{"title":"History of Law","description":"A timeline of law from the Code of Hammurabi and the Law of Moses to Magna Carta, natural law, the U.S. Constitution, Nuremberg and Brown v. Board, linked to works and Great Lives in the library.","note":"Short notes for students. Dates marked c. are approximate, and some early dates are traditional. Court cases are summarized for study, not legal advice.","url":"/law-timeline/","counts":{"events":88,"works":85,"lives":68},"eras":[{"id":"ancient","label":"Ancient Law","range":"c. 2100 BCE–500 CE","intro":"The first written law codes, the Law of Moses, Greek lawgivers and philosophers, and Roman law from the Twelve Tables to the Christian emperors.","count":11},{"id":"medieval","label":"Codes, Canons and the Common Law","range":"500–1500","intro":"Justinian's great collection, the laws of Christian kings, church (canon) law and the universities, Magna Carta, juries, and Aquinas on natural law.","count":11},{"id":"early-modern","label":"Natural Rights and the Law of Nations","range":"1500–1750","intro":"Reformation quarrels, debates over the rights of native peoples, the law of nations, and English struggles that limited kings and protected liberty.","count":18},{"id":"revolutions","label":"The Age of Revolutions and Constitutions","range":"1750–1850","intro":"Reformers attack cruel punishments, Americans write constitutions and bills of rights, the Supreme Court claims judicial review, and the fight against the slave trade begins to succeed.","count":19},{"id":"modern","label":"Freedom, Reform and World War","range":"1850–1945","intro":"Civil war and emancipation, the Reconstruction amendments, the laws of war, votes for women, and court battles over segregation, schools and conscience.","count":12},{"id":"postwar","label":"Human Rights and Civil Rights","range":"1945–today","intro":"War-crimes trials, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the civil rights movement, religious liberty and the modern Supreme Court.","count":17}],"events":[{"id":"ur-nammu","year":-2100,"yearLabel":"c. 2100 BCE","era":"ancient","title":"The Code of Ur-Nammu","note":"The Code of Ur-Nammu, from the Sumerian city of Ur, is the oldest law code known today. Many offenses are punished by fines in silver.","works":[],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-ur-nammu"},{"id":"hammurabi","year":-1754,"yearLabel":"c. 1754 BCE","era":"ancient","title":"The Code of Hammurabi","note":"King Hammurabi of Babylon has about 282 laws carved on a stone stele, including the rule of an eye for an eye. The stele, found at Susa in 1901–1902, is now in the Louvre.","works":[{"slug":"code-of-hammurabi","title":"The Code of Hammurabi","url":"/works/code-of-hammurabi/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"hammurabi","name":"Hammurabi","url":"/great-lives/hammurabi/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-hammurabi"},{"id":"law-of-moses","year":-1250,"yearLabel":"13th century BCE (traditional)","era":"ancient","title":"The Law of Moses","note":"The Bible tells how God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the Law at Mount Sinai. The Law joined worship with justice and care for the poor, the widow and the stranger, and it deeply shaped later Jewish, Christian and Western law. Historians debate its dates.","works":[{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","url":"/works/the-bible/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"moses","name":"Moses","url":"/great-lives/moses/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-law-of-moses"},{"id":"draco","year":-621,"yearLabel":"c. 621 BCE","era":"ancient","title":"Draco writes down the laws of Athens","note":"Draco gives Athens its first written laws. They were so harsh that draconian still means very severe.","works":[{"slug":"athenian-constitution","title":"The Athenian Constitution","url":"/works/athenian-constitution/"},{"slug":"plutarch-lives","title":"Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans","url":"/works/plutarch-lives/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-draco"},{"id":"solon","year":-594,"yearLabel":"c. 594 BCE","era":"ancient","title":"Solon's reforms","note":"Solon, chosen to lead Athens, cancels debts that had enslaved poor Athenians, repeals most of Draco's laws and lets citizens appeal to a court of the people.","works":[{"slug":"athenian-constitution","title":"The Athenian Constitution","url":"/works/athenian-constitution/"},{"slug":"plutarch-lives","title":"Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans","url":"/works/plutarch-lives/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"solon","name":"Solon","url":"/great-lives/solon/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-solon"},{"id":"twelve-tables","year":-450,"yearLabel":"c. 451–450 BCE","era":"ancient","title":"The Twelve Tables","note":"Roman commoners demand written laws, and a board of ten men produces the Twelve Tables, set up in the Forum. Cicero recalled that Roman boys learned them by heart.","works":[{"slug":"livy-history-of-rome-books-i-v","title":"The History of Rome, Books I-V","url":"/works/livy-history-of-rome-books-i-v/"},{"slug":"cicero-republic-and-laws","title":"The Republic and The Laws","url":"/works/cicero-republic-and-laws/"},{"slug":"the-twelve-tables","title":"The Twelve Tables","url":"/works/the-twelve-tables/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-twelve-tables"},{"id":"trial-of-socrates","year":-399,"yearLabel":"399 BCE","era":"ancient","title":"The trial of Socrates","note":"An Athenian jury convicts Socrates of impiety and corrupting the young and sentences him to death. Plato's Apology and Crito show him defending himself and then refusing to escape from prison.","works":[{"slug":"the-last-days-of-socrates","title":"The Last Days of Socrates","url":"/works/the-last-days-of-socrates/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"socrates","name":"Socrates","url":"/great-lives/socrates/"},{"slug":"plato","name":"Plato","url":"/great-lives/plato/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-trial-of-socrates"},{"id":"plato-aristotle-law","year":-350,"yearLabel":"c. 350 BCE","era":"ancient","title":"Plato's Laws and Aristotle's Politics","note":"Plato's last dialogue, the Laws, and Aristotle's Politics ask what laws are for and what makes a constitution good. Aristotle teaches that some justice is natural, the same everywhere, while some is set by each city's law.","works":[{"slug":"plato-laws","title":"Laws","url":"/works/plato-laws/"},{"slug":"politics","title":"Politics","url":"/works/politics/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"plato","name":"Plato","url":"/great-lives/plato/"},{"slug":"aristotle","name":"Aristotle","url":"/great-lives/aristotle/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-plato-aristotle-law"},{"id":"cicero-laws","year":-52,"yearLabel":"c. 54–51 BCE","era":"ancient","title":"Cicero, The Republic and The Laws","note":"In Cicero's dialogues, Laelius describes true law as right reason in agreement with nature, the same in Rome and Athens and for all time. Christian and medieval