This date in contracts history—November 18

1477:  William Caxton (left) produces the first English book on a printing press.  Four hundred years later, printing will reach its zenith with the modern law review.

1836:  Sir William S. Gilbert is born.  He will go on to write the libretto for Trial by Jury, perhaps the funniest operetta ever written about a breach of promise action in the Court of Exchequer.

1903:  The United States makes a major land deal, acquiring the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million in the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty.

1928:  Mickey Mouse is born with the release of Steamboat Willie.  Seventy-six years later he’s still not in the public domain.

1938: John L. Lewis is elected the first president of the new Congress of Industrial Organizations.