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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "title": "FRATERNITIES",
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    "verified_text": "fraternities, college, a class of student societies peculiar to the colleges and universities of the united states and canada, with certain common characteristics, and mostly named from two or three letters of the greek alphabet; hence they are frequently called \"greek letter societies.\" they are organized on the lodge system, and each fraternity comprises a number of affiliated lodges of which only one of any one fraternity is connected with the same institution. the lodges, called \"chapters,\" in memory of the convocations of monks of medieval times, are usually designated by greek letters also. they are nominally secret, with one exception (_delta upsilon_). each chapter admits members from the lowest or freshman class, and of course loses its members as the students depart from college, consequently each chapter has in it at the same time members of all the four college classes and frequently those pursuing postgraduate studies. where the attendance at a college is large the material from which fraternity members may be drawn is correspondingly abundant, and in some of the large colleges (e.g. at cornell university and the university of michigan) there are chapters of over twenty fraternities. all the fraternities aim to be select and to pick their members from the mass of incoming students. where, however, the material to select from is not abundant and the rival fraternities are numerous, care in selection is impossible, and the chapters at any one college are apt to secure much the same general type of men. many of the fraternities have, however, on account of a persistent selection of men of about the same tastes at different colleges, acquired a distinct character and individuality; for instance, _alpha delta phi_ is literary. the first of these fraternities was the _phi beta kappa_, founded at the college of william and mary at williamsburg, virginia, in 1776. it was a little social club of five students: john heath, richard booker, thomas smith, armistead smith and john jones. its badge was a square silver medal displaying the greek letters of its name and a few symbols. in 1779 it authorized elisha parmelee, one of its members, to establish \"meetings\" or chapters at yale and harvard, these chapters being authorized to establish subordinate branches in their respective states. in 1781 the college of william and mary was closed, its buildings being occupied in turn by the british, french and american troops, and the society ceased to exist. the two branches, however, were established--that at yale in 1780 and that at harvard in 1781. chapters were established at dartmouth in 1787, at union in 1817, at bowdoin in 1824 and at brown in 1830. this society changed its character in 1826 and became non-secret and purely honorary in character, admitting to membership a certain proportion of the scholars of highest standing in each class (only in classical courses, usually and with few exceptions only in graduating classes). more recent honorary societies of similar character among schools of science and engineering are _sigma xi_ and _tau beta pi_. in 1825, at union college, _kappa alpha_ was organized, copying in style of badge, membership restrictions and the like, its predecessor. in 1827 two other similar societies, _sigma phi_ and _delta phi_, were founded at the same place. in 1831 _sigma phi_ placed a branch at hamilton college and in 1832 _alpha delta phi_ originated there. in 1833 _psi upsilon_, a fourth society, was organized at union. in 1835 _alpha delta phi_ placed a chapter at miami university, and in 1839 _beta theta pi_ originated there, and so the system spread. these fraternities, it will be observed, were all undergraduate societies among the male students. in 1910 the total number of men's general fraternities was 32, with 1068 living chapters, and owning property worth many millions of dollars. in 1864 _theta xi_, the first professional fraternity restricting its membership to students intending to engage in the same profession, was organized. there were in 1910 about 50 of these organizations with some 400 chapters. in addition there are about 100 local societies or chapters acting as independent units. some of the older of these, such as _kappa kappa kappa_ at dartmouth, _ika_ at trinity, _phi nu theta_ at wesleyan and _delta psi_ at vermont, are permanent in character, but the majority of them are purely temporary, designed to maintain an organization until the society becomes a chapter of one of the general fraternities. in 1870 the first women's society or \"sorority,\" the _kappa alpha theta_, was organized at de pauw university. there were in 1910, 17 general sororities with some 300 active chapters. it is no exaggeration to say that these apparently insignificant organizations of irresponsible students have modified the college life of america and have had a wide influence. members join in the impressionable years of their youth; they retain for their organizations a peculiar loyalty and affection, and freely contribute with money and influence to their advancement. almost universally the members of any particular chapter (or part of them) live together in a lodge or chapter house. the men's fraternities own hundreds of houses and rent as many more. the fraternities form a little aristocracy within the