UPDATE ~ UK PM releases Iraq war legal advice News
UPDATE ~ UK PM releases Iraq war legal advice

[JURIST] A day after the BBC published a leaked document [JURIST report] appearing to contain part of the UK Attorney General's advice to the Prime Minister on the legality of the Iraq war, 10 Downing Street Thursday released [statement] the full text of the advice, dated March 7, 2003. In the document the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, indicated that the war could be considered legal for the United Kingdom, but in light of a number of reservations he also said that that the safest course would be to obtain a second UN Security Council resolution directly authorizing the use of force against Iraq. A one-page document of advice later passed on to the Cabinet and Parliament did not contain this language, nor a mention of reservations. Read the full text of the legal advice [PDF]. BBC News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.