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Rare Books: In Memoriam: Harold I. Boucher, Esq. (1906-2009)

Mike Widener — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:18:00 -0700

Harold I. Boucher was a great friend and supporter of law libraries and legal history, and a personal friend of mine. I am sad to report that he passed away on May 27, 2009, in San Francisco, a month shy of his 103rd birthday. Mr. Boucher was a proud 1930 graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California-Berkeley, and a former partner of the leading San Francisco law firm of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro. I believe the title he was proudest of was Honorary Order of the British Empire, conferred on him by Her Majesty Elizabeth II. For details of Mr. Boucher's life and career, see his obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle.

I first met Mr. Boucher in about 1997 when I was running the Rare Books & Special Collections department at the Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas at Austin. He phoned to get information about our copies of John Cowell's law dictionaries. I was thrilled that someone was interested in our collection of law dictionaries, and I began sending him articles and other items of interest. We had many long phone conversations over the years, and I always looked forward to them.

He published his extensive research into Cowell:Harold I. Boucher, Suppression of Interpreter and Denouncement of Dr. Cowell: the King James Version (1997). One of his discoveries arose from his professional interest in the law of wills and estates. The first edition of Cowell's Interpreter has no entries for "codicil" or "will," which is surprising given that Cowell was a civilian. There is an entry for "testament," but all it says is "See will." So, it's sending you down a blind alley! The identical error is repeated in the 1637 and 1658 editions, but in the 1672 edition, finally, there are full entries for both "testament" and "will."

Mr. Boucher was an unabashed Anglophile, as his Honorary O.B.E. demonstrated. He was especially interested in the 17th century, and his sympathies lay squarely with the Cavaliers and not the Roundheads. As our relationship developed, he began donating a number of fine volumes from his personal collection: the first edition of Cowell's Interpreter (1607) and the 1708 edition; Thomas Wentworth's Office and Duty of Executors (1703); the 1629 edition of John Rastell's Termes de la Ley; William Bohun's Privilegia Londini: or, The rights, Liberties, Privileges, Laws, and Customs, of the City of London (1723); and Tragicum theatrum actorum (1649), with its account and engraving of Charles I's execution.In addition, Mr. Boucher provided the funds for the library to acquire several other fine volumes, such as Richard Hooker's Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie (1618), William Hakewill's The Libertie of the Subject: Against the Pretended Power of Impositions (1641), The Trials of Charles the First, and of Some of the Regicides (1832), and Cowell's Institutiones iuris Anglicani (1630).

I am grateful that Mr. Boucher chose to continue supporting acquisitions when I moved to the law library here at Yale. He generously supplied the funds for us to acquire Essex's Innocency and Honour Vindicated, or, Murther, Subornation, Perjury, and Oppression Justly Charg'd on the Murtherers of that Noble Lord and True Patriot, Arthur (late) Earl of Essex by Laurence Braddon (1690), with a frontispiece mapping the murder scene in the Tower of London, and John Brydall's Jura Coronae: His Majesties Royal Rights and Prerogatives Asserted Against Papal Usurpations, and All Other Anti-monarchical Attempts and Practices (1680).

I had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Boucher face to face only once, in the rare book room of Wildy & Sons at Lincoln's Inn Archway in London. Roy Heywood of Wildy was kind enough to host our meeting.

I'll miss Harold Boucher, and I join his family & friends who mourn his passing and salute his life.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

Harold I. Boucher, Mike Widener, and Roy Heywood. Rare book room, Wildy & Sons, Lincoln's Inn
Archway, London, June 2002.

Map of the murder scene, from Laurence Braddon, Essex's Innocency and Honour
Vindicated, or, Murther, Subornation, Perjury, and Oppression Justly Charg'd on
the Murtherers of that Noble Lord and True Patriot, Arthur (late) Earl of Essex
(London, 1690), gift of the late Harold I. Boucher, Esq., to the Lillian Goldman Law
Library, Yale Law School.

Reference: New judicial nominations database

Jason Eiseman — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:39:00 -0700

We are happy to announce that we have released a new site for researching and tracking federal judicial nominations.

The site is available at http://judges.law.yale.edu/ .And it includes data for every federal judicial nomination from the 103rd congress to the current day.

The site offers:

The ability to quickly and easily track down nominees based on a number of faceted criteria including congress, nominating president, and nomination result.
The ability to track nominees and nominations via RSS feeds.
Up to date contact information for sitting judges nominated and confirmed since the 103rd congress, and nominees from the 111th congress forward.

Possible future enhancements include:

Adding additional biographical data such as education (currently only Yale grads are tracked), gender, etc.
Adding the ability to narrow down nominations by date and sort congress information by date.
Better styled RSS feeds, RSS feeds for search results.
Enhanced search capabilities.

Why isn't Sonia Sotomayor listed as having been nominated to the Supreme Court?

