title: Meghalaya

text: Hajongs celebrate both traditional festivals and Hindu festivals. The entire plain belt of Garo Hills is inhabited by the Hajongs, they are an agrarian tribe. Major traditional festivals include Pusne', Biswe', Kati Gasa, Bastu Puje' and Chor Maga.


title: Meghalaya

text: The Biates have many kinds of festivals; Nûlding Kût, Pamchar Kût, Lebang Kût, Favang Kût etc. for different occasion. However, unlike in the past, they no longer practise or observe those festivals except ‘Nûlding Kût.’ The Nûlding Kût ("renewal of life") festival is observed every January, with singing, dancing, and traditional games—after the Priest (Thiampu) pray to Chung Pathian to bless them in every sphere of life.


title: Meghalaya

text: In southern Meghalaya, located in Mawsynram, is the Mawjymbuin cave. Here a massive stalagmite has been shaped by nature into a Shivalinga. According to legend, from the 13th century, this Shivalinga (called "Hatakeswarat") has existed in the Jaintia Hills under the reign of Ranee Singa. Tens of thousands of the Jaintia tribe members participate over the Hindu festival of Shivratri ("Night of Lord Shiva") every year.


title: Meghalaya

text: The practice of creating Living root bridges can be found in Meghalaya. Here, functional, living, architecture is created by slowly training the aerial roots of the Ficus elastica tree. Examples of these structures can be found as far west as the valley east of Mawsynram, and as far east as the East Jaintia Hills District, meaning that they are made by both Khasis and Jaintias. Large numbers of these man-made living structures exist in the mountainous terrain along the southern border of the Shillong Plateau, though as a cultural practice they are fading, with many individual examples having disappeared recently, either falling in landslides or floods or being replaced with more standard steel bridges.


title: Meghalaya

text: The partition of the country in 1947 created severe infrastructural constraints for the Northeastern region, with merely 2% of the perimeter of the region adjoining the rest of the country. A narrow strip of land often called the Siliguri Corridor or the Chicken's Neck, connects the region with the state of West Bengal. Meghalaya is a landlocked state with many small settlements in remote areas. The road is the only means of transport. While the capital Shillong is relatively well connected, road connectivity in most other parts is relatively poor. A significant portion of the roads in the state is still unpaved. Most of the arrivals into the Meghalaya take place through Guwahati in neighbouring Assam, which is nearly 103 km away. Assam has a major railhead as well as an airport with regular train and air services to the rest of the country.


title: Meghalaya

text: When Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as an autonomous state in 1972, it inherited a total road length of 2786.68 km including 174 km of National Highways with road density of 12.42 km per 100 square kilometre. By 2004, total road length has reached up to 9,350 km out of which 5,857 km were surfaced. The road density had increased to 41.69 km per 100 square kilometre by March 2011. However, Meghalaya is still far below the national average of 75 km per 100 km. To provide better services to the people of the state, the Meghalaya Public Works Department is taking steps for improvement and up-gradation of the existing roads and bridges in phased manner.


title: Meghalaya

text: Meghalaya has a road network of around 7,633 km, out of which 3,691 km is black-topped and the remaining 3942 km is gravelled. Meghalaya is also connected to Silchar in Assam, Aizawl in Mizoram, and Agartala in Tripura through national highways. Many private buses and taxi operators carry passengers from Guwahati to Shillong. The journey takes from 3 to 4 hours. Day and night bus services are available from Shillong to all major towns of Meghalaya and also other capitals and important towns of Assam and the northeastern states.


title: Meghalaya

text: Meghalaya has a railhead at and regular train service connecting Mendipathar in Meghalaya and Guwahati in Assam, has started on 30 November 2014. The Cherra Companyganj State Railways was a former mountain railway through the state. Guwahati ( from Shillong) is the nearest major railway station connecting the north-east region with the rest of the country through a broad gauge track network. There is a plan for extending the rail link from Guwahati to Byrnihat ( from Guwahati) within Meghalaya and further extending it up to state capital Shillong.


title: Meghalaya

text: State capital Shillong has an airport at Umroi from Shillong on the Guwahati-Shillong highway. A new terminal building was built at a cost of and inaugurated in June 2011. Air India Regional operates flights to Kolkata from this airport. There is also a helicopter service connecting Shillong to Guwahati and Tura. Baljek Airport near Tura became operational in 2008. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is developing the airport for operation of ATR 42/ATR 72 type of aircraft. Other nearby airports are in Assam, with Borjhar, Guwahati airport (IATA: GAU), about from Shillong.


title: Meghalaya

text: Earlier, foreign tourists required special permits to enter the areas that now constitute the state of Meghalaya. However, the restrictions were removed in 1955. Meghalaya is compared to Scotland for its highlands, fog, and scenery. Meghalaya has some of the thickest primary forests in the country and therefore constitutes one of the most important ecotourism circuits in India. The Meghalaya subtropical forests support a vast variety of flora and fauna. Meghalaya has 2 National Parks and 3 Wildlife Sanctuaries.


title: Meghalaya

text: Meghalaya also offers many adventure tourism opportunities in the form of mountaineering, rock climbing, trekking, and hiking, caving (spelunking) and water sports. The state offers several trekking routes, some of which also afford an opportunity to encounter rare animals. The Umiam Lake has a water sports complex with facilities such as rowboats, paddleboats, sailing boats, cruise-boats, water-scooters, and speedboats.


title: Meghalaya

text: Cherrapunji is a tourist destination in north-east of India. It lies to the south of the capital Shillong. A rather scenic 50-kilometre long road connects Cherrapunji with Shillong.


title: Meghalaya

text: Living root bridges are also a tourist draw, with many examples located near Cherrapunji. The Double-Decker root bridge, along with several others, is found in the village of Nongriat, which is tourist friendly. Many other root bridges can be found nearby, in the villages of Nongthymmai, Mynteng, and Tynrong. Other areas with root bridges include Riwai village, near the tourist village of Mawlynnong, Pynursla, especially the villages of Rangthyllaing and Mawkyrnot, and the area around Dawki, in the West Jaintia Hills district, where there are many living root bridges scattered throughout the nearby villages.


title: Meghalaya

text: The most visited waterfalls in the state include the Elephant Falls, Shadthum Falls, Weinia falls, Bishop Falls, Nohkalikai Falls, Langshiang Falls and Sweet Falls. The hot springs at Jakrem near Mawsynram are believed to have curative and medicinal properties.


title: Meghalaya

text: Nongkhnum Island located in the West Khasi Hills district is the biggest river island in Meghalaya and the second biggest in Asia. It is 14 kilometres from Nongstoin. The island is formed by the bifurcation of Kynshi River into the Phanliang River and the Namliang River. Adjacent to the sandy beach the Phanliang River forms a lake. The river then moves along and before reaching a deep gorge, forms a waterfall about 60 meters high called Shadthum Fall.


title: Meghalaya

text: Meghalaya is also known for its "sacred groves". They are small or large areas of forests or natural vegetation that are usually dedicated to local folk deities or tree spirits or some religious symbolism over many generations, often since ancient times. These spaces are found all over India, are protected by local communities, and in some cases, the locals would neither touch leaves or fruits or in other ways damage the forest, flora or fauna taking refuge in them. This guardianship creates a sacred area where nature and wildlife thrive. The Mawphlang sacred forest, also known as "Law Lyngdoh," is one of the most famous sacred forests in Meghalaya. It's located about 25 kilometres from Shillong. It's a scenic nature destination, and one can find the sacred Rudraksha tree here.


title: Meghalaya

text: Meghalaya rural life and villages offer a glimpse in northeast mountain life. The Mawlynnong village located near the India-Bangladesh border is one such village. It has been featured by travel magazine "Discover India". The village is geared for tourism and has a Living Root Bridges, hiking trails and rock formations.


title: Meghalaya

text: Meghalaya also has many natural and manmade lakes. The Umiam Lake (popularly known as Bara Pani meaning Big water) on the Guwahati-Shillong road is a major tourism attraction for tourist. Meghalaya has several parks; Thangkharang Park, the Eco-park, the Botanical Garden and Lady Hydari Park to name a few. Dawki, which is located at about 96 Kilometres from Shillong is the gateway to Bangladesh and affords a scenic view of some of the tallest mountain ranges in Meghalaya and the Bangladesh borderlands.


title: Meghalaya

text: Thadlaskein Lake also "Pung Sajar Nangli" is the only historical Lake of Meghalaya. It is located besides National Highway 6 by the side of a small village called Mukhla village which falls under West Jaintia Hills district Jowai. It is about 35 mile from the city of Shillong


title: Meghalaya

text: Balpakram National Park with its pristine habitat and scenery is a major attraction. The Nokrek National Park, also in Garo Hills has its own charm with a lot of wildlife.


title: Meghalaya

text: Meghalaya has an estimated 500 natural limestone and sandstone caves spread over the entire state including most of the longest and deepest caves in the sub-continent. Krem Liat Prah is the longest cave, and Synrang Pamiang is the deepest cave. Both are located in the Jaintia Hills. Cavers from the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Ireland, and the United States have been visiting Meghalaya for over a decade exploring these caves. Not many of these have, however, been developed or promoted adequately for major tourist destinations.