college community. sometimes the line of separation is invisible, sometimes sharply marked. sometimes this condition militates against the college discipline and sometimes it assists it. conflicts not infrequently occur between the fraternity and non-fraternity element in a college. it can readily be understood how young men living together in the intimate relationship of daily contact in the same house, having much the same tastes, culture and aspirations would form among themselves enduring friendships. in addition each fraternity has a reputation to maintain, and this engenders an esprit du corps which at times places loyalty to fraternity interests above loyalty to college interest or the real advantage of the individual. at commencements and upon other occasions the former members of the chapters return to their chapter houses and help to foster the pride and loyalty of the undergraduates. the chapter houses are commonly owned by corporations made up of the alumni. this brings the undergraduates into contact with men of mature age and often of national fame, who treat their membership as a serious privilege. the development of this collegiate aristocracy has led to jealousy and bitter animosity among those not selected for membership. some of the states, notably south carolina and arkansas, have by legislation, either abolished the fraternities at state-controlled institutions or seriously limited the privileges of their members. the constitutionality of such legislation has never been tested. litigation has occasionally arisen out of attempts on the part of college authorities to prohibit the fraternities at their several institutions. this, it has been held, may lawfully be done at a college maintained by private endowment but not at an institution supported by public funds. in the latter case all classes of the public are equally entitled to the same educational privileges and members of the fraternities may not be discriminated against. the fraternities are admirably organized. the usual system comprises a legislative body made up of delegates from the different chapters and an executive or administrative body elected by the delegates. few of the fraternities have any judiciary. none is needed. the financial systems are sound, and the conventions of delegates meet in various parts of the united states, several hundred in number, spend thousands of dollars in travel and entertainment, and attract much public attention. most of the fraternities have an inspection system by which chapters are periodically visited and kept up to a certain level of excellence. the leading fraternities publish journals usually from four to eight times during the college year. the earliest of these was the _beta theta pi_, first issued in 1872. all publish catalogues of their members and the most prosperous have issued histories. they also publish song books, music and many ephemeral and local publications. the alumni of the fraternities are organized into clubs or associations having headquarters at centres of population. these organizations are somewhat loose, but nevertheless are capable of much exertion and influence should occasion arise. the college fraternity system has no parallel among the students of colleges outside of america. one of the curious things about it, however, is that while it is practically uniform throughout the united states, at the three prominent universities of harvard, yale and princeton it differs in many respects from its character elsewhere. at harvard, although there are chapters of a few of the fraternities, their influence is insignificant, their place being taken by a group of local societies, some of them class organizations. at yale, the regular system of fraternities obtains in the engineering or technical department (the sheffield scientific school), but in the classical department the fraternity chapters are called \"junior\" societies, because they limit their membership to the three upper classes and allow the juniors each year practically to control the chapter affairs. certain senior societies, of which the oldest is the skull and bones, which are inter-fraternity societies admitting freely members of the fraternities, are more prominent at yale than the fraternities themselves. princeton has two (secret) literary and fraternal societies, the american whig and the cliosophic, and various local social clubs, with no relationship to organizations in other colleges and not having greek letter names. at a few universities (for instance, michigan, cornell and virginia), senior societies or other inter-fraternity societies exert great influence and have modified the strength of the fraternity system. of late years, numerous societies bearing greek names and imitating the externals of the college fraternities have sprung up in the high schools and academies of the country, but have excited the earnest and apparently united opposition of the authorities of such schools. see william raimond baird, _american college fraternities_ (6th ed., new york, 1905); albert c. stevens, _cyclopedia of fraternities_ (paterson, n. j., 1899); henry d. sheldon, _student life and customs_ (new york, 1901); homer l. patterson, _patterson's college and school directory_ (chicago, 1904); h. k. kellogg, _college secret societies_ (chicago, 1874); albert p. jacobs, _greek letter societies_ (detroit, 1879). (w. r. b.