As of the writing of this blog post, President Obama has announced his intent to nominate Sonia Sotomayor as Associate Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. When her nomination is made official and received in the senate, we will add this information to the nominations database. But you can track her nomination by using the RSS feed from her existing profile page, or using the RSS feeds for Recent Nominations on the home page.

Any additional questions, comments, suggestions (including corrections), should be sent to lawlib.webmaster at yale.edu

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 18 -- Suggested reading

Mike Widener — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:28:00 -0700

The following select bibliography includes the sources consulted in the preparation of this exhibit. The image is of the opening leaf of the Liber Assisarum, a collection of Year Book cases from the reign of Edward III (manuscript in Law French, ca. 1450).

English law reports

Abbott, L. W. Law Reporting in England 1485-1585. London: Athlone Press, 1973.
Baker, J. H. "Coke's note-books and the sources of his reports." Cambridge Law Journal 30:1 (Apr. 1972), 59-86.
Baker, J. H. "Records, reports and the origins of case-law in England," in Judicial Records, Law Reports, and the Growth of Case Law (J. H. Baker, ed.; Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1989), 15-46.
Bolland, William Craddock. A Manual of Year Book Studies. Cambridge [England]: University Press, 1925. [Reprinted Holmes Beach, Fla.: Wm. W. Gaunt & Sons, 1986.]
Fox, John Charles. A Handbook of English Law Reports from the Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Century to the Year 1865, with Biographical Notes of Judges and Reporters. London : Butterworth & Co., 1913.
Heard, Franklin Fiske. Curiosities of the Law Reporters. Boston: Lee & Shepard ; New York: Lee, Shepard, & Dillingham, 1871. [2nd ed.: Boston: Soule and Bugbee, 1881.]
Luther, Peter. "The Year Books." Law Librarian 13:2 (Aug. 1982), 19-22.
Matthews, Elizabeth W. Seventeenth Century English Law Reports in Folio: Description of Selected Imprints. Buffalo: W.S. Hein, 1986.
Plucknett, T. F. T. "The genesis of Coke's Reports." Cornell Law Quarterly 27:2 (Feb. 1942), 190-213.
Powell, Damian. "Coke in context: early modern legal observation and Sir Edward Coke's reports." Journal of Legal History 21:3 (Dec. 2000), 33-53.
Stebbings, Chantal, ed. Law Reporting in Britain. London: Hambledon Press, 1995.
Veeder, Van Vechten. "The English Reports, 1292-1865." Harvard Law Review 15:1 (May 1901), 1-25; 15:2 (June 1901), 109-117.
Wallace, John William. The Reporters: Arranged and Characterized with Incidental Remarks. 4th ed. Boston: Soule & Bugbee, 1882. [Reprinted Buffalo, N.Y.: W.S. Hein, 1995.]

American law reports

Aumann, Francis R. "American law reports: yesterday and today." Ohio State University Law Journal 4:3 (June 1938), 331-345.
Briceland, A. V. "Ephraim Kirby: pioneer of American law reporting, 1789." American Journal of Legal History 16 (Oct. 1972), 297.
Duffey, Denis P., Jr. "Genre and authority: the rise of case reporting in the early United States." Chicago-Kent Law Review 74:1 (Winter 1998), 263-275.
Harrington, William G. “A brief history of computer-assisted legal research.” Law Library Journal 77:3 (1984-85), 543-556.
Joyce, Craig. "The rise of the Supreme Court Reporter: an institutional perspective on Marshall Court ascendancy." Michigan Law Review 83:5 (Apr. 1985), 1291-1391.
Joyce, Craig. "Wheaton v. Peters: the untold story of the early reporters." Yearbook (Supreme Court Historical Society) 1985, 35-92.
LaPiana, William P. "Dusty books and living history: why all those old state reports really matter." Law Library Journal 81:1 (Winter 1989), 33-39.
Surrency, Erwin C. "Law reports in the United States." American Journal of Legal History 25:1 (Jan. 1981), 48-66.
Young, T. J., Jr. "Look at American law reporting in the 19th century." Law Library Journal 68 (Aug. 1975), 294-306.

General works

Holdsworth, William Searle. A History of English Law. 17 vols. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1966-72.
Langbein, John H., Renée Lettow Lerner, & Bruce P. Smith. History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions. Forthcoming 2009, Aspen Publishers.
Simpson, A.W.B., ed. Biographical Dictionary of the Common Law. London: Butterworths, 1984.
Woxland, Thomas A., & Patti J. Ogden. Landmarks in American Legal Publishing: An Exhibit Catalog. [St. Paul, Minn.?:] West Publishing Co., [1989?].

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Foreign & Int'l: Treaties in Force 2009

Teresa Miguel — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:22:00 -0700

The just-released Treaties in Force 2009 publication by the U.S. Department of State will tell you what bilateral and mulitlateral treaties to which the United States is a party are currently in force. This is an annual publication also available in print and on HeinOnline (subscription database available to Yale community only).