title: Meghalaya

text: Meghalaya is famous for its living root bridges, a kind of suspension bridge made over rivers using intertwined roots of "Ficus elastica" trees planted on opposite banks of the river or hill slopes. These bridges can be seen around Cherrapunji, Nongtalang, Kudeng Rim and Kudeng Thymmai villages (War Jaintia). A double-decker bridge exists in Nongriat village.


title: Meghalaya

text: The significant issues in the state include illegal migrants from Bangladesh, incidences of violence, political instability and deforestation from traditional cut-and-burn shift farming practices. There are several clashes between Khasi people and Bangladeshi in Meghalaya.


title: Meghalaya

text: Illegal immigration has become a major issue in Indian states that surround Bangladesh – West Bengal to the west, Meghalaya and Assam to the north, and Tripura, Mizoram, and Manipur to the east. Dozens of political and civic groups have demanded that this migration be stopped or controlled to manageable levels. The border between Meghalaya and Bangladesh is about 440 kilometres long, of which some 350 is fenced; but the border is not continuously patrolled and is porous. Efforts are underway to fence it completely and introduce means to issue ID cards.


title: Meghalaya

text: Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, in August 2012, called upon Government of India to take corrective measures to stop the illegal immigration of Bangladeshis into the northeast of the country before the situation goes out of hand.


title: Meghalaya

text: Between 2006 and 2013, between 0 and 28 civilians have died per year in Meghalaya (or about 0 to 1 per 100,000 people), which the state authorities have classified as terror-related intentional violence. The world's average annual death rate from intentional violence, in recent years, has been 7.9 per 100,000 people. The terror-related deaths are from conflicts primarily between different tribal groups and against migrants from Bangladesh. Along with political resolution and dialogue, various Christian organisations have taken the initiative to prevent violence and help the process of discussion between groups.


title: Meghalaya

text: The state has had 23 state governments since its inception in 1972, with a median life span of less than 18 months. Only three governments have survived more than three years. Political instability has affected the state's economy in the past. Over recent years, there has been increasing political stability. The last state assembly elections were held in 2013, after a five-year government that was elected in 2008.


title: Meghalaya

text: Jhum farming, or cut-and-burn shift cultivation, is an ancient practice in Meghalaya. It is culturally engrained through folklores. One legend states the god of wind with the god of hail and storm shook off seeds from the celestial tree, which were picked up and sown by a bird known as "do' amik". These were the seeds of rice. The god gave the human beings some of those celestial seeds, provided instruction on shift agriculture and proper rice cultivation practice, with the demand that at every harvest a portion of the first harvest must be dedicated to him. Another folktale is from the Garo Hills of Meghalaya where a man named "Bone-Neripa-Jane-Nitepa" harvested rice and millet from a patch of land he cleared and cultivated near the rock named "misi-Kokdok". He then shared this knowledge with others, and named the different months of the year, each of which is a stage of shifting cultivation.


title: Meghalaya

text: In modern times, shift cultivation is a significant threat to the biodiversity of Meghalaya. A 2001 satellite imaging study showed that shift cultivation practice continues and patches of primary dense forests are lost even from areas protected as biosphere. "Jhum" farming is a threat not only for natural biodiversity, it is also a low yield unproductive method of agriculture. It is a significant issue in Meghalaya, given majority of its people rely on agriculture to make a living. Shift farming is a practice that is not unique to northeastern Indian states such as Meghalaya, but the issue is found throughout southeast Asia.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement (commonly referred to as a prenup), is a written contract entered into by a couple prior to marriage or a civil union that enables them to select and control many of the legal rights they acquire upon marrying, and what happens when their marriage eventually ends by death or divorce. Couples enter into a written prenuptial agreement to supersede many of the default marital laws that would otherwise apply in the event of divorce, such as the laws that govern the division of property, retirement benefits, savings, and the right to seek alimony (spousal support) with agreed-upon terms that provide certainty and clarify their marital rights. A premarital agreement may also contain waivers of a surviving spouse's right to claim an elective share of the estate of the deceased spouse.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In some countries, including the United States, Belgium and the Netherlands, the prenuptial agreement not only provides for what happens in the event of a divorce, but also to protect some property during the marriage, for instance in case of a bankruptcy. Many countries, including Canada, France, Italy, and Germany, have matrimonial regimes, in addition to, or some cases, in lieu of prenuptial agreements.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Postnuptial agreements are similar to prenuptial agreements, except that they are entered into after a couple is married. When divorce is imminent, postnuptial agreements are referred to as separation agreements.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Laws vary between both states and countries in both what content they may contain and under what conditions and circumstances that a prenuptial agreement may be declared unenforceable, such as an agreement signed under fraud, duress or without adequate disclosure of assets.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In South Africa, a civil marriage or civil union is, by default, a marriage in community of property. In order to marry out of community of property, the parties must sign an antenuptial contract in the presence of a notary public prior to their marriage and the contract must be registered in the Deeds Office within three months from the date of signature of the contract.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: When marrying out of community, the parties have a choice to marry "with application of the accrual system" or without application of the accrual system.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In the event that the parties marry without accrual, the spouses' respective estates would always remain separate and neither party will have any proprietary claim against the other by virtue of the marriage.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: If the parties marry with application of the accrual, their respective estates would remain separate during the subsistence of the marriage. Upon dissolution of the marriage, whether by death or divorce, the spouse with the lesser accrual would have a claim against the spouse with the larger accrual for half the difference between their accrual values.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In India, prenuptial agreements are very rare and do not have any governing laws. However, with rising divorce rates, people are showing increasing interest in them. Some lawyers are of the opinion that prenups don't have legal sanctity in India. However, some form of contract is signed in some cases, usually among affluent citizens. But, the agreements need to be reasonable and not violate pre-existing laws like the Hindu Marriage Act. Indian courts allow a memorandum of settlement to be signed during divorces. But, no court has yet been asked to enforce a prenup.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: These agreements may come under the Indian Contract Act 1872. The Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act states that agreements are to be considered contracts if they are made by the free consent of the parties. However, the Section 23 of the same act states that a contract may be void if they are immoral or against public policy.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Goa is the only Indian state where a prenuptial is legally enforceable, as it follows the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867. A prenuptial agreement may be signed between the two parties at the time of marriage, stating the regime of ownership. If a prenuptial has not been signed, then the marital property is simply divided equally between the husband and wife.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Pre- and Post-Nuptial Agreements in Hong Kong can be of “magnetic importance” in deciding the parties’ claims to ancillary relief. The leading case of SPH v SA in Hong Kong’s highest court, the Court of Final Appeal followed the earlier English Supreme Court decision of Radmacher v Granatino. That was perhaps unsurprising as one of the Judges in Radmacher (Lord Collins) also sat in Hong Kong as an NPJ. (Similarly, the successful leading counsel for Frau Radmacher, Richard Todd QC was also leading counsel for Madame S. in SPH v SA).


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: The prenuptial agreement in Thailand is concluded by mutual consent of the man and woman who want to marry. Under Thai law, a prenuptial agreement is recognized by the Commercial and Civil Code of Thailand. A valid and enforceable Thai prenuptial agreement legally requires that


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In accordance with the laws on Thai marriage, the prenuptial agreement mainly relates to assets and financial implications of marriage and establishes conditions of ownership and management of personal and concrete joint property and potential division of marital assets, if the marriage will be dissolved. The prenuptial agreement also includes a list of each side's personal assets at the time of the marriage and guarantees, that debts and property before the marriage remain in possession of the initial owner or debtor.<br>


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Prenuptial agreements have long been recognized as valid in several European countries, such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. While in some of these countries there are limits on what restrictions the courts will see as enforceable or valid (e.g. Germany after 2001, where appeals courts have indicated this), a written and properly initiated contract, freely agreed upon, cannot be challenged by, for instance, invoking the circumstances under which the marriage broke down or the conduct of either part. In France and Belgium (as in Quebec, which has the same judicial tradition) prenuptial agreements must be set up in the presence of a notary.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In many of the countries mentioned, prenuptials may also protect the non-shared property and money from being pulled into a bankruptcy and can serve to support lawsuits and settlements during the marriage (for instance if one part has sold or wrongfully mortgaged a piece of property that had been set aside by his/her partner).