writers built on this idea of natural law.","works":[{"slug":"cicero-republic-and-laws","title":"The Republic and The Laws","url":"/works/cicero-republic-and-laws/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"cicero","name":"Cicero","url":"/great-lives/cicero/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-cicero-laws"},{"id":"paul-romans","year":57,"yearLabel":"c. 57","era":"ancient","title":"Paul on the law written in the heart","note":"In his Letter to the Romans, Paul writes that Gentiles who do not have the Law of Moses still show the work of the law written in their hearts (Romans 2:14–15), a passage later used in Christian teaching on natural law. Paul later used his rights as a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar (Acts 25).","works":[{"slug":"the-bible","title":"The Bible","url":"/works/the-bible/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"apostle-paul","name":"Paul the Apostle","url":"/great-lives/apostle-paul/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-paul-romans"},{"id":"edict-of-milan","year":313,"yearLabel":"313","era":"ancient","title":"The Edict of Milan","note":"The emperors Constantine and Licinius agree to allow Christians and everyone else to follow the religion of their choice, ending the Great Persecution.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"constantine-the-great","name":"Constantine the Great","url":"/great-lives/constantine-the-great/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-edict-of-milan"},{"id":"corpus-juris","year":533,"yearLabel":"529–534","era":"medieval","title":"Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis","note":"Emperor Justinian has a commission led by Tribonian collect and organize centuries of Roman law: the Code (529, revised 534), the Digest of jurists' opinions and the Institutes for students (533). Later called the Corpus Juris Civilis, it is the foundation of the civil law of Europe and Latin America.","works":[{"slug":"justinian-institutes","title":"The Institutes of Justinian","url":"/works/justinian-institutes/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"justinian-i","name":"Justinian I","url":"/great-lives/justinian-i/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-corpus-juris"},{"id":"aethelberht","year":602,"yearLabel":"c. 600","era":"medieval","title":"The laws of Æthelberht of Kent","note":"Æthelberht of Kent, the first English king to be baptized, issues the earliest laws written in English, beginning with protection for the property of the church.","works":[{"slug":"bede-ecclesiastical-history","title":"Ecclesiastical History of the English People","url":"/works/bede-ecclesiastical-history/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"bede","name":"Bede","url":"/great-lives/bede/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-aethelberht"},{"id":"alfred-domboc","year":890,"yearLabel":"c. 890","era":"medieval","title":"Alfred the Great's law book","note":"Alfred's law book opens with the Ten Commandments and other laws from Exodus, and with the Golden Rule, before setting out the laws of the English kingdoms.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"alfred-the-great","name":"Alfred the Great","url":"/great-lives/alfred-the-great/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-alfred-domboc"},{"id":"bologna","year":1088,"yearLabel":"1088 (traditional)","era":"medieval","title":"The law school at Bologna","note":"The University of Bologna, by tradition founded in 1088, revives the study of Justinian's Digest; the teacher Irnerius made it the center of legal learning in Europe.","works":[],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-bologna"},{"id":"gratian","year":1140,"yearLabel":"c. 1140","era":"medieval","title":"Gratian's Decretum","note":"Gratian, a teacher at Bologna, compiles the Concordance of Discordant Canons, harmonizing centuries of church laws. It opens with natural law and became the basic textbook of canon law.","works":[{"slug":"gratian-decretum","title":"Decretum (Concord of Discordant Canons)","url":"/works/gratian-decretum/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"gratian","name":"Gratian","url":"/great-lives/gratian/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-gratian"},{"id":"clarendon","year":1164,"yearLabel":"1164–1170","era":"medieval","title":"Henry II, Becket and the church courts","note":"King Henry II's Constitutions of Clarendon (1164) try to bring clergy accused of crimes under royal courts, leading to his quarrel with Archbishop Thomas Becket, who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. Henry's Assize of Clarendon (1166) used sworn local juries to report crimes.","works":[{"slug":"st-thomas-becket-and-canterbury-miracles","title":"St. Thomas Becket and the Canterbury Miracles","url":"/works/st-thomas-becket-and-canterbury-miracles/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-becket","name":"Thomas Becket","url":"/great-lives/thomas-becket/"},{"slug":"henry-ii-of-england","name":"Henry II of England","url":"/great-lives/henry-ii-of-england/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-clarendon"},{"id":"magna-carta","year":1215,"yearLabel":"1215","era":"medieval","title":"Magna Carta","note":"At Runnymede King John seals the Great Charter, promising that no free man will be imprisoned or deprived of his rights except by the lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the land. It was reissued many times and later inspired English and American liberties.","works":[{"slug":"magna-carta","title":"Magna Carta","url":"/works/magna-carta/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"stephen-langton","name":"Stephen Langton","url":"/great-lives/stephen-langton/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-magna-carta"},{"id":"end-of-ordeals","year":1215,"yearLabel":"1215","era":"medieval","title":"The church withdraws from trial by ordeal","note":"The Fourth Lateran Council forbids priests to bless trials by ordeal, such as carrying a red-hot iron. Without them, ordeals faded, and English courts turned to trial by jury.","works":[],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-end-of-ordeals"},{"id":"siete-partidas","year":1265,"yearLabel":"c. 1256–1265","era":"medieval","title":"The Siete Partidas","note":"King Alfonso X of Castile has a great law code compiled in Spanish, drawing on Roman and canon law. It later shaped law in Spanish America and parts of the United States such as Louisiana and Texas.","works":[],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-siete-partidas"},{"id":"aquinas-law","year":1270,"yearLabel":"c. 1270","era":"medieval","title":"Aquinas on law","note":"In the Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas defines law as an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by the one who cares for the community and made known. He explains eternal, natural, human and divine law and teaches that an unjust law is not truly law.","works":[{"slug":"summa-theologica","title":"Summa Theologica","url":"/works/summa-theologica/"},{"slug":"de-regno","title":"De