1981—By a vote of 4 to 2, the California supreme court rules (in Committee to Defend Reproductive Rights v. Myers) that the state constitution forbids California from placing restrictions on the Medicaid funding of abortions when it fully funds the childbirth expenses of indigent women.
2017—In a ruling that environmental activists will be eager to import to the United States, a court in India declares that the Ganges and Yamuna rivers are “legal and living entities having the status of a legal person with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities,” and it appoints individuals to act as their legal custodians.