Last execution in Australia

On February 3, 1967, Ronald Ryan became the last person executed in Australia. He was hanged in Pentridge Prison in Melbourne for killing a guard during an escape attempt. Belief in Ryan’s innocence led to protests across the country, culminating in the Death Penalty Abolition Act of 1973.

The Last Man Hanged, a documentary about the execution of Ronald Ryan, was released in 1993.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Standard Oil incorporated

On January 10, 1870, John Davison Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. Rockefeller's corporation would grow to achieve a virtual monopoly over oil production in the United States. Standard Oil's dominance lasted until the corporation was split into 34 separate companies in 1911 after the Supreme Court found the company in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The rise of Standard Oil made Rockefeller America's first billionaire and eventually the richest man in the world. Read the text of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1910).