Nepal interim constitution drafting delayed while committee membership set News
Nepal interim constitution drafting delayed while committee membership set

[JURIST] Nepalese officials have delayed the drafting of an interim constitution, which will allow Maoist rebels to join an interim government, for at least another two weeks, according to Laxman Prasad Aryal, a former Supreme Court Justice and leader of the six-person Nepali Interim Constitution Drafting Committee. The interim government and Maoist rebels negotiated a landmark deal [text; JURIST report] on June 16 to draft a power-sharing constitution within 15 days and dissolve the parliament reinstated by the popular people's uprising [JURIST news archive] against the direct rule of King Gyanendra [official profile] in April.

Aryal said Wednesday that the six-man team has worked on the constitution informally [JURIST report], but has not started a formal drafting procedure [eKantipur.com report] because the interim government has not announced other members of the drafting committee. The interim government reportedly announced plans to add members to the committee, but did not specify who they would add, or how many people. The interim constitution was originally scheduled to be completed by Friday, but will now require two weeks of formal drafting when the government completes the committee membership. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, murdered by Henry II's knights

On December 29, 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket, former Chancellor of England, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights acting in the name of Henry II.

Becket and Henry had been entangled in a power struggle over, among other things, criminal jurisdiction over clergy. Read a contemporary account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

Texas attains US statehood

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state to join the United States of America when US President James K. Polk signed the Ordinance of Annexation. Texas had a complicated path to statehood because it had formerly been part of Mexico and then an independent republic. The US Congress passed the Annexation of the Republic of Texas Joint Resolution on March 1, 1845. Voters in Texas then approved the Ordinance of Annexation in October, before it was approved by the US Congress and signed into law by President Polk on this day in 1845. The US Supreme Court later ruled in Texas v. White that, despite its unique path to statehood, Texas did not have the right to secede from the union.