Treaty research can be complicated so there are plenty of research guides and databases to help with your research. You will find them on our Foreign and International Research Resources page.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 17 -- The birth of the National Reporter System

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:59:00 -0700

John B. West & Co., The Syllabi, vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct. 21, 1876; reprint ed.; St. Paul, Minn., 1991).

John B. West & Co., The Northwestern Reporter, vol. 1 (1st ed.; St. Paul, Minn., 1879).

After the Civil War, the number of cases being reported rose astronomically. However, these case reports were still very slow to reach print; delays of months or years were not uncommon. Select reports sometimes appeared in newspapers but, as they were aimed at the general public, these were not always accurate. In 1876, John B. West began publishing The Syllabi, a weekly newsletter aimed at practicing attorneys in his home state of Minnesota. Its goal was to "furnish the legal profession of the state, with prompt and reliable intelligence." It lasted for six months before evolving into book format, and then being renamed The Northwestern Reporter.

The Northwestern Reporter was the first of the National Reporter System case reporter series published by West Publishing Company. By 1887, eight years later, West reporters would cover every state jurisdiction. In addition to being timely and accurate, West reporters were the first to feature editorial enhancements such as summaries of court opinions. Although not present in this first volume, later volumes also incorporated Key Numbers from the new West Digest system.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 16 -- The battle of the Supreme Court reporters

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:50:00 -0700

Report of the Copy-Right Case of Wheaton v. Peters: Decided in the Supreme Court of the United States: with an Appendix, Containing the Acts of Congress Relating to Copy-Right (New York, 1834).

Henry Wheaton had been unofficial reporter of U.S. Supreme Court cases from 1816-1827. Although his Reports were considered comprehensive and accurate, they were also quite expensive, being swollen with Wheaton's lengthy annotations. When Richard Peters took the post of court reporter, he took it upon himself to condense the reports of his three predecessors and to sell these condensed volumes for a tidy sum. Wheaton promptly sued. In this landmark copyright case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for Peters and held that "no reporter has or can have any copyright" in the Court’s opinions.

Although not named, Peters is the likely publisher of this report. The dedication to Chief Justice Marshall, "due to your unequalled ability and usefulness; to the greatness of your character; the purity of your motives; and the kindness of your judicial deportment," has the ring of a grateful litigant.

This volume is part of the Walter Pforzheimer Collection of copyright law.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 15 -- The first U.S. Supreme Court reports

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:36:00 -0700

Alexander James Dallas (1759-1817), Reports of Cases Ruled and Adjudged in the Several Courts of the United States, and of Pennsylvania, Held at the Seat of the Federal Government, vol. 2 (Philadelphia, 1798).

In 1790 (one year after Ephraim Kirby began publishing Connecticut reports), Alexander Dallas began publishing Pennsylvania reports. The same year, the U.S. Supreme Court began operating out of Philadelphia. Dallas included a few of those reports in the second volume of his reports, and so he is considered the first U.S. Supreme Court reporter. Dallas produced only four volumes of case reports and they were often derided for being incomplete, inaccurate, and tardy. The Supreme Court reports were at least five years old when they appeared. Shown here is the first page of Supreme Court reports, where the Court began to organize itself and adopt its first rules. It was not until the August Term, 1792, that the Court rendered its first substantive decision, in Georgia v. Brailsford (2 Dallas 402). After Dallas, the unofficial post of reporter to the Supreme Court was held in turn by William Cranch, Henry Wheaton, and Richard Peters.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 14 -- A reporter discusses his work

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:18:00 -0700

William Johnson (1769-1848), letter to John Wells Esq., (Albany, NY, October 23, 1819).

William Johnson was Chief Justice Kent’s handpicked successor to George Caines as official reporter for the New York Supreme Court. During his tenure, Johnson produced 20 volumes of Johnson's Reports, covering the period from 1806 to 1823. Johnson later added the post of Chancery Court reporter to his duties. Johnson's Chancery Reports, covering the years 1814-1823, were the only specialized American equity reports of their time, greatly contributing to their influence in other states.

In the letter displayed here, Johnson mentions the case of Percival v. Hickey, which he reported in vol. 18 of his New York Supreme Court reports, and discusses the tribulations of a reporter's work. The letter reads in full:

John Wells Esq.
Counsellor at Law
New York

Albany October 23rd 1819

My dear friend,
     The motion to bring on the case of Percival & Hickey was made today by Mr. Sedgwick, & accordingly I moved for the postponement of the arguments until the next term, which was granted. The plaintiff was here, & complained loudly of his Counsel Mr. E. [T.A. Emmet]. Mr. Strong forgot to send the points with the cases, which might have created a difficulty had the case been ordered on.
     The court have business, from the middle & northern Counties, sufficient to occupy them until Wednesday of next week. I hope to be able to leave here on that day, so as to have a short time in N.Y. before the Court of Errors.
     My Reports must fall greatly in arrears if so much of my time is passed in this place, of which every year, I become more & more tired.

