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20th century much of the adjudication of disputes was also done by
tribunals, federal agencies with a large measure of independence from
the executive branch. Among these agencies are the Securities and
Exchange Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the

National Labor Relations Board, and the Civil Aeronautics Board.
Other countries have different systems of judicial review. In Great
Britain special tribunals ensure that public agencies carry out the

intentions of Parliament. In France the courts are forbidden to oversee
public agencies; the job is done by a Council of State. The French
system has been adopted by other nations, including Belgium, Italy,
Portugal, Spain, Greece, Egypt, and Turkey. Germany has an

administrative court system and a Federal Administrative Court that acts
as a court of appeals.
In the former Soviet Union and other Communist nations there was

no clear definition of the powers of public agencies. Each agency was
assumed to have unlimited power to run its own affairs, subject to the
power of higher agencies or organs of government. There was in the

Soviet system an institution called the Procuracy that regulated all
administration, but it did not have the power of a court and could not
make binding decisions. The work of the procurators was entirely

subject to the authority of the Supreme Soviet.

7. TECHNOLOGY

Inventions Today
In former years inventors worked alone, often secretly. They used
their own money and told no one of their work until it was protected by
patent. Their background and training were largely practical. Their

solitary habits earned them a reputation, sometimes justified, of being
eccentric.

The individual inventive effort of past years is now largely taken
over by organized research. Large corporations employ their own
scientists and spend as much as 5 or 6 per cent of their income on
research. Many of them carry on general, or fundamental, research. They

try to find new scientific facts rather than work on problems that will
yield immediate money-making devices. Yet this fundamental research
often leads to popular and salable products. From such investigation

conducted by one large company have come nylon, cellophane, orlon,
and dacron.

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