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In accordance with provisions of Section 10 of the Family Code of Ukraine, marriage relationships, rights and duties of spouses can be regulated by a Marriage contract as well if spouses wish to settle their property relations in other manner then it is provided by the Family Code of Ukraine.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Marriage (prenuptial) contract can be concluded by a woman and a man, who applied for registration of their marriage as well as by spouses. Underaged person, who wants to conclude a marriage contract before registration of the marriage, is to have a signed consent of his/her parent or custodian certified by a notary.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Numerous provisions of this section of the Family Code of Ukraine provide quite extensive requirements as regarding the form and contents of the marriage contract and the procedural issues of making the same are regulated by appropriate Instruction of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine as regarding the procedure of notarization of marriage contracts as well as far as notarization is required.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Imperative requirements as regarding content of the marriage contract are provided by clause 93 of the Family Code of Ukraine, which states that the marriage contract governs property relations between spouses, determines their property rights and duties. Marriage contract can also determine property rights and duties of spouses as parents, but with certain limitations. Personal relations of spouses cannot be regulated by the marriage contract, as well as personal relations between spouses and their children. This rule is also provided by clause 93 of the Family Code of Ukraine. Marriage contract, which reduce rights of children and put one of spouses on a poor material state, are not permitted by the above imperative regulation. Within the frameworks of the marriage contract none of spouses can acquire any immovable property or other property, which requires the state registration.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Prenuptial agreements historically had not been considered legally enforceable in England and Wales due to a reluctance on the part of the judiciary for public policy reasons.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: The 2010 Supreme Court test case of "Radmacher v Granatino", overturned the previous legal framework on them to recognise changing societal and judicial views on the personal autonomy of married partners. Pre-nuptial agreements can now be enforced by the courts as part of their discretion in financial settlement cases under section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 so long as the three stage "Radmacher" test is met and it is considered fair to do so, keeping in mind the interests of any child of the family. "Radmacher" holds that the courts will give effect to a nuptial agreement that is freely entered into by each party with a full appreciation of its implications unless, in the circumstances prevailing, it would not be fair to hold the parties to their agreement. The case provided substantial amounts of guidance relevant to all nuptial agreement cases that have occurred since 2010.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: The Law Commission's 2014 report on Matrimonial Property generally accepted the decision in Radmacher and recommended the creation of a 'qualifying nuptial agreement' regime by Parliament which would create a completely binding pre-nuptial agreement so long as certain requirements were met. The Commission's recommendations have yet to be implemented.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: A prenuptial agreement is distinct from the historic marriage settlement which was concerned not primarily with the effects of divorce but with the establishment and maintenance of dynastic families, or a divorce settlement entered into by parties in connection with dissolving their marriage.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Prenuptial agreements in Canada are governed by provincial legislation. Each province and territory in Canada recognizes prenuptial agreements. For instance, in Ontario prenuptial agreements are called marriage contracts and they are recognized by section 52 of the Family Law Act.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In the United States, prenuptial agreements are recognized in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, and they are enforceable if prepared in accordance with state and federal law requirements. It has been reported that the demand for prenuptial agreements in the United States has increased in recent years, particularly among millennial couples. In a 2016 survey conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), member attorneys reported seeing an increase in the total number of clients seeking prenuptial agreements before marriage in recent years, particularly with the millennial generation, with the strongest interest in protecting increases in the value of separate property, inheritances, and division of community property.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In the past, couples entered into premarital agreements with a level of uncertainty about their validity. Today, the presumptive validity and enforceability of such agreements in states that have adopted the UPAA/UPMAA including Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, and California, is no longer in question.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Currently, 28 States and the District of Columbia have adopted a version of the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (UPAA) or the updated Uniform Premarital Agreements Act (UPMAA).  The UPAA was passed in 1983 by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) to promote more uniformity and predictability between state laws relating to these contracts in an increasingly transient society. The UPAA was partly enacted to ensure that a prenup that was validly entered into in one state would be honored by the courts of another state where the couple might get a divorce. The UPMAA was subsequently promulgated in 2012 by the ULC to clarify and modernize inconsistent state laws, and create a uniform approach to all prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements that:


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: The laws enacted by states adopting the UPAA/UPMAA do have some variances from state-to-state, but this framework of laws has certainly made it much easier for legal practitioners to prepare enforceable marital agreements for clients by clearly stating the requirements. For instance, under Florida law, there is a very material difference in what is required to enter into a legally binding prenuptial agreement versus a postnuptial agreement.  In order to validly waive the spousal rights that would ordinarily be available to a surviving spouse under Florida law (such as homestead, elective share, exempt property, family allowance, etc.), the parties have to make a full and fair disclosure of their assets and liabilities to each other "before" entering into a postnuptial agreement. In contrast, no financial disclosure is required to waive those same spousal rights in a premarital agreement executed "before" marriage. That said, if the lack of disclosure results in a prenup being unconscionable (unfair to one spouse) under Florida's Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, it may not be enforceable on those grounds.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Even in states that have not enacted the UPAA/UPMAA like New York, duly executed prenuptial agreements are accorded the same presumption of legality as any other contract. It is not necessary that a couple signing a prenuptial agreement retain separate attorneys to represent them, as long as each party understands the agreement and signs it voluntarily with the intention to be bound to its terms. There is a strong public policy favoring parties ordering and deciding their own interests through contracts. There are no state or federal laws that force adults with contractual capacity to have to hire legal counsel to be able to enter into a marital contract such as a prenuptial agreement, except for a California law that requires that the parties be represented by counsel if spousal support (alimony) is limited by the agreement. A prenuptial agreement may be challenged if there is evidence that the contract was signed under duress. Whether a premarital agreement was signed under duress must be proven by the facts and circumstances of each case. For example, it has been held that a spouse's claim that she believed that there would be no wedding if she did not sign a prenuptial agreement, where the wedding was only two weeks away and wedding plans had been made, was "insufficient" to demonstrate duress.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Prenuptial agreements may limit the parties' property and spousal support rights, but also to guarantee either party the right to seek or receive spousal support up to a certain limit. It may be impossible to set aside a properly drafted and executed prenup. A prenup can dictate not only what happens if the parties divorce, but also what happens when they die. They can act as a contract to make a will and/or eliminate all of one's rights to property, probate homestead, probate allowance, right to take as a predetermined heir, and the right to act as an executor and administrator of one's spouse's estate.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: A prenuptial agreement is only valid if it is completed prior to marriage. After a couple is married, they may draw up a post-nuptial agreement.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In most jurisdictions in the United States, five elements are required for a valid prenuptial agreement:


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: There are several ways that a prenuptial agreement can be attacked in court. These include lack of voluntariness, unconscionability, and a failure to disclose assets. Prenuptial agreements in all U.S. states are not allowed to regulate issues relating to the children of the marriage, in particular, custody and access issues. The reason behind this is that matters involving children must be decided in the children's best interests. However, this is controversial: some people believe that as custody battles are often the worst part of a divorce, couples should be able to settle this in advance.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Courts will not enforce requirements that one person will do all housework or that the children will be raised in a certain religion. In recent years, some couples have included social media provisions in their prenuptial agreements, setting forth rules as to what is permissible to be posted on social media networks during the marriage, as well as in the event the marriage is dissolved.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: A sunset provision may be inserted into a prenuptial agreement, specifying that after a certain amount of time, the agreement will expire. In Maine, for prenuptial agreements executed before October 1, 1993, unless the parties renew the agreement, it automatically lapses after the birth of a child. In other states, a certain number of years of marriage will cause a prenuptial agreement to lapse. In states that have adopted the UPAA (Uniform Premarital Agreement Act), no sunset provision is provided by statute, but one could be privately contracted for. Note that states have different versions of the UPAA.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Unlike all other contract law, consideration is not required, although a minority of courts point to the marriage itself as the consideration. Through a prenup, a spouse can completely waive rights to property, alimony or inheritance as well as the elective share and get nothing in return. Choice of law provisions are critical in prenups. Parties to the agreement can elect to have the law of the state they are married in govern both the interpretation of the agreement and how property is divided at the time of divorce. In the absence of a choice of law clause it is the law of the place the parties divorce, not the law of the state they were married that decides property and support issues.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In drafting an agreement, it is important to recognize that there are two types of state laws that govern divorceequitable distribution, practiced by 41 states, and community property, practiced in some variation by 9 states. An agreement written in a community property state may not be designed to govern what occurs in an equitable distribution state and vice versa. It may be necessary to retain attorneys in both states to cover the possible eventuality that the parties may live in a state other than the state they were married. Often people have more than one home in different states or they move a lot because of their work so it is important to take that into account in the drafting process.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: With respect to financial issues ancillary to divorce, prenuptial agreements are routinely upheld and enforced by courts in virtually all states. There are circumstances in which courts have refused to enforce certain portions/provisions of such agreements. For example, in North Dakota the divorce courts retain jurisdiction to modify a limitation on the right to seek alimony or spousal support in a premarital agreement if it would cause the spouse who waived such right to need public assistance at the time of divorce. Florida and several other states contain similar limitations to avoid a divorcing spouse from becoming a ward of the state upon divorce by virtue of a prenuptial agreement. Moreover, in Florida where the inheritance (elective share) and homestead rights granted to surviving spouses by state law are so strong, its Premarital Agreement Act requires that a waiver of surviving spouse rights set forth in a prenuptial agreement be executed with the same formality as a will to be enforceable (notarized and witnessed by two disinterested parties).


