Saudi torture immunity ruling [UK HL] News
Saudi torture immunity ruling [UK HL]

Jones v. Ministry of Interior Al-Mamlaka Al-Arabiya AS Saudiya (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and others, UK House of Lords, June 14, 2006 [ruling that three British men and one Canadian man who claim to have been tortured in Saudi Arabian jails after confessing to participating in a series of terrorist bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2000 and 2001 cannot sue Saudi officials responsible for their imprisonment in British courts because the officials are covered by state immunity]. Read the full text of the judgment. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court decided Dartmouth College case

On February 2, 1819, the US Supreme Court decided Dartmouth College v. Woodward, ruling that the charter of a college was a contract that a state could not alter arbitrarily.

New Amsterdam incorporated

On February 2, 1653, the City of New Amsterdam was incorporated by the Dutch Republic. After the British conquest, the city was renamed New York after the Duke of York.

Breviary of Alaric put into effect by Visigoth king

King Alaric II of the Visigoths put the Breviary of Alaric, a collection of Roman laws, into effect on February 2, 506. The breviary contains constitutions and laws of the newly fallen Roman Empire, including the Theodosian code, and parts of the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes. The Breviary of Alaric predated the Byzantine Empire's Code of Justinian by 23 years.  Read an entry on the Breviary of Alaric from the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.