     Yours truly,

Wm. Johnson

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 13 -- The first official American law reports

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:16:00 -0700

George Caines (1771-1825), Cases Argued and Determined in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors, in the State of New-York (New York, 1805).

There was no formalized system of reporting in the U.S. until 1804, when both the New York and Massachusetts legislatures provided for official reporters with paid stipends. George Caines was appointed the first official law reporter for the New York Supreme Court. However, Chief Justice James Kent ousted Caines after only one year, complaining that "his work is too full of mistakes."

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 12 -- The first American law reports

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:05:00 -0700

Ephraim Kirby (1757-1804), Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Superior Court of The State Of Connecticut, from the Year 1785, to May 1788 (Litchfield, Conn., 1789).

Although American courts were producing a small number of written opinions after the Revolutionary War, those opinions failed to be collected or published in any systematic manner. Kirby's Reports, a collection of Connecticut Superior Court cases published in 1789, was the first volume of law reports published in America. Ephraim Kirby was educated at Yale University and practiced law in Litchfield, Connecticut before being appointed the first Superior Court Judge of the Mississippi Territory by President Jefferson.

This volume is from the library of Simeon E. Baldwin, the professor credited with saving the Yale Law School in the late 19th century. It previously belonged to his father, Roger Sherman Baldwin, one of the attorneys for the Amistad captives.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 11 -- Reforming the English reports

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:42:00 -0700

W. T. S. Daniel (1806-1891), A Letter to Sir Roundell Palmer ... on the Present System of Law Reporting, Its Evils, and the Remedy (London, 1863?).

W. T. S. Daniel was active in many areas of law reform, and in 1863 he began working for a better system of law reporting. There was wide dissatisfaction with the existing system. The authorized reports were tardy and expensive, prompting competition from weekly legal newspapers. Daniel outlined his solution in this open letter to his ally, Attorney General Sir Roundell Palmer. His efforts resulted in the creation of the Incorporated Council for Law Reporting, which began issuing an official series of reports under the auspices of the bar, which continues to this day.

Daniel presented this copy to "Th. Carlton", and also amended the title.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 10 -- Burrow’s Reports: "Works of art"

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:36:00 -0700

Sir James Burrow (1701-1782), Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of King’s Bench ... (5 vols.; London, 1766-80).

Burrow's Reports established the modern pattern of what a law report should contain: the reporter’s statement of the facts, a summary of the arguments of counsel, and the court’s judgment.

Burrow had collected notes on King’s Bench cases for some time, and was prompted to publish them after being subjected to "continual interruption and even persecution by incessant application for searches into my notes, for transcripts of them, sometimes for the note-books themselves (not always returned without trouble and solicitation), not to mention frequent conversations upon very dry and uninteresting subjects, which my consulters were paid for considering, but I had no sort of concern in."

"Burrow's Reports, therefore, may, in their department, fairly be called 'works of art,' -- ... case, arguments, and opinion – going out to the bar separate in form as distinct in nature, each from the other; each complete in itself, but having, one with all, exact and reciprocal adaptation, and presenting so a full, harmonious, but never redundant whole." -- John W. Wallace, The Reporters Arranged and Characterized (4th ed. 1882).

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 9 -- Worst reports...

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:26:00 -0700

Sir John Popham (1531?-1607), Reports and Cases Collected by the Learned, Sir John Popham, Knight, Late Lord Chief-Justice of England (London, 1656).

Popham’s Reports is but one of “the flying squadrons of thin reports” published in the mid- to late 17th century, and exemplifies their shortcomings. Popham himself can’t be blamed because he died a half-century before their publication, and probably never intended for them to be published. They were taken from a manuscript of unknown quality, and supplemented with a number of later cases. They were among many case reports translated (often badly) into English following the Commonwealth’s ban on the use of Law French in the courts. Many judges rejected them as having no authority, and banned their citation in court.

Sir John Popham was one of the most colorful of the law reporters, if the stories about him can be believed. As a child he was supposedly kidnapped and raised by gypsies, and worked his way through law studies at the Middle Temple as a petty thief. As a barrister, however, Popham rose through the ranks. By 1581 he was speaker of the House of Commons and Attorney General, and in 1592 he was made Chief Justice of King’s Bench. He was known as a strict but fair judge, and presided over the trials of the Earl of Essex, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. He was also one of the promoters of the Jamestown colony in Virginia.

“Indigested crudities”

“A multitude of flying reports (whose Authors are as uncertain as the times when taken, and the causes and reasons of the Judgements as obscure, as by whom judged) have of late surreptitiously crept forth; whereby ... we have been entertained with barren & unwarranted Products ... which not only tends to the depraving of the first grounds & reason of our Students at the Common Law, & the young practitioners thereof, who by such false Lights are misled, ... but also to the contempt of our Common Law itselfe, and of divers of our former grave and learned Justices and professors thereof, whose honored and revered names have in some of said Books been abused and invocated to patronize the indigested crudities of those plagiaries.” -- Sir Harbottle Grimston, preface to The Reports of Sir George Croke (1657)

“See the inconveniences of these scambling reports, they will make us to appear to posterity for a parcel of blockheads.” -- Holt C.J., Slater v. May, 2 Raymond 1072 (1704)

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 8 -- Saunders' Reports

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:19:00 -0700

Sir Edmund Saunders (d. 1683), Les Reports du Tres Erudite Edmund Saunders ... des Divers Pleadings et Cases en le Court del Bank le Roy (2 vols.; London, 1686).

