On April 20, 1946, the League of Nations was officially dissolved with the close of its final session. Thirty-four countries had attended the final meeting at which they elected to dismantle the organization and bequeath its assets to the United Nations. Read a history of League of Nations from the UN.
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On April 19, 1971, Charles Manson was sentenced to death for ordering the murders of Sharon Tate and others. The sentence was then commuted to life after the Supreme Court of California overturned the death penalty in 1972. Learn more about the trial of Charles Manson from the University of Missouri – Kansas City School [...]
On April 19, 1967, John, Paul, George and Ringo – aka “The Beatles” – signed a partnership deed agreeing that the group would continue for a (further) period of ten years. When The Beatles split up prematurely in 1970, Paul applied to have the partnership terminated and a receiver appointed. Read a legal analysis of [...]
On April 18, 1949, the Republic of Ireland Act went into force, creating a republic in the state of Ireland. The Act repealed the Executive Authority Act, which had given governing authority in Ireland to the King of England.
On April 18, 1958, treason charges against American poet Ezra Pound, first laid in 1943 in connection with his wartime broadcasts for the Italian Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, were dropped. Read Jonas Doberman, The Treason Debate: Ezra Pound and his Rome Radio Broadcasts.
On April 17, 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy and sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to life in prison after the Supreme Court of California overturned the death penalty in the state.
On April 17, 1982, the Constitution Act 1982 was proclaimed in Ottawa, establishing the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and terminating the British Parliament’s power to amend the Canadian constitution.
On April 16, 1963, an incarcerated Martin Luther King, Jr. (arrested for demonstrating in defiance of a court order) wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama. Part of the letter read: We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given [...]
On April 16, 2003, the 2003 Treaty of Accession was signed by 10 countries, admitting them for European Union (EU) ascension. After Malta and Cyprus, eight of the ten new EU nations (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) were former communist countries. The signing of the treaty in Athens marked [...]
The Titanic sank early in the morning of April 15, 1912 after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Of 2228 passengers and crewmembers aboard, only 705 survived. The sinking gave rise to a variety of lawsuits against the White Star Line, the Titanic‘s owners.
