social settlement: see settlement house.

settlement house, neighborhood welfare institution generally in an urban slum area, where trained workers endeavor to improve social conditions, particularly by providing community services and promoting neighborly cooperation. The idea was developed in mid-19th-century England when such social thinkers as Thomas Hill Green, John Ruskin, and Arnold Toynbee (1852-83) urged university students to settle in poor neighborhoods, where they could study and work to better local conditions. The pioneer establishment was Toynbee Hall, founded in 1884 in London under the leadership of Samuel Augustus Barnett. Before long, similar houses were founded in many cities of Great Britain, the United States, and continental Europe. Some of the more famous settlement houses in the United States have been Hull House and Chicago Commons, Chicago; South End House, Boston; and the University Settlement, Henry Street Settlement, and Greenwich House, New York City. Settlements serve as community, education, and recreation centers, particularly in densely populated immigrant neighborhoods. Sometimes known as social settlements, they are also called neighborhood houses, neighborhood centers, or community centers. The settlement house differs from other social welfare agencies; the latter provide specific services, while the former is aimed at improving neighborhood life as a whole. Its role has gradually altered as some of its varied functions have been assumed by state and municipal authorities and by other organizations. Kindergartens, formerly an important adjunct of the settlement house, are now operated by the public schools; municipal health departments have taken over its clinical services; and labor unions now sponsor educational and recreational activities for workers. The early leaders of settlement houses in the United States met from time to time and in 1911 founded the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers; Jane Addams served as the first president. In 1926 the International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres was established to coordinate community work on an international level.

Settlement, Act of, 1701, passed by the English Parliament, to provide that if William III and Princess Anne (later Queen Anne) should die without heirs, the succession to the throne should pass to Sophia, electress of Hanover, granddaughter of James I, and to her heirs, if they were Protestants. The house of Hanover, which ruled Great Britain from 1714, owed its claim to this act. Among additional provisions, similar to those in the Bill of Rights, were requirements that the king must join in communion with the Church of England, that he might not leave England without parliamentary consent, and that English armies might not be used in defense of foreign territory without parliamentary consent. The act also prohibited royal pardons for officials impeached by Parliament. A clause providing that no appointee or pensioner of the king should sit in the House of Commons was repealed (1705) before the act became effective. The unpopularity of William's pro-Dutch policy, the lack of an heir to William or Anne, and fear of the Jacobites prompted the act.

Red River Settlement, agricultural colony in present Manitoba, North Dakota, and Minnesota. It was the undertaking of Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of Selkirk. Wishing to relieve the dispossessed and impoverished in Scotland and Northern Ireland, he secured enough control of the Hudson's Bay Company to obtain from it a grant of land called Assiniboia. This project met opposition from the very start, principally from the North West Company, but also from the fur traders in the Hudson's Bay Company. Despite efforts to discourage the colony, Miles Macdonnell, a Selkirk man, brought a small group to the colony in 1812. The determined hostility of the North West Company mounted, especially after the company men had won the half-breeds, or métis, entirely to their side. By cajolery and threat they persuaded settlers to desert, but a new group of settlers came, and the colony was restored in 1815. North West Company men and half-breeds now resorted to violence on a large scale, killing 22 in the massacre of Seven Oaks (June 19, 1816). On hearing the news of the massacre, Selkirk fell upon the North West Company post, Fort William, and seized it. Other attacks followed. The result of these moves was a series of court charges and countercharges that impoverished Selkirk and helped to bring about the union (1821) of the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company. Agriculture had by this time been firmly established on the Western plains, and the Red River settlements were to grow and flourish. See Riel, Louis.

International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), specialized agency of the United Nations. A member of the World Bank Group (see International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), it was formed in 1966 and has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. In an effort to help promote increased flows of international investment, ICSID assists in the mediation or conciliation of investment disputes between governments and private foreign investors. Participation in such arbitration is voluntary. Normally the parties are among the agency's 148 member states or citizens of those states, but in special circumstances nonparticipating states or individuals from such states may be accepted as mediating parties. An autonomous international organization, ICSID has close links with the World Bank; it operates through both an administrative council, chaired by the World Bank's president, and a secretariat.

Henry Street Settlement: see Wald, Lillian D.

or social settlement or community centre

Neighbourhood social-welfare agency. The staff of a settlement house may sponsor clubs, classes, athletic teams, and interest groups; they may employ such specialists as vocational counselors and caseworkers. The settlement movement began with the founding of Toynbee Hall in London in 1884 by Samuel Augustus Barnett (1844–1913). It spread to the U.S. in the late 19th century with the establishment of such institutions as Chicago's Hull House (founded by Jane Addams). Many countries now have similar institutions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, U.S. settlement houses were active among the masses of new immigrants and worked for reform legislation such as workers' compensation and child-labour laws.

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In law, a compromise or agreement between litigants to settle the matters in dispute between them in order to dispose of and conclude their litigation. Generally, as a result of the settlement, prosecution of the action is withdrawn or dismissed without any judgment being entered. The parties may, however, incorporate the terms of the settlement into a consent decree, recorded by the court. Most suits brought today are either withdrawn or settled.

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(June 12, 1701) Act of Parliament that thereafter regulated the succession to the English throne. It decreed that if King William III or Princess (later Queen) Anne died without issue, the crown was to pass to James I's granddaughter Sophie of Hanover (1630–1714) and her Protestant heirs. The act resulted in the accession of the house of Hanover in 1714. It also decreed that future monarchs must belong to the Church of England, that judges were to hold office on the basis of good behaviour rather than at the sovereign's pleasure, and that impeachment by the House of Commons was not subject to pardon by the sovereign.

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