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court granted same-sex marriages the same legal footing as marriage between opposite-gender couples, in the case of "Obergefell v. Hodges" (decided June 26, 2015). This effect of the Supreme Court's ruling is that a premarital agreement entered into by a same-sex couple in one state is fully enforceable in another state in the event of a divorce.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Certain federal laws apply to the terms that may be included in a premarital agreement. The Retirement Equity Act (REA) of 1984, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on August 23, 1984, reconciled confusion over whether ERISA preempted state divorce laws, thereby preventing pension plans from complying with court orders giving a spouse a portion of the worker's pension in a divorce decree. A prenuptial agreement can contain waivers by which each spouse agrees to release any claims against each other's retirement benefits that arise under both state and federal laws by virtue of the marriage, like under the REA.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: When a United States citizen chooses to marry an immigrant, that person frequently serves as a Visa sponsor to petition for their fiancé to enter or stay in the United States. The Dept. of Homeland Security requires people sponsoring their immigrant fiancé to come to the U.S. on a Visa to provide an Affidavit of Support, and it is important to take into account the Affidavit of Support obligation for a U.S. sponsor about to publishera prenuptial agreement. The Affidavit of Support creates a 10-year contract between the U.S. Government and the sponsor, requiring the sponsor to financially support the immigrant fiancé from the sponsor's own resources. As the I-864 form expressly states, divorce does not terminate the support obligations the sponsor owes to U.S. Government, and the immigrant spouse has rights as a third-party beneficiary of the support promise the sponsor makes in the I-864 Affidavit. As such, any waiver of alimony in their prenuptial agreement must be drafted in a way that does not violate the contract that the U.S. sponsor makes with the government by providing the Affidavit of Support, or it will be at risk for being declared unenforceable.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In a 1990 California case, the court of appeals enforced an oral prenuptial agreement in the probate of the estate of one of the parties because the surviving spouse had substantially changed her position in reliance on the oral agreement. However, following changes in the statutory law, it has become much more difficult to change the character of community or separate property without a written agreement.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Parties can waive disclosure beyond that which is provided, and there is no requirement of notarization, but it is good practice. There are special requirements if parties sign the agreement without attorney, and the parties must have independent counsel if they limit spousal support (also known as alimony or spousal maintenance in other states). Parties must wait seven days after the premarital agreement is first presented for review before they sign it, but there is no requirement that this be done a certain number of days prior to the marriage. Prenups often take months to negotiate so they should not be left until the last minute (as people often do). If the prenup calls for the payment of a lump sum at the time of divorce, it may be deemed to promote divorce. This concept has come under attack and a lawyer should be consulted to make sure the prenup does not violate this provision.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In California, through a prenuptial agreement a couple may waive their rights to share property (community property). The agreement can limit spousal support (although a court at the divorce can set this aside if it deems that the limitation is unconscionable). The agreement can act as a contract to make a will requiring one spouse to provide for the other at death. It can also limit probate rights at death, such as the right to a probate allowance, the right to act an executor, the right to take as a predetermined heir, and so forth.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Prenuptial agreements are recognised in Australia by the Family Law Act 1975 (Commonwealth). In Australia, a prenuptial agreement is referred to as a Binding Financial Agreement (BFA).


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Premarital mediation is an alternative way of creating a prenuptial agreement. In this process, a mediator facilitates an open discussion between the couple about all kinds of marital issues, like expectations about working after children are born and saving and spending styles as well as the traditional premarital discussions about property division and spousal support if the marriage is terminated. The engaged couple makes all of the decisions about what would happen in the event of a separation or divorce with the assistance of the mediator. They then draft either a deal memo or a premarital agreement and have it reviewed by their respective attorneys. An agreement developed via mediation is typically less expensive because fewer hours are spent with attorneys because the couple has made all of the decisions together, rather than one side vs. the other.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In Catholic Christianity, prenuptial agreements are a matter of civil law, so Catholic canon law does not rule them out in principle (for example, to determine how property would be divided among the children of a prior marriage upon the death of one spouse). In practice, prenuptials may run afoul of Church law in a number of ways. For example, they cannot subject a marriage to a condition concerning the future. The Code of Canon Law provides: "A marriage subject to a condition about the future cannot be contracted validly". (CIC 1102) "The Canon Law: Letter and Spirit", a commentary on canon law, explains that condition may be defined as "a stipulation by which an agreement is made contingent upon the verification or fulfillment of some circumstance or event that is not yet certain". It goes on to state that "any condition concerning the future attached to matrimonial consent renders marriage invalid". For example, a marriage would be invalid if the parties stipulated that they must have children or they have the right to divorce and remarry someone else.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In Lutheran Christianity, "The Lutheran Handbook on Marriage" stipulates: "Consider a prenuptial agreement, which helps you identify the value of gifts and inheritances you receive, protects you from your partner's pre-marriage debt, and ensures that children from a prior marriage receive."


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Independent Fundamental Baptists reflect a perspective that prenuptial agreements are contrary to Christian teaching regarding marriage as a covenant:


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In Judaism, the "ketubah", a prenuptial contract, has long been established as an integral part of the Jewish marriage, and is signed and read aloud at the marriage ceremony. It contains the husband's requirement to support his wife by providing her with food, clothing and sex, as well as providing for the wife's support in the case of divorce or the husband's death. However, under this passage, a woman is free to leave if her husband doesn't provide for her.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In 2004, the High Court of South Africa upheld a cherem against a Johannesburg businessman because he refused to pay his former wife alimony as ordered by The Johannesburg Beth Din.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: Recently, a movement supporting an additional prenuptial agreement has emerged in some Modern Orthodox circles. This is in response to a growing number of cases in which the husband refuses to grant "gett", a religious divorce. In such matters, the local authorities are unable to intervene, both out of concerns regarding separation of church and state and because certain "halakhic" problems would arise. This situation leaves the wife in a state of , in which she is unable to remarry. To remedy this situation, the movement promotes a prenuptial agreement in which the couple agrees to conduct their divorce, should it occur, in a rabbinical court.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: In most Arab and Muslim-majority nations there is a marriage contract, known traditionally as , that long been established as an integral part of an Islamic marriage and is signed at the marriage ceremony. In Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon, this contract is widely known as . The contract is similar to the ketubah in Judaism, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom and bride or other parties involved in the marriage proceedings. But this is different from a prenuptial agreement, in that it does not define how assets are to be divided or inherited in the event of divorce or the death of a spouse.


title: Prenuptial agreement

text: A Muslim woman may lay down certain conditions in the conditional divorce before signing the marriage certificate in order to safeguard her welfare and rights. She may amend the conditional divorce or add further conditions later.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional football club in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since 1995. The club played at Ayresome Park for 92 years, from 1903 to 1995.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992 and became one of the first clubs to be relegated from it following the 1992–93 season. The club came close to folding in 1986 after experiencing severe financial difficulties before it was saved by a consortium led by then board member and later chairman Steve Gibson. During the early Gibson years in the Premier League the club signed several high-profile players, although this did not translate into success and in 1997 the club suffered two lost cup finals and a relegation in the same year. The club's main rivals are Sunderland, Newcastle United and Leeds United.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The club's achievements include winning the League Cup in 2004, their first and to date only major trophy, and they also reached the 2006 UEFA Cup Final, losing to Spanish club Sevilla. Their highest league finish to date was third place in the top flight in the 1913–14 season and the club have only spent two seasons outside the top two divisions of English football. The League Cup win and the UEFA Cup run was part of an 11-year consecutive stay in the Premier League, before a relegation in 2009. Although the club returned in 2016, instant relegation followed, and the club has not returned to the Premier League since.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The club's traditional kit is red with white detailing. The home shorts and sock colours have interchangeably been shifted between red and white, complementing the red shirt that was adopted in 1899. The various crests throughout the club's history, the most recent of which was adopted in 2007, incorporate a lion rampant.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough were formed in 1876, and won the FA Amateur Cup in 1895 and again in 1898. The club turned professional in 1889, but reverted to amateur status in 1892. They turned professional permanently in 1899. After three seasons, they won promotion to the First Division, where they would remain for the next .


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: In 1903, the club moved to Ayresome Park, their home for the next . In 1905, the club sanctioned the transfer of Alf Common for £1,000, a record fee. Over the next few years, their form fluctuated greatly, rising to sixth in 1907–08 before dropping to 17th two seasons later. The club rose to their highest league finish to date, third, in 1913–14. World War I soon intervened and football was suspended.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Before league football resumed, Middlesbrough won the Northern Victory League, but the team were unable to maintain their previous form and finished the 1919–20 season in mid-table. They remained in the First Division for the next few seasons, but were relegated in 1923–24 after finishing bottom, 10 points adrift of their nearest rivals. Three seasons later, they won the Division Two title. During that season, debutant George Camsell, who had signed from Third Division North side Durham City the previous season, finished with a record 59 league goals, which included nine hat-tricks. He would continue as top scorer for each of the next 10 seasons. Their tenure back in the top flight lasted only one season, and the club were relegated. They were promoted at the first attempt in 1928–29, winning another Second Division title. The club remained in the First Division until 1954.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The decade before the war saw the emergence of Wilf Mannion and George Hardwick, both of whom would go on to become England internationals in the years ahead. Middlesbrough climbed to fourth in the last full season before World War II and were expected to challenge for the title next season, but the war intervened. After the war, the club was unable to recover the form of the previous seasons and hovered around mid-table and exited in the early rounds of the FA Cup. Soon afterwards, the team began to falter, eventually suffering relegation in 1953–54. This was the start of a 20-year spell outside the top division, but saw the emergence of one of the club's top goalscorers, Brian Clough, who scored 204 goals in 222 games, before he left for Sunderland. Over that period, Middlesbrough maintained reasonable progress in the Second Division but were never serious contenders for promotion. After a fourth-place finish in 1962–63, the club endured a steady decline and were relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history in 1966.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: New manager Stan Anderson returned the club to the second flight at the first attempt. Middlesbrough would not finish below ninth during the next eight seasons. By 1974, Jack Charlton had taken over as manager and guided the team back to the top flight. They ensured promotion as early as 23 March, and with eight games of the season left, they became runaway champions, finishing with a record 65 points. Middlesbrough won their first silverware as a professional side in the 1975–76 season, lifting the Anglo-Scottish Cup in its inaugural season after a two-legged final win over Fulham.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The club experienced severe financial difficulties during the mid-1980s. Middlesbrough were dropping down the table, and finished 19th in the 1984–85 season. In April 1986, the club had to borrow £30,000 from the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) to pay wages. The final game of the season saw Middlesbrough relegated to the Third Division again. That summer, the club called in the Provisional Liquidator and shortly afterwards, the club was wound up and the gates to Ayresome Park were padlocked. Without the £350,000 capital required for Football League registration, a new rule, it seemed inevitable that the club would fold permanently. Steve Gibson, however, a member of the board at the time, brought together a consortium, and with 10 minutes to spare before the deadline they completed their registration with the Football League for the 1986–87 season. Following the registration came both a change of club crest and a change of the official company name to Middlesbrough Football and Athletic Club (1986) Ltd.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Over the next two seasons, Middlesbrough gained successive promotions into Division Two and then into Division One. The next season, however, they came straight back down to Division Two, and with it came the then British transfer record move of Gary Pallister to Manchester United for £2.3 million. Despite constant promotion and relegation, Middlesbrough were founding members of the FA Premier League for the 1992–93 season.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Player-manager Bryan Robson, from Manchester United, took charge in 1994 and Middlesbrough were brought back into national attention. Following promotion to the Premier League and high-profile purchases like Brazilian international Juninho, many considered Middlesbrough to be on the rise. A difficult 1996–97 season, however, was compounded by a deduction of three points imposed just after Christmas as punishment for the club's failure to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn Rovers, which ultimately resulted in relegation.<ref name="PremierLeague96/97"></ref> Without the points deduction imposed by the FA Premier League despite the club having taken advice from the Premier League themselves prior to calling off the match, the club would have had enough points to avoid the drop. At the same time, the club managed to reach both the League and FA Cups finals for the first time, but lost out in both. Despite being in the second tier, they were again runners-up in the League Cup final the next year.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Despite losing high-profile players Fabrizio Ravanelli and Juninho due to relegation, Middlesbrough were promoted back to the Premier League at the first attempt, in 1998. The following season saw them settle well and they enjoyed a 12-game unbeaten run midway through 1998–99, including a 3–2 win at Old Trafford in January during which they took a 3–0 lead; it was Manchester United's only home defeat during their treble-winning season. Middlesbrough continued to stay secure in mid-table the following season, thanks mainly to the goals of Hamilton Ricard and the signings of big name players such as Paul Ince and Christian Ziege. In 2000–01, they had a brief relegation scare that was solved with the arrival of Terry Venables as co-manager, and a 3–0 win away at Arsenal in April was the team's best result. The trend of buying European stars continued with the acquisitions of Christian Karembeu and Alen Bokšić. Bryan Robson left the club before the start of 2001–02 season, having served as manager for seven years.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Robson was replaced by Manchester United assistant coach Steve McClaren. The following seasons saw Premier League security maintained as Middlesbrough slowly improved and were seen as a tough side to beat when playing at the Riverside Stadium. During McClaren's reign, Middlesbrough achieved their highest Premier League placing, finishing seventh in 2004–05.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The 2003–04 season was the most successful in the club's history as they finally won a major trophy after beating Bolton Wanderers 2–1 in the League Cup final under McClaren. This success also ensured that Middlesbrough would qualify for Europe – the UEFA Cup – for the first time, ultimately reaching the last 16 in the competition. UEFA Cup qualification was achieved for the second consecutive year after a dramatic 1–1 away draw with Manchester City thanks to a late penalty save from Mark Schwarzer in the final game of the season.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: A notable event in the 2005-06 season was the final Premier League game against Fulham, where 15 of the 16 squad members were from the local area (the exception being Malcolm Christie). When Josh Walker replaced Malcolm Christie after 62 minutes the 11 players on the field were all born within 30 miles of Middlesbrough and all graduates of the club's academy. It was also the first all English starting line up in the Premier League since Bradford City in 1999, the first all English match squad since Aston Villa in 1998 and the youngest starting line-up in Premier League history.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough reached the 2006 UEFA Cup Final in Eindhoven, following two comebacks from 3–0 down in the rounds preceding it, but lost 4–0 to Sevilla.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Following the cup final disappointment, McClaren left to manage the England national team, and captain Gareth Southgate took over. Despite not having the coaching qualifications, he was allowed to continue after receiving special dispensation. During the 2007–08 season, Southgate broke Middlesbrough's record transfer fee, paying £13.6 million for Brazilian international striker Afonso Alves. Southgate's first two seasons saw the club finish in 12th and 13th places. He oversaw the club reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for three seasons, but the club was relegated to the Championship on the last day of the 2008–09 season.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Southgate was sacked in October 2009 and replaced by Gordon Strachan. At the time of Southgate's dismissal, Boro were fourth in the Championship and only one point away from the automatic promotion spot, but their form under Strachan was significantly worse and they finished mid-table.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Despite starting the 2010–11 campaign as promotion favourites, the club started the season poorly and Strachan resigned on 18 October, to be replaced by Tony Mowbray. Following a poor run of form in the 2013–14 campaign, Mowbray left the club with immediate effect on 24 October.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Aitor Karanka, a former Spain international defender and assistant coach at Real Madrid to José Mourinho, became the new Middlesbrough manager, signing a two-year contract. He became the first non-British manager at the club, which finished the season 12th in the final league standings. In his first full season in charge, Middlesbrough finished fourth and thus qualified for the 2015 Football League play-offs. After seeing off Brentford 5–1 on aggregate in the semi-final, the club lost 0–2 to Norwich City at Wembley Stadium in the final. Under Karanka's tutelage, Patrick Bamford, on loan from Chelsea, won the Championship Player of the Year award for 2014–15. The next season, Middlesbrough were promoted back to the Premier League after finishing second in the Championship in 2015–16, drawing 1–1 with Brighton & Hove Albion on the final day of the season.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Karanka was sacked in March 2017 following a poor run of form, and the team were relegated after just one season back in the top flight in 19th place. The team won only 5 league games, and scored 27 goals, the lowest in the league.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The club appointed former Leeds United manager Garry Monk as manager in the off-season. Expectations at the club were high, having spent close to £50 million in the transfer window on player purchases, in order to mount an immediate promotion challenge back to the Premier League. Monk left in December, with Middlesbrough ninth in the Championship and underachieving, and Tony Pulis was appointed as his replacement. Pulis led the side to finish 5th in the table to qualify for the playoffs, but lost in the semi-final to Aston Villa. The following season Pulis looked to secure the playoffs once again, but a poor finish to the season caused them to finish 7th and miss out on the playoffs by one point. Pulis subsequently left his position at the club after his contract expired on 17 May 2019.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Pulis was replaced by former Middlesbrough defender and first team coach, Jonathan Woodgate on 14 June 2019 on a three-year contract. From March to June 2020 the 2019–20 season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After a run of only one win in 12 games, which saw the team drop as low as 21st in the table, Woodgate was sacked on 23 June 2020, after a 3–0 defeat to Swansea City in the first game after the restart. Former Cardiff manager Neil Warnock was appointed as his replacement on the same day, who ensured survival from relegation with a 17th-place finish. On 6 November 2021, Warnock and his assistants, Kevin Blackwell and Ronnie Jepson left Middlesbrough by mutual consent with the club having already identified Warnock's replacement in Chris Wilder.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: After just over 11 months in charge, Wilder was sacked on 3 October 2022, following a defeat away to bottom-of-the-league Coventry City the previous weekend. He was replaced by Michael Carrick three weeks later on 24 October 2022.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough's original home kit upon election to the Football League in 1899 was a white home shirt with blue shorts and they did not adopt their colours of red and white until later that season. Previous kits included a white shirt with a blue and white polka dotted collar from around 1889. The Middlesbrough kit has remained broadly the same since 1899; a red shirt with white detailing, with shorts and socks of either red or white. The distinctive broad white stripe across the chest was introduced by Jack Charlton in 1973 (following an attempt to change the home shirt to a Leeds United-style white shirt) and brought back for a one-off in 1997–98 and then again for the 2000–01 and 2004–05 seasons due to popular demand. The club subsequently announced in December 2007 that the club would allow the fans to decide via an online and text vote whether the white band should return for the following season. On 8 January 2008, the club announced that the white band was to return, with 77.4% of voters voting in its favour, with the fans to choose the final shirt design from a selection of three designs, of which the winner was announced on 7 May 2008.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The Middlesbrough crest has gone through four changes since the formation of the club. Initially, the badge was simply the town of Middlesbrough's crest with a red lion instead of a blue lion in order to fit in with the club's colours. Following the adoption of the white band on the shirts in 1973, only the red lion remained with the letters "M.F.C" underneath in red. This was further adapted following the reformation of the club in 1986 to a circular crest with the lion in the middle and the words "Middlesbrough Football Club 1986" around the circle in order to reflect this new era. In 2007, Middlesbrough changed their crest again, this time with the lion inside a shield and the words "Middlesbrough Football Club 1876" underneath. The club stated that this was to reflect the club's long history and not just their post-liquidation status.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: After formation in 1876, and with the club still amateurs, Middlesbrough's first two years of football were played at Albert Park in Middlesbrough. After seeing the damage being caused by players and supporters, the Park Committee ordered the club to find an alternate venue. The club moved to Breckon Hill, behind the former Middlesbrough College longlands site, after agreeing to rent the land from its owner. However, two years later in 1880, the owner increased the rent and the club decided to move. They moved into the Linthorpe Road ground in 1882, home at the time of Middlesbrough Cricket Club. The cricket club departed in 1893–94 to move to the Breckon Hill field, and Middlesbrough Football Club became sole users of the ground.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: With the club's growing size, and entry to the Football League, they had to move to a new ground in 1903, Ayresome Park. It was designed by Archibald Leitch and would be the club's home for the next 92 years, having also been chosen as one of the stadia for the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Following the Taylor Report in 1990, the ground either needed modernising or the club needed a new stadium. The club decided on the latter, and moved out at the end of the 1994–95 season. It was used as a training ground during 1995–96, before it was demolished in 1997 and a housing estate built in its place. The club now trains at a £7 million complex at Rockliffe Park, in Hurworth, on the outskirts of Darlington.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The Riverside Stadium, named by the supporters of the club after a vote, became the club's home in 1995. It was the first stadium to be built in line with the Taylor Report's recommendations on all-seater stadiums for clubs in the top two divisions of the English football league system. It was originally a 30,000-seater stadium, constructed at a cost of £16 million, before it was expanded in 1998 to a capacity of 35,100 for an extra £5 million.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Since then, several reorganisations of the Riverside Stadium have taken place. At the start of the 2013–14 season, away fans were moved from behind the goal in the South stand to the South East corner, while home fans are now situated behind both goals to help create a better atmosphere inside the stadium. A giant TV screen was also installed at the back of the South-East corner, replacing the older style scoreboards attached to the North and South stand roofs. For the start of the 2016–17 season (and a return to the Premier League), the club had to improve the stadium's broadcasting facilities and floodlighting in order to meet current Premier League requirements. The club also took the opportunity to move the main camera gantry to the back of the East stand where it now faces the main West stand. The current stadium capacity as of the 2017–18 season is 34,000.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Average attendances at Middlesbrough matches have fluctuated over the past several years, moving from a 2004–05 high average of 32,012 to a low of 26,092 in 2006–07, then up again to 28,428 in 2008–09. Following relegation to the Championship, attendances dipped, although the crowd of 23,451 which saw Middlesbrough's first Championship game against Sheffield United represents far higher gates than is usual for the division, and indeed larger than those of some Premier League clubs. The club attracted an average of 24,627 for their 2015–16 promotion season from the Championship to the Premier League.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Traditionally supporters come from Middlesbrough itself and towns in the immediate area. Middlesbrough have one of the highest proportions in Britain of locally born season ticket holders at 80%, and one of the highest proportions of female fans at 20%. A survey at the start of the 2007–08 season found Middlesbrough supporters were the seventh-loudest set of fans in the Premier League. Middlesbrough Official Supporters Club, which features its own team in the local football league, has links with supporters' clubs across the globe. The largest supporters' clubs include the Official Supporters' Club, the Middlesbrough Disabled Supporters' Association, Yarm Reds, Red Faction and Middlesbrough Supporters South.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough supporters' main rivals are Sunderland (with whom they contest the Tees–Wear derby), Newcastle United (with whom they contest the Tyne–Tees derby), and Leeds United, a fact confirmed by planetfootball.com's 2004 survey. Carlisle United see Middlesbrough as their biggest rivals, but Middlesbrough supporters have not reciprocated, as they do not see Carlisle as a top three rival.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The nickname "Smoggies" was first used as a derogatory term by opposing supporters; it relates to the industrial air pollution – smog – that used to hang over the town, but it was later used by Middlesbrough fans in a somewhat self-deprecating manner before finally being adopted as a badge of pride by supporters of the club. An example of this can be seen on the banners carried to away games stating "Smoggies on Tour". Middlesbrough fans were notably praised by UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson after their behaviour during the 2005–06 UEFA Cup campaign. He commended that: Middlesbrough fans had also been praised by Cleveland Police for their behaviour in previous rounds, particularly in the light of aggravation prior to and during the match at Roma.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough was the first football club in the world to launch its own TV channel – Boro TV. The first broadcasts were tied to the club's first ever major cup final appearance in 1997, a full year ahead of Manchester United's MUTV, which still claims to be the first in the world. The channel was the brainchild of then NTL marketing director, Peter Wilcock. The programme became synonymous with former Middlesbrough star Bernie Slaven and radio commentator Alastair Brownlee who proved to be as popular on TV as they were on radio. Its programmes were not live initially but were pre-recorded and hosted by local radio/TV broadcaster & Boro fan, Dave Roberts. Boro TV went on to claim another first when in August 2001 it became the first English football club to broadcast time-delayed full-match footage of their league games on its own channel. Boro TV ran through NTL cable television until July 2005. The club now shows match highlights through a subscription-based scheme on its official website.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough's official matchday programme, "Redsquare", was "Programme Monthly's" 2006–07 Programme of the Year. There are numerous other fanzines available, most notably "Fly Me to the Moon", formed in September 1988 following Bruce Rioch's quote to Tony Mowbray, stating "If I had to go to the moon I'd want him by my side".