Edmund Saunders authored the best law reports of the late 17th century, known for their accuracy and clarity. They set out the pleadings and give concise summaries of the facts, issues, arguments, and judgment. The overriding focus of the reports is with the law of pleading, at which Saunders was the acknowledged master. Later on, Saunders' Reports was translated and annotated and became a classic textbook on pleading, although Saunders' own text had largely disappeared by its last edition in 1871.

"Within the first decade after the Restoration there are several new reports, extending for the most part over the remainder of the Stuart period. Chief among them is Saunders (1666-73), who is universally conceded to be the most accurate and valuable reporter of his age. His work is confined to the decisions of the King's Bench between the eighteenth and twenty-fourth years of the reign of Charles II. Saunders participated as counsel in most of the cases, and he reports them with admirable clearness. In general his reports resemble Plowden's; but they are much more condensed. He gives the pleadings and entries at length, and follows in regular order with a concise statement of the points at issue, the arguments of counsel, and a clear statement of the grounds of the judgment. The work was subsequently enriched by the learned annotations of Sergeant Williams." -- Van Vechten Veeder, "The English Reports, 1292-1865," 15 Harvard Law Review 1, 15 (1901).

Edmund Saunders' life is one of the few rags-to-riches stories of English law. Born into abject poverty, he taught himself to be a clerk and eventually entered the Middle Temple. His skill as a special pleader earned him a lucrative practice, but he lived simply. A contemporary, Roger North, described him as a heavy drinker and "a fetid mass that offended his neighbors at the bar in the sharpest degree." He was kind, witty, honest, and idolized by law students: "I have seen him for hours ... with an audience of students over against him, putting of cases and debating so as suited their capacities and encouraged their industry."

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 7 -- Manuscript reports

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:04:00 -0700

Sir Francis Moore (1558-1621), Cases collected and reported by Sir Francis Moore (manuscript in Law French, 2 vols., 1621).

________, Cases Collect & Report per Sir Fra. Moore Chevalier, Serjeant del Ley ... (2nd ed.; London 1688).

Sir Francis Moore was a prominent English barrister during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. This manuscript, completed by Moore the year he died, contains notes of significant cases he and others observed in the Courts of King’s Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer, and Chancery between 1512-1621. The first page of the manuscript proclaims Moore’s authorship: “Ex Libro Francisci Moore Militis Servieu ad Legem script p[ro]pria manu ipius,” which roughly translates as “Manuscript of Francis Moore, Sergeant of Law, written by his own hand.”

Although printing was widespread by this time, it remained expensive. As a result, books with a limited audience continued to be distributed in manuscript form. Moore’s reports circulated widely in manuscript before they were first published in 1663.

This manuscript once belonged to the noted jurist Sir Matthew Hale (whose signature appears on an interior page to indicate ownership), and is among the 21 manuscript volumes from Hale’s library now in the Yale Law Library’s rare book collection. Hale’s second wife was Moore’s granddaughter.

The printed volume on display belonged to Samuel Hitchcock (whose signature appears on the title page), one of the founders of Yale Law School. It was part of the original collection of the Yale Law Library, and forms part of the Founders’ Collection.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 6 -- First Chancery reports

Mike Widener — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:55:00 -0700

William Tothill (1560-1627), The Transactions of the High Court of Chancery, Both by Practice and President (London, 1671).

Although reports of Chancery cases had occasionally appeared in manuscript Year Books and various printed case reports, Tothill's Transactions of the High Court of Chancery (1st ed. 1649) was the first printed collection devoted exclusively to Chancery cases. Van Vechten Veeder described them as "extremely brief and unsatisfactory, often giving merely a bare statement of the facts of a cases and the final decree, without any indication of the grounds of the judgment" ("The English Reports, 1292-1865," 15 Harvard Law Review 1, 112 (1901)). Decent Chancery reports did not appear until the dawn of the 18th century.

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Rare Books: Landmarks of Law Reporting 5 -- Sir Edward Coke and "The Reports"

Mike Widener — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:55:00 -0700

Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), Les Reports de Edvvard Coke l’Attorney Generall le Roigne ... (London, 1600?).

Sir Edward Coke's Reports are perhaps the most influential reports in the history of English law, so much so that they are cited simply as "The Reports." Their authority rests mainly on the high reputation of their author, and not on their accuracy or objectivity. Coke was not shy about inserting his own views, and set out not only to report the law but also to teach it. His vast learning spills out, rendering reports that are often disorderly.

The first volume of Coke's Reports appeared in about 1600 (shown here), and met with such success that ten more volumes appeared in the next fifteen years. Legal historian T.F.T. Plucknett believes Coke may have been the first to report cases with the intent of publishing them soon after. When Coke was dismissed as a judge of King’s Bench in 1616, his political enemies (of which he had many) launched an investigation into alleged errors in the Reports, effectively halting his law reporting.

Coke on his Reports

"And now that I have taken upon myself to make a report of their arguments, I ought to do the same as fully, truly, and sincerely as possibly I can ; howbeit, seeing that almost every Judge had in the course of, his argument a particular method, and I must only hold myself to one, I shall give no just offense to any if I challenge that which of right is due to every Reporter, that is, to reduce the sum and effect of all to such a method as, upon consideration had of all the arguments, the Reporter himself thinketh to be fittest and clearest for the right understanding of the true reason and causes of the judgment and resolution of the case in question." -- Sir Edward Coke, Calvin's Case, 8 Rep. 4a

MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian

"Landmarks of Law Reporting" is on display April through October 2009 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

Reference: Effect of the Economic Situation on American Universities

John Nann — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:47:36 -0700

This article from the New York Review of Books describes the problems facing students and universities in the current financial situation as well as the impact on access to education and further stratification of education. Worth a read!

Reference: Turmoil in UK over Gurkha Immigration

John Nann — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:26:05 -0700

Can Gurkhas who served in the British army settle in the UK? Rule denying automatic rights for those who served while the regiment was based in Hong Kong (until 1997) was overturned by the high court. Efforts to compromise look to be a mess. See this article.

Reference: European Parlaiment votes to extend music copyright

John Nann — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:20:05 -0700

The European Parliament has voted to extend the copyright from 50 to 70 years on recordings. The EU Internal Market Commissioner had proposed 95 years! If passed, will this become known as the "Beatles Act"? Their catalog was to start becoming copyright-free in 2012!

More

Reference: EU Green Paper on Foreign Judgments

John Nann — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:09:58 -0700

On 21 April 2009, the [European] Commission adopted a report and a green paper on the functioning of the existing rules on jurisdiction of the courts and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. It concludes that time has come to achieve a free circulation of judgments in civil and commercial matters in the European Union on the basis of mutual recognition of judgments among Member States.

. . .

In this context, the report limits itself to presenting the outcome of the evaluation of the operation of the Regulation. Instead, the green paper outlines possible avenues for moving forward on the points raised in the report. In summary, the report and green paper address the following issues:

The removal of the remaining obstacles to a free circulation of judgments, i.e. the removal of "exequatur"^[6]
The protection of European citizens and companies in case of disputes with parties domiciled in third States, in particular by ensuring equal access to the courts of the Member States and equal protection against judgments given by the courts of third States against European defendants;
Finally, certain imperfections in the application of certain rules of the Regulation, such as avoiding parallel proceedings in different Member States and ensuring the sound application of contractual agreements as to which courts will deal with the case in the Union.

The report and the green paper aim at launching a broad public consultation of civil society and Member States on the possible ways to deal with the issues referred to above. The deadline for consultation is 30 June 2009. The Commission's work programme foresees that a proposal for revision of the Regulation may be adopted by the end of 2009.

Reference: UK copyright law is considered to be least user friendly

John Nann — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:53:00 -0700

A recent report by Consumers International has concluded that the UK is the worst among 16 leading nations at protecting the rights of the users.

"UK copyright law is the oldest but also the most out of date. It’s time our copyright law caught up with the real world," said Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus. "The current system puts unrealistic limits on our listening and viewing habits and is rapidly losing credibility among consumers. A broad ‘fair use’ exception would bring us in line with consumer expectations, technology and the rest of the world."
.
In addition, the UK government does not seem to see reform of copyright law as a priority.

More

Foreign & Int'l: After Genocide - Rwanda & Beyond

Teresa Miguel — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:39:00 -0700

Our very own Zachary D. Kaufman, YLS JD Candidate '09, will be giving a book talk this Friday, April 17, 2009, at 4:00pm, in the Law Library's L3 Periodical Reading Room. Zach, an Olin Fellow and editor-in-chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review edited After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond with Philip Clark, research fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, and co-founder of Oxford Transitional Justice Research.

In After Genocide, published by Columbia University Press, ". . . leading scholars and practitioners analyze the political, legal, and regional impact of events in post-genocide Rwanda within the broader themes of transitional justice, reconstruction, and reconciliation."

The book includes ". . . chapters from Rwandan academics and practitioners, such as Tom Ndahiro, Solomon Nsabiyera Gasana, and Jean Baptiste Kayigamba—all of whom are also survivors of the 1994 genocide—and draws on their personal experiences. After Genocide constitutes the most comprehensive survey to date of issues related to post-genocide Rwanda and transitional justice." Read a more complete description of the book.

After Genocide is not on our shelves yet, but it will be very soon!

On a related note, to start researching the domestic law of Rwanda, begin with our Country-by-Country guide. A nice portal to Rwandan legislation is Lexadin's World Law Guide. Also, a simple Morris "Call Number" search for Rwanda -- KTD --will return a list of titles that have been assigned to Rwandan law. Other human rights materials related to Rwanda are found elsewhere in the library collection. A Morris Subject Heading" search, human rights rwanda, will return more resources cataloged primarily under human rights rather than strictly Rwandan law.

Reference: Library 2.0 Symposium

John Nann — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:02:00 -0700

This past Saturday, Yale Law School's Information Society Project hosted a fantastic symposium on "Library 2.0". Materials from the conference, including video of the sessions and the concurrent twitter conversations is available at: http://yaleispblog.net/ . Take a look, the issues are increadibly important: its no exageration to say that the future of society will, to a large extent, be driven by the resolution of these issues. Also, it was great fun.

Foreign & Int'l: Treaty Research with Flare

Teresa Miguel — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:15:00 -0700

The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies has released a new easy-to-use treaty index: FIT, the Flare Index to Treaties.

FIT is searchable by any one or a combination of the following:

keywords drawn from the official, popular and alternative titles which have been used for each treaty
additional keywords relevant to the subject matter or organisations associated with the treaty
the date on which the treaty was concluded
the place where the treaty was concluded

For example, a free-text search for "genocide" will redirect you to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. When you click on the Convention, you'll discover that the treaty was concluded on 9/12/1958 in New York, and is published at 78 UNTS 277 (and many other places). There are also several links that will take you to the full-text of the convention.

For more resources related to treaty research, including a drafting history (travaux preparatoires) research guide and an annotated list of databases, see the Yale Foreign and International Resources page.

Reference: OECD lashes out at university 'conservatism'

John Nann — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:59:04 -0700

"Traditional university faculties are too conservative and are standing in the way of progress, as Europe's education system struggles to become more innovative, according to the head of the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation."

-more-

Reference: YouTube - Librarians' Parade

Jason Eiseman — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:08:49 -0700

via youtube.com

Video from 1930 showing librarians moving with book from the old library to the Sterling Memorial Library. This comes from Yale's YouTube Channel.

Reference: Database Trial

John Nann — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:17:02 -0700

Justis

via law.yale.edu

We are conducting a trial of an additional portion of the Justis database. In this case, their version of CELEX, the documents of the European Union. To give it a try, simply go to Justis (you can click on the link above) and, once you are in the database, click on the EU and then search. Please let us know what you think. The trial continues until early April.

Posted by jnann.

Reference: Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship

John Nann — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:14:15 -0700

New developments in legal publishing result in librarians encouragiong electronic publication of law journals.

About | Statement | Signatories

About

On 7 November 2008, the directors of the law libraries at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, the University of Texas, and Yale University met in Durham, North Carolina at the Duke Law School. That meeting resulted in the "Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship," which calls for all law schools to stop publishing their journals in print format and to rely instead on electronic publication coupled with a commitment to keep the electronic versions available in stable, open, digital formats.

via cyber.law.harvard.edu

Reference: Highlighted Resource:

John Nann — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:19:00 -0700

American Foreign Relations since 1600
32 chronologically organized chapters that combine bibliographies, biographies, and analysis written by scholars in the field, and conclude with examinations of every part of the world or nation addressed by the United States during that period; includes 18,000+ primary and secondary sources that cover the breadth of American history from the 17th century to the present.

via law.yale.edu

As long as you are connected to the Yale network just click for access. If you need information about connecting to the Yale network from off-campus, click here.

Reference: Library 2.0 Symposium to Explore the Future of Digital Collections

ct286 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:55:00 -0800

The Yale Information Society Project will host the Library 2.0 Symposium on Saturday, April 4, 2009, at Yale Law School. The confluence of book digitization projects, user-generated content, and social networking applications is forcing us to rethink the role of libraries.

This symposium will bring together leading thinkers from libraries, academia, and legal practice to lay out a vision for the future of the library and digital collections; the ethical implications of Library 2.0, including data retention and patron privacy; intellectual property rights in user-generated and traditional digital library content; and the future of book digitization projects. Featured speakers will include Ann Wolpert, head of MIT libraries and the MIT press; John Palfrey, Professor of Law and Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School; Josh Greenberg of the New York Public Library; Jeff Cunard of Debevoise and Plimpton; and a host of other luminaries.

The Library 2.0 Symposium will take place in Room 127 of Yale Law School located at 127 Wall Street, New Haven, Connecticut. This event is free and open to the public but is expected to fill up quickly. Please register at your earliest convenience at http://www.regonline.com/Checkin.asp?EventId=705106. More information about the symposium is available on the Yale ISP web site at http://isp.law.yale.edu.

The Library 2.0 Symposium is made possible by the generosity of the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School.

