made. In 1873 See also:Charles Hermite proved that the See also:base e of the Napierian logarithms cannot be a See also:root of a rational algebraical See also:equation of any degree .3 To prove the same proposition regarding it is to prove that a Euclidean construction for circle-quadrature is impossible. For in such a constriction every point of the figure is obtained by the intersection of two straight lines, a straight See also:line and a circle, or two circles; and as this implies that, when a unit of length is introduced, See also:numbers employed, and the problem transformed into one of algebraic See also:geometry, the equations to be solved can only be of the first or second degree, it follows that the equation to which we must be finally led is a rational equation of even degree. Hermite' did not succeed in his See also:attempt on rr; but in 1882 F. Lindemann, following exactly in Hermite's steps, accomplished the desired result.5 (See also See also:TRIGONOMETRY.) REFERENcEs.—Besides the various writings mentioned, see for the history of the subject F. Radio, Geschichte See also:des Problems von der Quadratur des Zirkels (1892) ; M. Cantor, Geschichte der Mathemalik (1894-1901) ;See also:Montucla, Hist. des. math.

(6 vols., See also:

Paris, 1758, 2nd ed. 1799—1802); Murhard, Bibliotheca Mathematica, ii. Io6-123 (See also:Leipzig, 1798) ; See also:Reuss, Repertorium Comment. vii: 42-44 (See also:Gottingen, 18o8). For a few approximate geometrical solutions, see Leybourn's Math. Repository, vi. 151-154; Grunert's Archiv, xii. 98, xlix. 3; Nieuw Archief v. Wisk. iv. 200-204. For experimental determinations of ar, dependent on the theory of See also:probability, see See also:Mess. of Math. ii. 113, I19; Casopis See also:pro pistovdni math. a fys. x.

272-275; See also:

Analyst, ix. 176. (T.

End of Article: CIRCUIT (Lat. circuitus, from circum, round, and ire, to go)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CIRCLEVILLE 		[next]
CIRCULAR NOTE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries