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It’s been said that there’s no time like the present. But where we are now is often the result of where we’ve been in the past. With that in mind, Briefly Legal invites you to travel back in time to take a look at what happened during this week in legal history:

Lighten up: As we groggily greet the day an hour earlier this week, we have the 1905 introduction of Daylight Saving Time to thank. According to David Prerau, thea author of 鈥淪eizing the Daylight,鈥� Benjamin Franklin first got the notion that many candles could be saved if people were awakened at dawn by the firing of cannons.

In 1905, a builder named William Willett, who enjoyed riding his horse before breakfast, fought for a Daylight Saving 聽聽聽聽聽 Time law in Britain because he felt sorry for everyone who was missing 鈥渢he best part of a summer day.鈥�

During World War I, Germany became the first country to adopt Daylight Saving Time and was quickly followed by many others. The U.S. formally adopted the law on March 19, 1918. American farmers got the law repealed after the war, claiming the country should run on 鈥淕od鈥檚 Time.鈥� Forty days after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. enacted year-round Daylight Saving Time under FDR鈥檚 orders.

Pushing the limits?: On March 18, 2005, the U.S. Congress firmly inserted itself into the controversial debate involving Terri Schiavo. The case had been through seven years of legal tug-of-war over who had the authority to decide whether Schiavo, who suffered a major heart attack and brain damage in 1990, should remain on life support. When a final judgment was issued that her feeding tube be removed, some members of Congress subpoenaed Schiavo and her husband, Michael, to testify during a congressional hearing. Public opinion polls conducted after the 2005 judgment found that the majority of Americans believed Congress acted outside its authority in the case.

A time and place: On March 20, 1973, Pioneer Courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The courthouse survived a March 1933 campaign to tear it down and replace it with a parking garage.

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