Regno","url":"/works/de-regno/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-aquinas","name":"Thomas Aquinas","url":"/great-lives/thomas-aquinas/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-aquinas-law"},{"id":"trial-of-joan","year":1431,"yearLabel":"1431 and 1456","era":"medieval","title":"The trial of Joan of Arc","note":"An English-backed church court tries Joan of Arc for heresy, and she is burned at Rouen in 1431. A later church court reviewed the case and declared the trial null in 1456.","works":[{"slug":"the-trial-of-joan-of-arc","title":"The Trial of Joan of Arc","url":"/works/the-trial-of-joan-of-arc/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"joan-of-arc","name":"Joan of Arc","url":"/great-lives/joan-of-arc/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-trial-of-joan"},{"id":"luther-burns-canon-law","year":1520,"yearLabel":"1520","era":"early-modern","title":"Luther burns the books of canon law","note":"At Wittenberg on 10 December 1520 Martin Luther burns the papal bull threatening him with excommunication, together with books of church law.","works":[{"slug":"luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises","title":"Selected Sermons and Reformation Treatises","url":"/works/luther-selected-sermons-and-treatises/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther","name":"Martin Luther","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-luther-burns-canon-law"},{"id":"thomas-more","year":1535,"yearLabel":"1516 and 1535","era":"early-modern","title":"Thomas More, Utopia and his trial","note":"Thomas More, a lawyer and Lord Chancellor, publishes Utopia (1516). He later refused to accept Henry VIII as supreme head of the church in England and was tried and beheaded for treason in 1535.","works":[{"slug":"utopia","title":"Utopia","url":"/works/utopia/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-more","name":"Thomas More","url":"/great-lives/thomas-more/"},{"slug":"henry-viii","name":"Henry VIII","url":"/great-lives/henry-viii/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-thomas-more"},{"id":"vitoria","year":1539,"yearLabel":"1539","era":"early-modern","title":"Vitoria on the rights of the Indians","note":"At Salamanca the Dominican friar Francisco de Vitoria lectures that the native peoples of the Americas truly owned their lands and governed themselves. He and his successors are counted among the founders of international law.","works":[{"slug":"vitoria-on-the-american-indians","title":"On the American Indians (De Indis)","url":"/works/vitoria-on-the-american-indians/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"francisco-de-vitoria","name":"Francisco de Vitoria","url":"/great-lives/francisco-de-vitoria/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-vitoria"},{"id":"valladolid","year":1550,"yearLabel":"1550–1551","era":"early-modern","title":"The Valladolid debate","note":"Bartolomé de las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda argue before a royal council whether Spain may make war on and rule the native peoples of the Americas. Las Casas defends their full humanity and rights.","works":[{"slug":"las-casas-destruction-of-the-indies","title":"A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies","url":"/works/las-casas-destruction-of-the-indies/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"bartolome-de-las-casas","name":"Bartolomé de las Casas","url":"/great-lives/bartolome-de-las-casas/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-valladolid"},{"id":"suleiman","year":1550,"yearLabel":"reigned 1520–1566","era":"early-modern","title":"Suleiman the Lawgiver","note":"The Ottoman sultan Suleiman, remembered by Turks as Kanuni, the Lawgiver, issues law codes for his empire alongside Islamic law.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"suleiman-the-magnificent","name":"Suleiman the Magnificent","url":"/great-lives/suleiman-the-magnificent/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-suleiman"},{"id":"hooker","year":1594,"yearLabel":"1594","era":"early-modern","title":"Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity","note":"Richard Hooker defends the Church of England by explaining the kinds of law, eternal, natural and human, in a way that drew on Aquinas.","works":[{"slug":"hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity","title":"Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (Preface and Book I)","url":"/works/hooker-laws-of-ecclesiastical-polity/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"richard-hooker","name":"Richard Hooker","url":"/great-lives/richard-hooker/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-hooker"},{"id":"bonhams-case","year":1610,"yearLabel":"1610","era":"early-modern","title":"Dr Bonham's Case","note":"Chief Justice Edward Coke suggests that the common law can control an act of Parliament that is against common right and reason, an idea later linked to judicial review.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"edward-coke","name":"Sir Edward Coke","url":"/great-lives/edward-coke/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-bonhams-case"},{"id":"mayflower-compact","year":1620,"yearLabel":"1620","era":"early-modern","title":"The Mayflower Compact","note":"Before landing at Plymouth, the Pilgrims sign a compact to form a civil body politic and make just and equal laws for the colony's general good.","works":[{"slug":"mayflower-compact","title":"The Mayflower Compact","url":"/works/mayflower-compact/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-mayflower-compact"},{"id":"grotius","year":1625,"yearLabel":"1625","era":"early-modern","title":"Grotius, The Rights of War and Peace","note":"The Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius argues that natural law binds nations in war and peace, a founding book of international law.","works":[{"slug":"grotius-rights-of-war-and-peace","title":"The Rights of War and Peace (Book I)","url":"/works/grotius-rights-of-war-and-peace/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"hugo-grotius","name":"Hugo Grotius","url":"/great-lives/hugo-grotius/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-grotius"},{"id":"petition-of-right","year":1628,"yearLabel":"1628","era":"early-modern","title":"The Petition of Right","note":"Parliament, led by Edward Coke, presents the Petition of Right to Charles I, protesting taxes without Parliament's consent and imprisonment without cause shown. Coke's Institutes, begun the same year, trained generations of English and American lawyers.","works":[{"slug":"petition-of-right-habeas-corpus-and-bill-of-rights","title":"The Petition of Right (1628), the Habeas Corpus Act (1679) and the English Bill of Rights (1689)","url":"/works/petition-of-right-habeas-corpus-and-bill-of-rights/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"edward-coke","name":"Sir Edward Coke","url":"/great-lives/edward-coke/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-petition-of-right"},{"id":"body-of-liberties","year":1641,"yearLabel":"1641","era":"early-modern","title":"The Massachusetts Body of Liberties","note":"Massachusetts Bay adopts a list of rights, drafted