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough Football Club in the Community (MFCIC) was founded in 1996 by club chairman Steve Gibson and is one of the largest community-based football schemes in the United Kingdom. It is run separately from the football club but receives support from both the club in terms of providing players, staff, stadium facilities and PR in the matchday programme and other publications, as well as support from other local organisations. In 2012 MFCIC was relaunched as MFC Foundation. The Foundation aims to use the club's profile to deliver sport, health, education and inclusion projects in vulnerable and disadvantaged communities across Teesside. Since 1996 the Foundation has delivered 20,000 qualifications, engaged over 500,000 people and invested £25 million in local communities to tackle inequality and disadvantage.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Since 2002, the club and MFCIC have also run the Middlesbrough Enterprise Academy, a scheme which helps local children improve their entrepreneurial skills and increase their awareness of business planning and finance. In March 2008, plans were announced by the Premier League to roll out the scheme nationally amongst all Premier League clubs.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: It was announced in December 2007 that Middlesbrough football club had carried out more community work during 2006–07 than any other Premier League club, rising from second place the previous year, with the club making 318 appearances – almost twice the Premier League average of 162. They were in the top two for community appearances again in 2007–08, with 374 – a 17% increase on the previous season.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: Middlesbrough's mascot is Roary the Lion. The club runs Roary's Children's Charity Fund which purchases items for local children's charities.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: In 2009, steel producer Corus Group announced the possibility that it would mothball its Teesside plant, with up to 4,000 employees and contractors facing redundancy, after a consortium of steel magnates walked away from a 10-year deal. Middlesbrough Football Club helped with the "Save Our Steel" campaign by hosting dozens of steel workers and their families as they marched around the ground, promoted the campaign via the stadium's PA system, scoreboards and in match day programmes, while players wore T-shirts during warm-ups promoting the campaign. Chairman Steve Gibson said:


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: These players made more than 430 appearances during their time at the club. The number in brackets indicates the number of appearances in all competitions.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: These players scored more than 140 goals during their time with the club. The number in brackets indicates the number of goals scored in all competitions.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The Football League 100 Legends is a list of 100 legendary football players produced by The Football League in 1998, to celebrate the 100th season of League football.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at The National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of top English footballers and footballers who have played in England. These players appeared for or managed Middlesbrough at some point in their careers.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The following former Middlesbrough players and managers have been inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.


title: Middlesbrough F.C.

text: The following are all the full-time Middlesbrough managers since the club turned professional in 1899.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: Jesse Tyler Ferguson (born October 22, 1975) is an American actor. From 2009 to 2020, he portrayed Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom "Modern Family", for which he earned five consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: Ferguson made his Broadway debut in "On the Town", and was in the original Broadway cast of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", for which he and his ensemble cast won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Cast Ensemble. He has appeared in theatre adaptations of "A Winter's Tale", "The Producers", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Spamalot" and "The Merchant of Venice". For his performance in the 2016 Broadway production of "Fully Committed", Ferguson was awarded a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in the 2022 Broadway revival of Richard Greenberg's "Take Me Out".


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: Jesse Tyler Ferguson was born in Missoula, Montana, to Anne Ferguson (née Doyle) and Robert "Bob" Ferguson. His parents divorced when he was 18 years old. Ferguson has a brother, Ben Ferguson, and sister, Kelly Ferguson. Ferguson was named after his paternal grandmother, Jessie Uppercue Ferguson, to whom he was very close growing up. His paternal great-grandfather was also named Jesse.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: His family moved when he was young to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was raised. At age eight he decided to become an actor, and joined the Albuquerque Children's Theater, where he was a member for six years. At Albuquerque's St. Pius X High School, Ferguson played Albert Peterson in "Bye Bye Birdie" and General Bullmoose in "Li'l Abner." He participated on the speech and debate team and graduated in 1994. He worked as a dancer/singer at Cliff's Amusement Park.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: After high school Ferguson attended The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In New York City, Ferguson worked mainly in Off-Broadway and Broadway theatre, including the Tony Award-winning "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", where he originated the role of Leaf Coneybear. Ferguson starred in the Public Theater's 2007 Shakespeare in the Park production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and 2015 production of "The Tempest". In the summer of 2015, he played Sir Robin in the Hollywood Bowl production of "Monty Python's Spamalot".


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In March 2012, Ferguson was featured as Dr. Ilan Meyer in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play "8", a staged reenactment of "Perry v. Brown", the federal trial that overturned California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, a non-profit organization funding the plaintiffs' legal team and sponsoring the play.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: On television, Ferguson was among the large ensemble cast on the short-lived CBS sitcom "The Class", playing Richie Velch. Ferguson co-starred in the 2008 thriller "Untraceable".


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: From 2009 to 2020, he has played the role of Mitchell Pritchett, the openly gay lawyer on the ABC sitcom "Modern Family". For his performance, Ferguson has received five consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He has also appeared as a judge on "So You Think You Can Dance", and opposed actress Chrissy Metz in a 2017 episode of TBS's "Drop the Mic". From 2020, he has co-hosted HGTV's "" together with Ty Pennington.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In 2018, Ferguson was one of the actors who voiced the audiobook "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo".


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In September 2012, Ferguson and his lawyer husband, Justin Mikita, started the non-profit charity Tie The Knot, an effort to raise funds in support of same-sex marriage, using bow ties sold to retail. They officially launched it as their engagement announcement in an online video where they explain only seven states at the time had same-sex marriage. In an interview Ferguson stated that he wanted to do something that was smaller and manageable in case it did not work out as a business model.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: The foundation sells limited-edition bow ties to support organizations that advocate for same-sex marriage. Their collections are designed by the couple plus guest designers, and is sold by The Tie Bar, a Naperville, Illinois-based online men's neckwear company.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In January 2013, the couple were recruited by Lieutenant Governor of Illinois Sheila Simon to lobby legislators to pass SB10 which would allow same-sex marriage. The bill passed both legislative houses, and Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill into law, going into effect on June 1, 2014.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In October 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union named Ferguson the celebrity ambassador for the LGBT community. He participated heavily in the ACLU's "Out for Freedom" campaign They noted that Ferguson travelled to New Mexico, his home state, to take part in same sex marriage efforts. Before the state's full legalization of same-sex marriage on December 19, 2013, New Mexico did not explicitly permit or prohibit same-sex marriage; it was the only state lacking a statute or constitutional provision explicitly addressing same-sex marriage. The couple's non-profit made a grant of US$10,000 to the ACLU of New Mexico for same sex efforts.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In November 2013, a pop-up retail store for 'Tie The Knot' was located at the Los Angeles Beverly Center featuring the fourth collection from the couple, including professional athlete designs with Scott Fujita and Chris Kluwe, and Brittney Griner.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: Ferguson uses his full name as there was already an actor called Jesse Ferguson in the actors' union when he joined.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In September 2012, he announced his engagement to lawyer Justin Mikita, his boyfriend of nearly two years. They married in Manhattan on July 20, 2013, with the playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner officiating at their wedding. The couple have two children, Beckett Mercer Ferguson-Mikita born on July 7, 2020 and Sullivan Louis Ferguson-Mikita born on November 15, 2022.


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: On the process of coming out, he said he had to tell his father three times (when he was 17, 19 and 21): "It's a coming out process for them as well, and it takes time".


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: He has a dog named Leaf. He is a supporter of the Democratic Party and is shown in the 2016 Democratic National Convention promotional trailer "Our Fight Song".


title: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

text: In August 2022, Ferguson officiated his "Modern Family" co-star Sarah Hyland's wedding with TV personality Wells Adams. The marriage ceremony took place at the Californian Sunstone Winery in Santa Ynez, California.


title: Rum

text: Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Philippines, where Tanduay is the largest producer of rum globally.


title: Rum

text: Rums are produced in various grades. Light rums are commonly used in cocktails, whereas "golden" and "dark" rums were typically consumed straight or neat, iced ("on the rocks"), or used for cooking, but are now commonly consumed with mixers. Premium rums are made to be consumed either straight or iced.


title: Rum

text: Rum plays a part in the culture of most islands of the West Indies as well as the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland, in Canada. The beverage has associations with the Royal Navy (where it was mixed with water or beer to make grog) and piracy (where it was consumed as bumbo). Rum has also served as a medium of economic exchange, used to help fund enterprises such as slavery (see Triangular trade), organized crime, and military insurgencies (e.g., the American Revolution and Australia's Rum Rebellion).


title: Rum

text: The origin of the word "rum" is unclear. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that it is related to "rumbullion", a beverage made from boiling sugar cane stalks, or possibly "rumbustion," which was a slang word for "uproar" or "tumult"; a noisy uncontrollable exuberance, though the origin of those words and the nature of the relationship are unclear. Both words surfaced in English about the same time as rum did (1651 for "rumbullion", and before 1654 "rum").


title: Rum

text: Regardless of the original source, the name was already in common use by 1654, when the General Court of Connecticut ordered the confiscations of "whatsoever Barbados liquors, commonly called rum, kill devil and the like". A short time later in May 1657, the General Court of Massachusetts also decided to make illegal the sale of strong liquor "whether knowne by the name of rumme, strong water, wine, brandy, etc".


title: Rum

text: For rums from places mostly in Latin America where Spanish is spoken, the word "ron" is used. A "ron añejo" ("aged rum") is a premium spirit.


title: Rum

text: "Rhum" is the term that typically distinguishes rum made from fresh sugar cane juice from rum made from molasses in French-speaking locales like Martinique. A "rhum vieux" ("old rum") is an aged French rum that meets several other requirements.


title: Rum

text: Some of the many other names for rum are Nelson's blood, kill-devil, demon water, pirate's drink, navy neaters, and Barbados water.


title: Rum

text: A version of rum from Newfoundland is referred to by the name screech, while some low-grade West Indies rums are called tafia.


title: Rum

text: Many historians now believe that rum-making found its way to the Caribbean islands along with sugarcane and its cultivation methods from Brazil.


title: Rum

text: The traditional history of modern style rum tells of its invention in the Caribbean, in the 17th century, by slaves on sugarcane plantations, who discovered that molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining process, could be fermented into alcohol, and then distilled.


title: Rum

text: By the late 17th century rum had replaced French brandy as the exchange-alcohol of choice in the triangle trade. Canoemen and guards on the African side of the trade, who had previously been paid in brandy, were now paid in rum.


title: Rum

text: After development of rum in the Caribbean, the drink's popularity spread to Colonial North America. To support the demand for the drink, the first rum distillery in the Thirteen Colonies was set up in 1664 on Staten Island. Boston, Massachusetts had a distillery three years later. The manufacture of rum became early colonial New England's largest and most prosperous industry. New England became a distilling center due to the technical, metalworking and cooperage skills and abundant lumber; the rum produced there was lighter, more like whiskey. Much of the rum was exported, distillers in Newport, R.I. even made an extra strong rum specifically to be used as a slave currency. Rhode Island rum even joined gold as an accepted currency in Europe for a period of time. While New England triumphed on price and consistency Europeans still viewed the best rums as coming from the Caribbean. Estimates of rum consumption in the American colonies before the American Revolutionary War had every man, woman, or child drinking an average of of rum each year.


title: Rum

text: In the 18th century ever increasing demands for sugar, molasses, rum, and slaves led to a feedback loop which intensified the triangular trade. When France banned the production of rum in their New World possessions to end the domestic competition with brandy, New England distillers were then able to undercut producers in the British West Indies by buying cut rate molasses from French sugar plantations. Outcry from the British rum industry led to the Molasses Act of 1733 which levied a prohibitive tax on molasses imported into the Thirteen Colonies from foreign countries or colonies. Rum at this time accounted for approximately 80% of New England’s exports and paying the duty would have put the distilleries out of business: as a result, both compliance with and enforcement of the act were minimal. Strict enforcement of the Molasses Act’s successor, the Sugar Act, in 1764 may have helped cause the American Revolution. In the slave trade, rum was also used as a medium of exchange. For example, the slave Venture Smith (whose history was later published) had been purchased in Africa, for four gallons of rum plus a piece of calico.


title: Rum

text: In "The Doctor's Secret Journal", an account of the happenings at Fort Michilimackinac in northern Michigan from 1769 to 1772 by Daniel Morison, a surgeon's mate, noted that there was not much for the men to do and drinking rum was very popular. In fact, Ensign Robert Johnstone, one of the officers, "thought proper to turn trader by selling (the) common rum to the soldiers & all others by whom he might gain a penny in this clandestine Manner." To conceal this theft, "he was observed to have filled up several Barrels of common rum with boiling water to make up the Leakage." Ensign Johnstone had no trouble selling this diluted rum.


title: Rum

text: The popularity of rum continued after the American Revolution; George Washington insisting on a barrel of Barbados rum at his 1789 inauguration.


title: Rum

text: Rum started to play an important role in the political system; candidates attempted to influence the outcome of an election through their generosity with rum. The people would attend the hustings to see which candidate appeared more generous. The candidate was expected to drink with the people to show he was independent and truly a republican.


title: Rum

text: Eventually the restrictions on sugar imports from the British West Indies, combined with the development of American whiskeys, led to a decline in the drink's popularity in North America.


title: Rum

text: Rum's association with piracy began with English privateers' trading in the valuable commodity. Some of the privateers became pirates and buccaneers, with a continuing fondness for rum; the association between the two was only strengthened by literary works such as Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island".


title: Rum

text: The association of rum with the Royal Navy began in 1655, when a Royal Navy fleet captured the island of Jamaica. With the availability of domestically produced rum, the British changed the daily ration of liquor given to seamen from French brandy to rum.


