Portal:Law/Selected anniversaries/May

• May 3, 1947 – New post-war Constitution of Japan goes into effect.
• May 15, 1911 – In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
• May 16, 1877 – The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system.
• May 17, 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas finding that separate educational facilities for people of different races was inherently unequal.
• May 18, 1896 – The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson.
• May 30, 1834 – Minister of Justice Joaquim António de Aguiar issues a law seizing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses" from the Catholic religious orders in Portugal, earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer".
• May 31, 1790 – The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.