mainly by the Puritan minister Nathaniel Ward, including due process and a ban on inhumane, barbarous or cruel punishments.","works":[{"slug":"massachusetts-body-of-liberties","title":"The Massachusetts Body of Liberties","url":"/works/massachusetts-body-of-liberties/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-winthrop","name":"John Winthrop","url":"/great-lives/john-winthrop/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-body-of-liberties"},{"id":"lex-rex","year":1644,"yearLabel":"1644","era":"early-modern","title":"Rutherford, Lex, Rex","note":"The Scottish minister Samuel Rutherford argues that the law is king and that the king is under the law.","works":[{"slug":"lex-rex","title":"Lex, Rex","url":"/works/lex-rex/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"samuel-rutherford","name":"Samuel Rutherford","url":"/great-lives/samuel-rutherford/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-lex-rex"},{"id":"leviathan","year":1651,"yearLabel":"1651","era":"early-modern","title":"Hobbes, Leviathan","note":"Thomas Hobbes argues that without government there would be a war of every man against every man, so people give up power to a sovereign who keeps peace by law.","works":[{"slug":"leviathan","title":"Leviathan","url":"/works/leviathan/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-hobbes","name":"Thomas Hobbes","url":"/great-lives/thomas-hobbes/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-leviathan"},{"id":"habeas-corpus","year":1679,"yearLabel":"1679","era":"early-modern","title":"The Habeas Corpus Act","note":"Parliament strengthens habeas corpus, the court order requiring a jailer to bring a prisoner before a judge and show a lawful reason for holding him.","works":[{"slug":"petition-of-right-habeas-corpus-and-bill-of-rights","title":"The Petition of Right (1628), the Habeas Corpus Act (1679) and the English Bill of Rights (1689)","url":"/works/petition-of-right-habeas-corpus-and-bill-of-rights/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-habeas-corpus"},{"id":"bill-of-rights-1689","year":1689,"yearLabel":"1689","era":"early-modern","title":"The English Bill of Rights and Locke","note":"After the Glorious Revolution, the English Bill of Rights limits the crown, requires Parliament's consent for taxes and forbids excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishments. John Locke's Two Treatises of Government and Letter Concerning Toleration appear the same year.","works":[{"slug":"second-treatise-of-government","title":"Second Treatise of Government","url":"/works/second-treatise-of-government/"},{"slug":"a-letter-concerning-toleration","title":"A Letter Concerning Toleration","url":"/works/a-letter-concerning-toleration/"},{"slug":"petition-of-right-habeas-corpus-and-bill-of-rights","title":"The Petition of Right (1628), the Habeas Corpus Act (1679) and the English Bill of Rights (1689)","url":"/works/petition-of-right-habeas-corpus-and-bill-of-rights/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-locke","name":"John Locke","url":"/great-lives/john-locke/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-bill-of-rights-1689"},{"id":"salem","year":1692,"yearLabel":"1692","era":"early-modern","title":"The Salem witch trials","note":"In Salem, Massachusetts, a special court convicts people of witchcraft using spectral evidence, and 19 are hanged. Increase Mather warned against such evidence, and in 1697 Judge Samuel Sewall and twelve jurors publicly repented.","works":[],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-salem"},{"id":"zenger","year":1735,"yearLabel":"1735","era":"early-modern","title":"The Zenger trial","note":"A New York jury acquits the printer John Peter Zenger of seditious libel after his lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, argues that the truth of what was printed should be a defense, an early victory for freedom of the press.","works":[],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-zenger"},{"id":"montesquieu","year":1748,"yearLabel":"1748","era":"early-modern","title":"Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws","note":"Montesquieu argues that liberty needs the separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, an idea the American framers used.","works":[{"slug":"the-spirit-of-the-laws","title":"The Spirit of the Laws","url":"/works/the-spirit-of-the-laws/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"montesquieu","name":"Montesquieu","url":"/great-lives/montesquieu/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-montesquieu"},{"id":"beccaria","year":1764,"yearLabel":"1764","era":"revolutions","title":"Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments","note":"The Italian writer Cesare Beccaria argues against torture and the death penalty and for clear laws and punishments no harsher than needed. His book influenced reformers in Europe and America.","works":[{"slug":"beccaria-on-crimes-and-punishments","title":"On Crimes and Punishments","url":"/works/beccaria-on-crimes-and-punishments/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"cesare-beccaria","name":"Cesare Beccaria","url":"/great-lives/cesare-beccaria/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-beccaria"},{"id":"blackstone","year":1765,"yearLabel":"1765–1769","era":"revolutions","title":"Blackstone's Commentaries","note":"William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England explain the common law in clear prose and became the main law book of the American colonies and the young United States.","works":[{"slug":"commentaries-on-the-laws-of-england","title":"Commentaries on the Laws of England","url":"/works/commentaries-on-the-laws-of-england/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"william-blackstone","name":"William Blackstone","url":"/great-lives/william-blackstone/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-blackstone"},{"id":"somerset","year":1772,"yearLabel":"1772","era":"revolutions","title":"Somerset v. Stewart","note":"Lord Mansfield rules that James Somerset, an enslaved man brought to England, could not be forced out of England to be sold in Jamaica, a step toward ending slavery in Britain.","works":[{"slug":"somerset-v-stewart","title":"Somerset v. Stewart (Somerset's Case)","url":"/works/somerset-v-stewart/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"lord-mansfield","name":"Lord Mansfield","url":"/great-lives/lord-mansfield/"},{"slug":"granville-sharp","name":"Granville Sharp","url":"/great-lives/granville-sharp/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-somerset"},{"id":"virginia-declaration","year":1776,"yearLabel":"June 1776","era":"revolutions","title":"The Virginia Declaration of Rights","note":"George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights states that all men are by nature equally free and independent and lists rights including trial by jury and the free exercise of religion.","works":[{"slug":"virginia-declaration-of-rights","title":"The Virginia Declaration of Rights","url":"/works/virginia-declaration-of-rights/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"george-mason","name":"George