Japan enacts Meiji Constitution

On February 11, 1889, the Meiji Constitution of Japan was promulgated by Emperor Meiji. Officially titled the “Constitution of the Empire of Japan,” the Meiji Constitution went into effect on November 29, 1890 and served as the country’s fundamental law through the rise of the Japanese Empire until the end of World War II. On May 2, 1947, the Meiji Constitution was replaced by the Constitution of Japan, which serves as the country’s governing document today.

The Meiji constitution created a constitutional monarchy in Japan with the Emperor serving as a powerful executive. The document furthermore created a parliament, called the Diet, as well as an independent judiciary. Its passage came as part of the Meiji Restoration, in which the Japanese Imperial throne retook power from the Shogunate and guided the nation into the modern world.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Mao Zedong widow sentenced to death in China

On January 25, 1981, Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, was sentenced to death by a special court in China. The charges stemmed primarily from Jiang's role in the Cultural Revolution. Saying "I was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bite," Qing unsuccessfully argued that she was merely acting at the direction of her late husband, who had died five years earlier. In 1983, Jiang's sentence was commuted to life in prison so that she would have "time to repent." Her official trial documents have still not been released.

Charles Manson and "family" convicted of Tate murders

On January 25, 1971, Charles Manson and three women of his "family" were convicted of murder and conspiracy for the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actress Sharon Tate. Learn more about the trial of Charles Manson from Professor Douglas Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.