title: Rum

text: Navy rum was originally a blend mixed from rums produced in the West Indies. It was initially supplied at a strength of 100 degrees (UK) proof, 57% alcohol by volume (ABV), as that was the only strength that could be tested (by the gunpowder test) before the invention of the hydrometer. The term "Navy strength" is used in modern Britain to specify spirits bottled at 57% ABV.


title: Rum

text: While the ration was originally given neat, or mixed with lime juice, the practice of watering down the rum began around 1740. To help minimize the effect of the alcohol on his sailors, Admiral Edward Vernon had the rum ration watered, producing a mixture that became known as grog. Many believe the term was coined in honour of the grogram cloak Admiral Vernon wore in rough weather. The Royal Navy continued to give its sailors a daily rum ration, known as a "tot", until the practice was abolished on 31 July 1970.


title: Rum

text: Today, a tot (totty) of rum is still issued on special occasions, using an order to "splice the mainbrace", which may only be given by a member of the royal family or, on certain occasions, the admiralty board in the UK, with similar restrictions in other Commonwealth navies. Recently, such occasions have included royal marriages or birthdays, or special anniversaries. In the days of daily rum rations, the order to "splice the mainbrace" meant double rations would be issued.


title: Rum

text: A legend involving naval rum and Horatio Nelson says that following his victory and death at the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson's body was preserved in a cask of rum to allow transportation back to England. Upon arrival, however, the cask was opened and found to be empty of rum. The [pickled] body was removed and, upon inspection, it was discovered that the sailors had drilled a hole in the bottom of the cask and drunk all the rum, hence the term "Nelson's blood" being used to describe rum. It also serves as the basis for the term tapping the admiral being used to describe surreptitiously sucking liquor from a cask through a straw. The details of the story are disputed, as many historians claim the cask contained French brandy, whilst others claim instead the term originated from a toast to Admiral Nelson. Variations of the story, involving different notable corpses, have been in circulation for many years. The official record states merely that the body was placed in "refined spirits" and does not go into further detail.


title: Rum

text: The Royal New Zealand Navy was the last naval force to give sailors a free daily tot of rum. The Royal Canadian Navy still gives a rum ration on special occasions; the rum is usually provided out of the commanding officer's fund, and is 150 proof (75%). The order to "splice the mainbrace" (i.e. take rum) can be given by the Queen as commander-in-chief, as occurred on 29 June 2010, when she gave the order to the Royal Canadian Navy as part of the celebration of their 100th anniversary.


title: Rum

text: Rum became an important trade good in the early period of the colony of New South Wales. The value of rum was based upon the lack of coinage among the population of the colony, and due to the drink's ability to allow its consumer to temporarily forget about the lack of creature comforts available in the new colony. The value of rum was such that convict settlers could be induced to work the lands owned by officers of the New South Wales Corps. Due to rum's popularity among the settlers, the colony gained a reputation for drunkenness, though their alcohol consumption was less than levels commonly consumed in England at the time.


title: Rum

text: Australia was so far away from Britain that the penal colony, established in 1788, faced severe food shortages, compounded by poor conditions for growing crops and the shortage of livestock. Eventually it was realized that it might be cheaper for India, instead of Britain, to supply the settlement of Sydney. By 1817, two out of every three ships which left Sydney went to Java or India, and cargoes from Bengal fed and equipped the colony. Casks of Bengal Rum (which was reputed to be stronger than Jamaican Rum, and not so sweet) were brought back in the depths of nearly every ship from India. The cargoes were floated ashore clandestinely before the ships docked, by the Royal Marines regiment which controlled the sales. It was against the direct orders of the governors, who had ordered the searching of every docking ship. British merchants in India grew wealthy through sending ships to Sydney "laden half with rice and half with bad spirits".


title: Rum

text: Rum was intimately involved in the only military takeover of an Australian government, known as the Rum Rebellion. When William Bligh became governor of the colony, he attempted to remedy the perceived problem with drunkenness by outlawing the use of rum as a medium of exchange. In response to Bligh's attempt to regulate the use of rum, in 1808, the New South Wales Corps marched with fixed bayonets to Government House and placed Bligh under arrest. The mutineers continued to control the colony until the arrival of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810.


title: Rum

text: Commercial rum production was introduced into Taiwan along with commercial sugar production during the Japanese colonial period. Rum production continued under the Republic of China however it was neglected by Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation which held the national liquor monopoly. The industry diversified after democratization and the de-monopolization of the Taiwanese alcoholic beverage industry.


title: Rum

text: Dividing rum into meaningful groupings is complicated because no single standard exists for what constitutes rum. Instead, rum is defined by the varying rules and laws of the nations producing the spirit. The differences in definitions include issues such as spirit proof, minimum ageing, and even naming standards.


title: Rum

text: Mexico requires rum be aged a minimum of eight months; the Dominican Republic, Panama and Venezuela require two years. Naming standards also vary. Argentina defines rums as white, gold, light, and extra light. Grenada and Barbados uses the terms white, overproof, and matured, while the United States defines rum, rum liqueur, and flavored rum. In Australia, rum is divided into dark or red rum (underproof known as UP, overproof known as OP, and triple distilled) and white rum.


title: Rum

text: Despite these differences in standards and nomenclature, the following divisions are provided to help show the wide variety of rums produced.


title: Rum

text: Within the Caribbean, each island or production area has a unique style. For the most part, these styles can be grouped by the language traditionally spoken. Due to the overwhelming influence of Puerto Rican rum, most rum consumed in the United States is produced in the "Spanish-speaking" style.


title: Rum

text: Cachaça is a spirit similar to rum that is produced in Brazil. Some countries, including the United States, classify cachaça as a type of rum. Seco, from Panama, is also a spirit similar to rum, but also similar to vodka since it is triple distilled. Cachaca also comes from sugar cane


title: Rum

text: Mexico produces a number of brands of light and dark rum, as well as other less-expensive flavored and unflavored sugarcane-based liquors, such as "aguardiente de caña" and "charanda". Aguardiente is also the name for unaged distilled cane spirit in some, primarily Spanish-speaking countries, since their definition of rum includes at least two years of ageing in wood.


title: Rum

text: A spirit known as "aguardiente", distilled from molasses and often infused with anise, with additional sugarcane juice added after distillation, is produced in Central America and northern South America.


title: Rum

text: In West Africa, and particularly in Liberia, 'cane juice' (also known as Liberian rum or simply "CJ" within Liberia itself) is a cheap, strong spirit distilled from sugarcane, which can be as strong as 43% ABV (86 proof). A refined cane spirit has also been produced in South Africa since the 1950s, simply known as cane or "spook".


title: Rum

text: Within Europe, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a similar spirit made from sugar beet is known as Tuzemak.


title: Rum

text: In Germany, a cheap substitute for genuine dark rum is called "Rum-Verschnitt" (literally: blended or "cut" rum). This drink is made of genuine dark rum (often high-ester rum from Jamaica), rectified spirit, and water. Very often, caramel coloring is used, too. The relative amount of genuine rum it contains can be quite low, since the legal minimum is at only 5%. In Austria, a similar rum called "Inländerrum" or domestic rum is available. However, Austrian "Inländerrum" is always a spiced rum, such as the brand Stroh; German "Rum-Verschnitt", in contrast, is never spiced or flavored.


title: Rum

text: The grades and variations used to describe rum depend on the location where a rum was produced. Despite these variations, the following terms are frequently used to describe various types of rum:


title: Rum

text: Unlike some other spirits, rum has no defined production methods. Instead, rum production is based on traditional styles that vary between locations and distillers.


title: Rum

text: Sugarcane is traditionally collected by sugarcane machete cutters who cut the cane near to the ground, where the largest concentration of sugars is found, before lopping off the green tips. A good cutter can cut three tons of cane per day on average, but this is a small fraction of what a machine can cut, therefore mechanised harvesting is now utilized.


title: Rum

text: Sugarcane comprises around 63% to 73% water, 12% to 16% soluble sugar, 2% to 3% non-sugars, and 11% to 16% fiber. To extract the water and sugar juice, the harvested cane is cleaned, sliced into small lengths, and milled (pressed).


title: Rum

text: Most rum is produced from molasses, which is made from sugarcane. A rum's quality is dependent on the quality and variety of the sugar cane that was used to create it. The sugar cane's quality depends on the soil type and climate that it was grown in. Within the Caribbean, much of this molasses is from Brazil.


title: Rum

text: A notable exception is the French-speaking islands, where sugarcane juice is the preferred base ingredient. In Brazil itself, the distilled alcoholic drink derived from cane juice is distinguished from rum and called "cachaça".


title: Rum

text: While some rum producers allow wild yeasts to perform the fermentation, most use specific strains of yeast to help provide a consistent taste and predictable fermentation time. Dunder, the yeast-rich foam from previous fermentations, is the traditional yeast source in Jamaica.


title: Rum

text: Use of slower-working yeasts causes more esters to accumulate during fermentation, allowing for a fuller-tasting rum.


title: Rum

text: Fermentation products like 2-ethyl-3-methyl butyric acid and esters like ethyl butyrate and ethyl hexanoate give rise to the sweet and fruitiness of rum.


title: Rum

text: While some producers work in batches using pot stills, most rum production is done using column still distillation.


title: Rum

text: Pot still output contains more congeners than the output from column stills, so produces fuller-tasting rums.