The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a dispute between Nigerian villagers and Royal Dutch Shell, in a test to decide whether international companies can be held liable in U.S. courts for human rights violations committed overseas.

The high court justices agreed Monday to hear a federal appeal by a group of Nigerians who allege that Shell was complicit in torture, wrongful deaths and other human rights abuse committed by Nigerian authorities against environmental campaigners during the 1990s.

The case will examine whether companies can be held liable under an 18th century law, known as the Alien Tort Statute. That law allows U.S. district courts to hear cases from any person, including foreign nationals, in situations where international law or a treaty of the United States has been violated.

The lawsuit was brought by 12 residents of the oil-rich Ogoni region in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta. Lawyers for the group allege that Royal Dutch Shell enlisted the help of the Nigerian armed forces to suppress resistance to oil exploration in the area. Shell denies the allegations.

A New York federal appeals court ruled last year that the Alien Tort Statute can not be used against corporations. But more recently a separate appeals court ruled that it can.

The Supreme Court will hear the case alongside a torture case involving the family of an American man who died of injuries sustained during torture by Palestinian Authority officers.

An appeals court ruled that a political organization could not be held liable under the Torture Victims Protection Act, which allows civil lawsuits against individuals convicted of committing torture under the authority of a foreign government.

Both cases are expected to be argued in February with decisions expected by July.