In Shell's 99-year history Van der Veer is the first of his type a sole chief executive, ruling from headquarters in the Hague.
To drive the point home, one week before the ECHR ruling, the sole CIA employee prosecuted in connection with America's torture programmes was released from prison to serve the final three months of a 30-month sentence in house arrest.
In responding to the Hungarian court which referred the case, the ECJ said it was acceptable to seek expert opinion but this must be obtained in ways consistent with human rights and should not be the sole basis of a ruling.
As an Administrative Judge, he had the sole responsibility for reviewing and ruling on all discrimination charges brought before him relating to age, race, religion, gender or national origin.
An Alabama judge all but ended the prosecution of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing case today by ruling that the sole remaining defendant, Bobby Frank Cherry, was mentally incompetent to stand trial.
A15 No Trial for Bomb Suspect An Alabama judge all but ended the prosecution of the deadly 1963 Birmingham church bombing case by ruling that the sole remaining defendant, Bobby Frank Cherry, was mentally incompetent for trial.
Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement Thursday that the new ruling means "the sole clinic providing safe, legal abortion care can keep its doors open for the women of Mississippi".
The notorious King Farouk of Egypt is supposed to have quipped that there would soon be only the kings of spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts — plus the British crown — and he was not the sole scion of a modern ruling family to end up identified with a casino.
This spree of violence has punctured the self-constructed reputation of the Awami League, the ruling party, as the sole guardian of the secular fibre of Sunni-majority Bangladesh.
Even in an absolutist state, however, education cannot be the sole privilege of the rich or the ruling classes, because an efficient absolutist state requires capable subjects, albeit bound to their social position.