Mason","url":"/great-lives/george-mason/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-virginia-declaration"},{"id":"declaration-of-independence","year":1776,"yearLabel":"July 1776","era":"revolutions","title":"The Declaration of Independence","note":"The Continental Congress declares independence from Britain, appealing to the laws of nature and of nature's God and to the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.","works":[{"slug":"the-founding-documents","title":"The Founding Documents","url":"/works/the-founding-documents/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-jefferson","name":"Thomas Jefferson","url":"/great-lives/thomas-jefferson/"},{"slug":"john-adams","name":"John Adams","url":"/great-lives/john-adams/"},{"slug":"benjamin-franklin","name":"Benjamin Franklin","url":"/great-lives/benjamin-franklin/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-declaration-of-independence"},{"id":"articles","year":1781,"yearLabel":"1777–1781","era":"revolutions","title":"The Articles of Confederation","note":"The first constitution of the United States creates a weak central government of the states in Congress; it is ratified in 1781.","works":[{"slug":"articles-of-confederation","title":"The Articles of Confederation","url":"/works/articles-of-confederation/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-articles"},{"id":"virginia-statute","year":1786,"yearLabel":"1786","era":"revolutions","title":"The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom","note":"Virginia enacts Thomas Jefferson's statute, steered through the legislature by James Madison, declaring that no one may be compelled to support or attend any church.","works":[{"slug":"virginia-statute-for-religious-freedom","title":"The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom","url":"/works/virginia-statute-for-religious-freedom/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-jefferson","name":"Thomas Jefferson","url":"/great-lives/thomas-jefferson/"},{"slug":"james-madison","name":"James Madison","url":"/great-lives/james-madison/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-virginia-statute"},{"id":"constitution","year":1787,"yearLabel":"1787","era":"revolutions","title":"The Constitution of the United States","note":"Delegates at Philadelphia write a constitution that divides power among Congress, the President and the courts, and between the nation and the states. The same summer, the Northwest Ordinance bans slavery in the Northwest Territory.","works":[{"slug":"the-founding-documents","title":"The Founding Documents","url":"/works/the-founding-documents/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"james-madison","name":"James Madison","url":"/great-lives/james-madison/"},{"slug":"george-washington","name":"George Washington","url":"/great-lives/george-washington/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-constitution"},{"id":"northwest-ordinance","year":1787,"yearLabel":"July 1787","era":"revolutions","title":"The Northwest Ordinance","note":"The Confederation Congress sets up government for the lands north-west of the Ohio River. It protects freedom of worship and trial by jury, declares that religion, morality and knowledge are necessary to good government, and forbids slavery in the territory.","works":[{"slug":"northwest-ordinance","title":"The Northwest Ordinance","url":"/works/northwest-ordinance/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-northwest-ordinance"},{"id":"federalist","year":1788,"yearLabel":"1787–1788","era":"revolutions","title":"The Federalist and the Anti-Federalists","note":"Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay write the Federalist essays to defend the new Constitution, while Anti-Federalist writers warn of a too-powerful national government.","works":[{"slug":"the-federalist-papers","title":"The Federalist Papers","url":"/works/the-federalist-papers/"},{"slug":"the-anti-federalist-papers","title":"The Anti-Federalist Papers","url":"/works/the-anti-federalist-papers/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"alexander-hamilton","name":"Alexander Hamilton","url":"/great-lives/alexander-hamilton/"},{"slug":"james-madison","name":"James Madison","url":"/great-lives/james-madison/"},{"slug":"john-jay","name":"John Jay","url":"/great-lives/john-jay/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-federalist"},{"id":"rights-of-man","year":1789,"yearLabel":"1789","era":"revolutions","title":"The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen","note":"The French National Assembly declares that men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine soon argued over the French Revolution.","works":[{"slug":"reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france","title":"Reflections on the Revolution in France","url":"/works/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france/"},{"slug":"burke-paine-debate","title":"The Burke-Paine Debate on the French Revolution","url":"/works/burke-paine-debate/"},{"slug":"declaration-of-the-rights-of-man","title":"Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen","url":"/works/declaration-of-the-rights-of-man/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"edmund-burke","name":"Edmund Burke","url":"/great-lives/edmund-burke/"},{"slug":"thomas-paine","name":"Thomas Paine","url":"/great-lives/thomas-paine/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-rights-of-man"},{"id":"bill-of-rights","year":1791,"yearLabel":"1791","era":"revolutions","title":"The Bill of Rights","note":"The first ten amendments to the Constitution are ratified, protecting freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly, the right to bear arms, and the rights of the accused.","works":[{"slug":"the-founding-documents","title":"The Founding Documents","url":"/works/the-founding-documents/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"james-madison","name":"James Madison","url":"/great-lives/james-madison/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-bill-of-rights"},{"id":"virginia-kentucky","year":1798,"yearLabel":"1798–1799","era":"revolutions","title":"The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions","note":"Madison and Jefferson write resolutions protesting the Alien and Sedition Acts as unconstitutional.","works":[{"slug":"virginia-and-kentucky-resolutions","title":"The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions","url":"/works/virginia-and-kentucky-resolutions/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thomas-jefferson","name":"Thomas Jefferson","url":"/great-lives/thomas-jefferson/"},{"slug":"james-madison","name":"James Madison","url":"/great-lives/james-madison/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-virginia-kentucky"},{"id":"marbury","year":1803,"yearLabel":"1803","era":"revolutions","title":"Marbury v. Madison","note":"Chief Justice John Marshall rules that it is the duty of the courts to say what the law is and that a law contrary to the Constitution is void: the principle of judicial review.","works":[{"slug":"marbury-v-madison","title":"Marbury v. Madison","url":"/works/marbury-v-madison/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-marshall","name":"John Marshall","url":"/great-lives/john-marshall/"},{"slug":"james-madison","name":"James Madison","url":"/great-lives/james-madison/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-marbury"},{"id":"code-napoleon","year":1804,"yearLabel":"1804","era":"revolutions","title":"The Napoleonic Code","note":"France's Civil Code, prepared under Napoleon, sets out in clear articles equality of citizens before the law, property and contracts. It influenced civil codes across Europe and Latin America.