*) fraticelli (plural diminutive of ital. _frate_, brother), the name given during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries to a number of religious groups in italy, differing widely from each other, but all derived more or less directly from the franciscan movement. fra salimbene says in his _chronicle_ (parma ed., p. 108): \"all who wished to found a new rule borrowed something from the franciscan order, the sandals or the habit.\" as early as 1238 gregory ix., in his bull _quoniam abundavit iniquitas_, condemned and denounced as forgers (_tanquam falsarios_) all who begged or preached in a habit resembling that of the mendicant orders, and this condemnation was repeated by him or his successors. the term fraticelli was used contemptuously to denote, not any particular sect, but the members of orders formed on the fringe of the church. thus giovanni villani, speaking of the heretic dolcino, says in his _chronicle_ (bk. viii. ch. 84): \"he is not a brother of an ordered rule, but a _fraticello_ without an order.\" similarly, john xxii., in his bull _sancta romana et universalis ecclesia_ (28th of december 1317), condemns vaguely those \"_profanae multitudinis viri_ commonly called fraticelli, or brethren of the poor life, or bizocchi, or beguines, or by all manner of other names.\" some historians, in their zeal for rigid classification, have regarded the fraticelli as a distinct sect, and have attempted to discover its dogmas and its founder. some of the contemporaries of these religious groups fell into the same error, and in this way the vague term fraticelli has sometimes been applied to the disciples of armanno pongilupo of ferrara (d. 1269), who was undoubtedly a cathar, and to the followers of gerard segarelli and dolcino, who were always known among themselves as apostolic brethren (apostolici). furthermore, it seems absurd to classify both the dolcinists and the spiritual franciscans as fraticelli, since, as has been pointed out by ehrle (_arch. f. lit. u. kirchengesch. des mittelalters_, ii. 107, &c.), angelo of clarino, in his _de septem tribulationibus_, written to the glory of the spirituals, does not scruple to stigmatize the dolcinists as \"disciples of the devil.\" it is equally absurd to include in the same category the ignorant bizocchi and segarellists and such learned disciples of michael of cesena and louis of bavaria as william of occam and bonagratia of bergamo, who have often been placed under this comprehensive rubric. the name fraticelli may more justly be applied to the most exalted fraction of franciscanism. in 1322 some prisoners declared to the inquisitor bernard gui at toulouse that the franciscan order was divided into three sections--the conventuals, who were allowed to retain their real and personal property; the spirituals or beguines, who were at that time the objects of persecution; and the fraticelli of sicily, whose leader was henry of ceva (see gui's _practica inquisitionis_, v.). it is this fraction of the order which john xxii. condemned in his bull _gloriosam ecclesiam_ (23rd of january 1318), but without calling them fraticelli. henry of ceva had taken refuge in sicily at the time of pope boniface viii.'s persecution of the spirituals, and thanks to the good offices of frederick of sicily, a little colony of franciscans who rejected all property had soon established itself in the island. under pope clement v., and more especially under pope john xxii., fresh spirituals joined them; and this group of exalted and isolated ascetics soon began to regard itself as the sole legitimate order of the minorites and then as the sole catholic church. after being excommunicated as \"schismatics and rebels, founders of a superstitious sect, and propagators of false and pestiferous doctrines,\" they proceeded to elect a general (for michael of cesena had disavowed them) and then a pope called celestine (l. wadding, _annales_, at date 1313). the rebels continued to carry on an active propaganda. in tuscany particularly the inquisition made persistent efforts to suppress them; florence afflicted them with severe laws, but failed to rouse the populace against them. the papacy dreaded their social even more than their dogmatic influence. at first in sicily and afterwards throughout italy the ghibellines gave them a warm welcome; the rigorists and the malcontents who had either left the church or were on the point of leaving it, were attracted by these communities of needy rebels; and the tribune rienzi was at one time disposed to join them. to overcome these ascetics it was necessary to have recourse to other ascetics, and from the outset the reformed franciscans, or franciscans of the strict observance, under the direction of their first leaders, paoluccio da trinci (d. 1390), giovanni stronconi (d. 1405), and st bernardine of siena, had been at great pains to restore the fraticelli to orthodoxy. these early efforts, however, had little success. alarmed by the number of the sectaries and the extent of their influence, pope martin v., who had encouraged the observants, and particularly bernardine of siena, fulminated two bulls (1418 and 1421) against the heretics, and entrusted different legates with the task of hunting them down. these measures failing, he decided, in 1426, to appoint two observants as inquisitors without territorial limitation to make a special crusade against the heresy of the fraticelli. these two inquisitors, who pursued their duties under three popes (martin v., eugenius iv. and nicholas v.) were giovanni da capistrano and giacomo della marca. the latter's valuable _dialogus contra fraticellos_ (baluze and mansi, _miscellanea_, iv. 595-610) gives an account of the doctrines of these heretics and of the activity of the two inquisitors, and shows that the fraticelli not only constituted a distinct church but a distinct society. they had a pope called rinaldo, who was elected in 1429 and was succeeded by a brother named gabriel. this supreme head of their church they styled \"bishop of philadelphia,\" philadelphia being the mystic name of their community; under him were bishops, e.g. the bishops of florence, venice, &c.; and, furthermore, a member of the community named guglielmo majoretto bore the title of \"emperor of the christians.