On 30 November 1786 Leopold formally abolished the death sentence as well as banning the use of torture.
20th July 1807: The world’s first internal combustion engine is patented in France
20th July 2019
Prior to the adoption of universally accepted time zones, the vast majority of settlements around the world observed local mean solar time.
The Metropolitan Police, which is often considered to be the first modern police force, began operating in London.
Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria signed the Reinheitsgebot, a law to ensure the purity of beer that specified a limited number of ingredients.
On the 22nd March 1621, Dutch legal scholar Hugo Grotius – also known as Hugo de Groot – escaped imprisonment in Loevestein Castle concealed inside a book chest.
The United States Supreme Court upheld the District Court’s ruling in Browder v. Gayle that segregation on public buses and transportation in Alabama was illegal.
The Judiciary Act was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President George Washington.
On the 18th August 1612, the trials of nine Lancashire women and two men known as the Pendle Witches began.
On the 16th August 1819, the Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter’s Field in Manchester when a group of over 60,000 protesters were charged by cavalry.
On the 1st August 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act came into force in the United Kingdom, although it had received royal assent a year earlier.
24th January 41 CE: Emperor Caligula killed by the Praetorian Guard
24th January 2020
22nd January 1905: Bloody Sunday massacre in Saint Petersburg
22nd January 2020
11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed
11th November 2018
1st September 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland
1st September 2018