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"napoleon-bonaparte","name":"Napoleon Bonaparte","url":"/great-lives/napoleon-bonaparte/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-code-napoleon"},{"id":"slave-trade","year":1807,"yearLabel":"1807","era":"revolutions","title":"The abolition of the slave trade","note":"After a long campaign by William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and many Christian abolitionists, Britain's Parliament abolishes the slave trade; the United States bans importing enslaved people from 1 January 1808. Britain abolished slavery in most of its colonies by an act of 1833.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"william-wilberforce","name":"William Wilberforce","url":"/great-lives/william-wilberforce/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-slave-trade"},{"id":"mcculloch","year":1819,"yearLabel":"1819","era":"revolutions","title":"McCulloch v. Maryland and Dartmouth College","note":"In McCulloch the Marshall Court upholds the national bank and limits states' power to tax it; in Dartmouth College it protects a private college's charter as a contract. Daniel Webster argued both cases.","works":[{"slug":"mcculloch-v-maryland","title":"McCulloch v. Maryland","url":"/works/mcculloch-v-maryland/"},{"slug":"dartmouth-college-v-woodward","title":"Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward","url":"/works/dartmouth-college-v-woodward/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-marshall","name":"John Marshall","url":"/great-lives/john-marshall/"},{"slug":"daniel-webster","name":"Daniel Webster","url":"/great-lives/daniel-webster/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-mcculloch"},{"id":"worcester","year":1832,"yearLabel":"1832","era":"revolutions","title":"Worcester v. Georgia","note":"The Supreme Court rules that Georgia's laws have no force in Cherokee territory. Georgia ignored the ruling, and the Cherokee were later forced west on the Trail of Tears (1838–1839).","works":[{"slug":"worcester-v-georgia","title":"Worcester v. Georgia","url":"/works/worcester-v-georgia/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-marshall","name":"John Marshall","url":"/great-lives/john-marshall/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-worcester"},{"id":"amistad","year":1841,"yearLabel":"1841","era":"revolutions","title":"The Amistad case","note":"The Supreme Court frees Africans who had taken over the slave ship Amistad, ruling that they had been unlawfully kidnapped. Former President John Quincy Adams argued for them, and Justice Joseph Story wrote the opinion.","works":[{"slug":"united-states-v-the-amistad","title":"United States v. The Amistad","url":"/works/united-states-v-the-amistad/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"joseph-story","name":"Joseph Story","url":"/great-lives/joseph-story/"},{"slug":"john-quincy-adams","name":"John Quincy Adams","url":"/great-lives/john-quincy-adams/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-amistad"},{"id":"bastiat","year":1850,"yearLabel":"1850","era":"modern","title":"Bastiat, The Law","note":"Frédéric Bastiat argues that law exists to protect life, liberty and property, and that law is perverted when it is used to take from some for the benefit of others.","works":[{"slug":"bastiat-the-law","title":"The Law","url":"/works/bastiat-the-law/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"frederic-bastiat","name":"Frédéric Bastiat","url":"/great-lives/frederic-bastiat/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-bastiat"},{"id":"dred-scott","year":1857,"yearLabel":"1857","era":"modern","title":"Dred Scott v. Sandford","note":"The Supreme Court rules that Black Americans could not be citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories, deepening the crisis that led to the Civil War. Lincoln answered it in his debates with Stephen Douglas.","works":[{"slug":"dred-scott-v-sandford","title":"Dred Scott v. Sandford","url":"/works/dred-scott-v-sandford/"},{"slug":"lincoln-douglas-debates","title":"The Lincoln-Douglas Debates","url":"/works/lincoln-douglas-debates/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"abraham-lincoln","name":"Abraham Lincoln","url":"/great-lives/abraham-lincoln/"},{"slug":"stephen-a-douglas","name":"Stephen A. Douglas","url":"/great-lives/stephen-a-douglas/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-dred-scott"},{"id":"emancipation","year":1863,"yearLabel":"1863","era":"modern","title":"The Emancipation Proclamation","note":"On 1 January 1863 President Lincoln declares enslaved people in the areas still in rebellion to be free, and opens the Union army to Black soldiers.","works":[{"slug":"emancipation-proclamation","title":"The Emancipation Proclamation","url":"/works/emancipation-proclamation/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"abraham-lincoln","name":"Abraham Lincoln","url":"/great-lives/abraham-lincoln/"},{"slug":"frederick-douglass","name":"Frederick Douglass","url":"/great-lives/frederick-douglass/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-emancipation"},{"id":"lieber-code","year":1863,"yearLabel":"1863","era":"modern","title":"The Lieber Code","note":"Lincoln issues rules for the conduct of Union soldiers written by the jurist Francis Lieber, an early modern code of the laws of war.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"abraham-lincoln","name":"Abraham Lincoln","url":"/great-lives/abraham-lincoln/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-lieber-code"},{"id":"geneva-1864","year":1864,"yearLabel":"1864","era":"modern","title":"The first Geneva Convention","note":"Nations agree to protect wounded soldiers and the medical workers who care for them, under the sign of the red cross. Clara Barton led the campaign for the United States to join in 1882.