\" this organization, at least in so far as concerns the heretical church, had already been observed among the fraticelli in sicily, and in 1423 the general council of siena affirmed with horror that at peniscola there was an heretical pope surrounded with a college of cardinals who made no attempt at concealment. from 1426 to 1449 the fraticelli were unremittingly pursued, imprisoned and burned. the sect gradually died out after losing the protection of the common people, whose sympathy was now transferred to the austere observants and their miracle-worker capistrano. from 1466 to 1471 there were sporadic burnings of fraticelli, and in 1471 tommaso di scarlino was sent to piombino and the littoral of tuscany to track out some fraticelli who had been discovered in those parts. after that date the name disappears from history. see f. ehrle, \"die spiritualen, ihr verhaeltnis zum franziskanerorden und zu den fraticellen\" and \"zur vorgeschichte des concils von vienne,\" in _archiv fuer literatur- und kirchengeschichte des mittelalters_, vols. i., ii., iii.; wetzer and welte, _kirchenlexikon_, s.v. \"fraticellen\"; h. c. lea, _history of the inquisition of the middle ages_, iii. 129-180 (london, 1888). (p. a.) fraud (lat. _fraus_, deceit), in its widest sense, a term which has never been exhaustively defined by an english court of law, and for legal purposes probably cannot usefully be defined. but as denoting a cause of action for which damages can be recovered in civil proceedings it now has a clear and settled meaning. in actions in which damages are claimed for fraud, the difficulties and obscurities which commonly arise are due rather to the complexity of modern commerce and the ingenuity of modern swindlers than to any uncertainty or technicality in the modern law. to succeed in such an action, the person aggrieved must first prove a representation of fact, made either by words, by writing or by conduct, which is in fact untrue. mere concealment is not actionable unless it amounts not only to _suppressio veri_, but to _suggestio falsi_. an expression of opinion or of intention is not enough, unless it can be shown that the opinion was not really held, or that the intention was not really entertained, in which case it must be borne in mind, to use the phrase of lord bowen, that the state of a man's mind is as much a matter of fact as the state of his digestion. next, it must be proved that the representation was made without any honest belief in its truth, that is, either with actual knowledge of its falsity or with a reckless disregard whether it is true or false. it was finally established, after much controversy, in the case of _derry_ v. _peek_ in 1889, that a merely negligent misstatement is not actionable. further, the person aggrieved must prove that the offender made the representation with the intention that he should act on it, though not necessarily directly to him, and that he did in fact act in reliance on it. lastly, the complainant must prove that, as the direct consequence, he has suffered actual damage capable of pecuniary measurement. as soon as the case of _derry_ v. _peek_ had established, as the general rule of law, that a merely negligent misstatement is not actionable, a statutory exception was made to the rule in the case of directors and promoters of companies who publish prospectuses and similar documents. by the directors' liability act 1890, such persons are liable for damage caused by untrue statements in such documents, unless they can prove that they had reasonable grounds for believing the statements to be true. it is also to be observed that, though damages cannot be recovered in an action for a misrepresentation made with an honest belief in its truth, still any person induced to enter into a contract by a misrepresentation, whether fraudulent or innocent, is entitled to avoid the contract and to obtain a declaration that it is not binding upon him. this is in accordance with the rule of equity, which since the judicature act prevails in all the courts. whether the representation is fraudulent or innocent, the contract is not void, but voidable. the party misled must exercise his option to avoid the contract without delay, and before it has become impossible to restore the other party to the position in which he stood before the contract was made. if he is too late, he can only rely on his claim for damages, and in order to assert this claim it is necessary to prove that the misrepresentation was fraudulent. fraud, in its wider sense of dishonest dealing, though not a distinct cause of action, is often material as preventing the acquisition of a right, for which good faith is a necessary condition. also a combination or conspiracy by two or more persons to defraud gives rise to liabilities not very clearly or completely defined.",
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