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"clara-barton","name":"Clara Barton","url":"/great-lives/clara-barton/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-geneva-1864"},{"id":"reconstruction-amendments","year":1865,"yearLabel":"1865–1870","era":"modern","title":"The Reconstruction amendments","note":"The Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery (1865), the Fourteenth guarantees citizenship, due process and the equal protection of the laws (1868), and the Fifteenth forbids denying the vote on account of race (1870).","works":[{"slug":"the-founding-documents","title":"The Founding Documents","url":"/works/the-founding-documents/"},{"slug":"slaughter-house-cases","title":"Slaughter-House Cases","url":"/works/slaughter-house-cases/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"frederick-douglass","name":"Frederick Douglass","url":"/great-lives/frederick-douglass/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-reconstruction-amendments"},{"id":"holmes-common-law","year":1881,"yearLabel":"1881","era":"modern","title":"Holmes, The Common Law","note":"Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., a Civil War veteran and later a Supreme Court justice, argues that the law grows from experience more than from logic.","works":[{"slug":"holmes-the-common-law","title":"The Common Law","url":"/works/holmes-the-common-law/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"oliver-wendell-holmes-jr","name":"Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.","url":"/great-lives/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-holmes-common-law"},{"id":"plessy","year":1896,"yearLabel":"1896","era":"modern","title":"Plessy v. Ferguson","note":"The Supreme Court upholds racial segregation on railroad cars under the rule of separate but equal. Justice John Marshall Harlan dissents alone, saying the Constitution is color-blind.","works":[{"slug":"plessy-v-ferguson","title":"Plessy v. Ferguson","url":"/works/plessy-v-ferguson/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-marshall-harlan","name":"John Marshall Harlan","url":"/great-lives/john-marshall-harlan/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-plessy"},{"id":"nineteenth-amendment","year":1920,"yearLabel":"1920","era":"modern","title":"The Nineteenth Amendment","note":"The Constitution forbids denying the vote on account of sex, the goal Susan B. Anthony worked for until her death in 1906.","works":[{"slug":"the-founding-documents","title":"The Founding Documents","url":"/works/the-founding-documents/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"susan-b-anthony","name":"Susan B. Anthony","url":"/great-lives/susan-b-anthony/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-nineteenth-amendment"},{"id":"pierce","year":1925,"yearLabel":"1923–1925","era":"modern","title":"Meyer, Pierce and the rights of parents","note":"In Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) the Supreme Court protects teaching in a foreign language, and in Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925) it strikes down an Oregon law requiring all children to attend public schools, holding that parents may choose religious and private schools.","works":[{"slug":"meyer-v-nebraska","title":"Meyer v. Nebraska","url":"/works/meyer-v-nebraska/"},{"slug":"pierce-v-society-of-sisters","title":"Pierce v. Society of Sisters","url":"/works/pierce-v-society-of-sisters/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-pierce"},{"id":"barnette","year":1943,"yearLabel":"1940–1943","era":"modern","title":"Gobitis and Barnette: the flag salute","note":"In 1940 the Court lets schools require Jehovah's Witness children to salute the flag; three years later, in West Virginia v. Barnette, it reverses itself and rules that no official can force citizens to profess a belief.","works":[{"slug":"minersville-school-district-v-gobitis","title":"Minersville School District v. Gobitis","url":"/works/minersville-school-district-v-gobitis/"},{"slug":"west-virginia-v-barnette","title":"West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette","url":"/works/west-virginia-v-barnette/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"robert-h-jackson","name":"Robert H. Jackson","url":"/great-lives/robert-h-jackson/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-barnette"},{"id":"korematsu","year":1944,"yearLabel":"1944","era":"modern","title":"Korematsu v. United States","note":"The Supreme Court upholds the wartime removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. In 2018 the Court said the decision had been gravely wrong the day it was decided.","works":[{"slug":"korematsu-v-united-states","title":"Korematsu v. United States","url":"/works/korematsu-v-united-states/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-korematsu"},{"id":"un-charter","year":1945,"yearLabel":"1945","era":"postwar","title":"The United Nations Charter","note":"Fifty nations sign the Charter of the United Nations at San Francisco, pledging to settle disputes peacefully and to respect human rights.","works":[],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-un-charter"},{"id":"nuremberg","year":1946,"yearLabel":"1945–1946","era":"postwar","title":"The Nuremberg trials","note":"An international tribunal at Nuremberg tries leading Nazis for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. U.S. Justice Robert H. Jackson led the American prosecution, and the court held that following orders does not excuse such crimes.","works":[{"slug":"jackson-nuremberg-opening-statement","title":"Opening Statement at the Nuremberg Trial","url":"/works/jackson-nuremberg-opening-statement/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"robert-h-jackson","name":"Robert H. Jackson","url":"/great-lives/robert-h-jackson/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-nuremberg"},{"id":"genocide-convention","year":1948,"yearLabel":"December 1948","era":"postwar","title":"The Genocide Convention","note":"The United Nations adopts a treaty making genocide a crime under international law. The word genocide had been coined by the Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"raphael-lemkin","name":"Raphael Lemkin","url":"/great-lives/raphael-lemkin/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-genocide-convention"},{"id":"udhr","year":1948,"yearLabel":"December 1948","era":"postwar","title":"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights","note":"The UN General Assembly adopts a declaration of 30 articles on human rights, drafted by a committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt that included René Cassin, Charles Malik and P. C. Chang.","works":[{"slug":"universal-declaration-of-human-rights","title":"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights","url":"/works/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"eleanor-roosevelt","name":"Eleanor Roosevelt","url":"/great-lives/eleanor-roosevelt/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-udhr"},{"id":"brown","year":1954,"yearLabel":"1954","era":"postwar","title":"Brown v. Board of Education","note":"The Supreme Court unanimously rules that separate public schools for Black and white children are inherently unequal, overturning Plessy for public education. Thurgood Marshall argued the case.","works":[{"slug":"brown-v-board-of-education","title":"Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka","url":"/works/brown-v-board-of-education/"},{"slug":"sweatt-v-painter","title":"Sweatt v. Painter","url":"/works/sweatt-v-painter/"},{"slug":"plessy-v-ferguson","title":"Plessy v. Ferguson","url":"/works/plessy-v-ferguson/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"thurgood-marshall","name":"Thurgood Marshall","url":"/great-lives/thurgood-marshall/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-brown"},{"id":"school-prayer","year":1962,"yearLabel":"1962–1963","era":"postwar","title":"Engel and Schempp: prayer in public schools","note":"The Supreme Court rules that public schools may not lead official prayers or devotional Bible reading, while allowing the Bible to be studied for its history and literature.","works":[{"slug":"engel-v-vitale","title":"Engel v. Vitale","url":"/works/engel-v-vitale/"},{"slug":"abington-school-district-v-schempp","title":"Abington School District v. Schempp","url":"/works/abington-school-district-v-schempp/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-school-prayer"},{"id":"rights-of-the-accused","year":1963,"yearLabel":"1961–1966","era":"postwar","title":"Mapp, Gideon and Miranda","note":"The Warren Court applies key Bill of Rights protections to the states: evidence from illegal searches is excluded (Mapp, 1961), poor defendants must be given lawyers (Gideon, 1963), and suspects must be told their rights (Miranda, 1966).","works":[{"slug":"mapp-v-ohio","title":"Mapp v. Ohio","url":"/works/mapp-v-ohio/"},{"slug":"gideon-v-wainwright","title":"Gideon v. Wainwright","url":"/works/gideon-v-wainwright/"},{"slug":"miranda-v-arizona","title":"Miranda v. Arizona","url":"/works/miranda-v-arizona/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-rights-of-the-accused"},{"id":"birmingham-jail","year":1963,"yearLabel":"1963","era":"postwar","title":"Letter from Birmingham Jail","note":"Jailed for protesting segregation, Martin Luther King Jr. writes that people have a moral duty to disobey unjust laws, drawing on Augustine and Aquinas: an unjust law is a human law not rooted in eternal and natural law.","works":[{"slug":"sermons-and-letter-from-birmingham-jail","title":"Sermons and Letter from Birmingham Jail","url":"/works/sermons-and-letter-from-birmingham-jail/"},{"slug":"i-have-a-dream","title":"I Have a Dream","url":"/works/i-have-a-dream/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther-king-jr","name":"Martin Luther King Jr.","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther-king-jr/"},{"slug":"thomas-aquinas","name":"Thomas Aquinas","url":"/great-lives/thomas-aquinas/"},{"slug":"augustine-of-hippo","name":"Augustine of Hippo","url":"/great-lives/augustine-of-hippo/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-birmingham-jail"},{"id":"civil-rights-act","year":1964,"yearLabel":"1964–1965","era":"postwar","title":"The Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts","note":"The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination in public places and in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin; the Voting Rights Act of 1965 protects the right to vote.","works":[],"lives":[{"slug":"martin-luther-king-jr","name":"Martin Luther King Jr.","url":"/great-lives/martin-luther-king-jr/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-civil-rights-act"},{"id":"rivonia","year":1964,"yearLabel":"1964","era":"postwar","title":"Mandela at the Rivonia Trial","note":"On trial in South Africa for sabotage, Nelson Mandela tells the court that he has fought for a free society in which all live together with equal opportunities, and is sentenced to life in prison.","works":[{"slug":"i-am-prepared-to-die","title":"I Am Prepared to Die","url":"/works/i-am-prepared-to-die/"},{"slug":"long-walk-to-freedom","title":"Long Walk to Freedom","url":"/works/long-walk-to-freedom/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"nelson-mandela","name":"Nelson Mandela","url":"/great-lives/nelson-mandela/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-rivonia"},{"id":"dignitatis-humanae","year":1965,"yearLabel":"1965","era":"postwar","title":"Dignitatis Humanae","note":"The Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom teaches that every person has a right to religious freedom rooted in human dignity. The American Jesuit John Courtney Murray helped shape it.","works":[{"slug":"dignitatis-humanae","title":"Dignitatis Humanae","url":"/works/dignitatis-humanae/"}],"lives":[{"slug":"john-courtney-murray","name":"John Courtney Murray","url":"/great-lives/john-courtney-murray/"}],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-dignitatis-humanae"},{"id":"tinker","year":1969,"yearLabel":"1969","era":"postwar","title":"Tinker v. Des Moines","note":"The Supreme Court rules that students do not lose their freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gate and may wear black armbands to protest a war.","works":[{"slug":"tinker-v-des-moines","title":"Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District","url":"/works/tinker-v-des-moines/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-tinker"},{"id":"yoder","year":1972,"yearLabel":"1972","era":"postwar","title":"Wisconsin v. Yoder","note":"The Supreme Court rules that Amish parents cannot be forced to send their children to school after eighth grade, because of their religious freedom.","works":[{"slug":"wisconsin-v-yoder","title":"Wisconsin v. Yoder","url":"/works/wisconsin-v-yoder/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-yoder"},{"id":"roe-to-dobbs","year":1973,"yearLabel":"1973–2022","era":"postwar","title":"From Roe to Dobbs","note":"Roe v. Wade (1973) declares a constitutional right to abortion; Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) reaffirms its core; Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022) overrules both and returns the issue to the people and their elected representatives.","works":[{"slug":"roe-v-wade","title":"Roe v. Wade","url":"/works/roe-v-wade/"},{"slug":"planned-parenthood-v-casey","title":"Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey","url":"/works/planned-parenthood-v-casey/"},{"slug":"dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization","title":"Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization","url":"/works/dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-roe-to-dobbs"},{"id":"nixon","year":1974,"yearLabel":"1974","era":"postwar","title":"United States v. Nixon","note":"The Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Nixon must hand over the White House tapes; he resigned sixteen days later.","works":[{"slug":"united-states-v-nixon","title":"United States v. Nixon","url":"/works/united-states-v-nixon/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-nixon"},{"id":"ada","year":1990,"yearLabel":"1990","era":"postwar","title":"The Americans with Disabilities Act","note":"Congress bans discrimination against people with disabilities in jobs, public services and public places. In Olmstead v. L.C. (1999) the Court applied it to care in the community.","works":[{"slug":"olmstead-v-lc","title":"Olmstead v. L. C.","url":"/works/olmstead-v-lc/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-ada"},{"id":"heller","year":2008,"yearLabel":"2008","era":"postwar","title":"District of Columbia v. Heller","note":"The Supreme Court rules that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep a handgun at home for self-defense.","works":[{"slug":"district-of-columbia-v-heller","title":"District of Columbia v. Heller","url":"/works/district-of-columbia-v-heller/"}],"lives":[],"url":"/law-timeline/#event-heller"}]}