Reference: Digitized Congressional Hearings

ct286 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:46:00 -0800

LexisNexis Congressional Hearings Digital Collection now includes access to every published and unpublished Congressional hearing from 1824 through the present. You can search the collection via Yale's legal databases page.

Reference: One-on-one and small group training

ct286 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:20:00 -0800

Are you working on a research project, gathering legal materials for a SAW, or trying to track down a series of articles for a law journal? Reference librarians are here to help! Librarians are available to provide in-depth one-on-one training and informal small group classes on a wide variety of research topics! Interested students or faculty may fill out this form and one of the reference librarians will design a class specifically tailored to meet your needs.

Foreign & Int'l: Westlaw China Database Trial

Evelyn Ma — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:44:00 -0800

The Law Library is testing Westlaw China, a new database with primary and secondary sources on China laws:

http://www.westlawchina.com/login.php

The trial user ID and password can be found in YLS Inside Research Sites under Library Database Passwords.

Foreign & Int'l: Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS)

Teresa Miguel — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:27:00 -0800

The State Deparment recently began publishing online the Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS). This website is open-access and a work-in-progress. As of today there are only treaties from the years 1996 - 1998. The treaties are available in pdf.

You can find scanned pdfs of the TIAS print volumes on HeinOnline from 1982 - 1996.

The print volumes of TIAS are available on L1 (KZ235.32 .U55) and, like the online State Department version, have only been released up to 1998.

Foreign & Int'l: War Crimes Research Portal and Webcasts

Teresa Miguel — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:03:00 -0800

The Frederick K. Cox International Law Center at Case Western Reserve law school has developed an exiting new War Crimes Research Portal. The portal has four features:

the portal contains over a thousand links to websites related to international humanitarian law, arranged alphabetically by subject area and including a summary of the content of each site;
the portal contains the text of over 120 research memoranda on issues pending before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the International Criminal Court. The memos can be searched by date published, title, or keywords. (Cites to the memos should take the following form: [Author’s name], [Title of Memo], Research Memorandum Prepared for the Office of the Prosecutor of the [Name of Tribunal], [Date].);
there is a Research Guide to international humanitarian law and tribunals, prepared by the Case Law School Law Library, which includes a bibliography of relevant articles and books, as well as links to international law journals on the Web;
the portal contains "instant analysis" articles, written each month by the members of the American Branch of the International Association of Penal Law, on the hottest topics in international criminal law.

Frederick K. Cox International Law Center also has webcasts available of recent events:

War Crimes Research Symposium: The International Criminal Court and the Crime of Aggression
Speakers: M. Cherif Bassiouni, Mark Ellis, Don Ferencz, William Schabas and many more
http://law.case.edu/lectures/webcast.asp?dt=20080926
Klatsky Seminar in Human Rights: The Future of Human Rights
Speaker Information: Geoffrey Robertson, Queen's Counsel, formerly of the SCSL
http://law.case.edu/lectures/webcast.asp?dt=20081106

When searching for books on war crimes and humanitarian law in Morris, try searching by the following Subject Headings:

war crime trials
war (international law)
guerillas (international law)

Foreign & Int'l: HeinOnline's new United Nations Law Collection

Teresa Miguel — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:52:00 -0700

HeinOnline is a subscription database collection available to the Yale community.*

HeinOnline's United Nations Law Collection will allow you to access UN research materials quickly and easily using the Finding Aids available from the collection home page. The Finding Aids include the ability to:

Find and retrieve a UN Treaty by entering the UNTS Citation
Search for a UN Treaty by treaty/registration number, country, short title, popular name and more
Search by subject, as all treaties have been assigned a Kavass Subject
Find and link directly to law review articles that cite a UN Treaty

Hein has also developed user guides, video tutorials, FAQ’s, and more. Training Resources Include:

Quick Reference Guide (PDF format): http://heinonline.org/HeinDocs/UN_QuickRefGuide.pdf
Video Tutorial: http://www.screencast.com/t/JN7N3S57
United Nations Law Collection Wiki Page: http://heinonline.org/wiki/index.php/HeinOnlineLibSpec:United_Nations

The United Nations Law Collection Wiki page contains links to the Quick Reference Guide, Video Tutorial, FAQs, How-To information, search examples, and more!

Hein further invites users to collaborate and join in discussions via HeinOnline’s 2.0 Community. Friend Hein on Facebook, collaborate on Hein's Wiki, subscribe to Hein's Blog, watch Hein on YouTube, or follow Hein on Twitter!

Visit Hein at http://www.heinonline.org/home/training/Educational_Resources.html to find out more about our virtual community.

*In order to access HeinOnline and other Yale subscription database from off-campus, you must be connected to the Yale network via VPN.

Foreign & Int'l: International Video Law Library

Teresa Miguel — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:39:00 -0700

The International Video Law Library is a fantastic place to find, listen to, and watch leading experts in the field discuss substantive international law issues. Also within the International Video Law Library is the Human Rights Video Library.

Some of the lectures in the library include:

Thomas Buergenthal, Judge at the International Court of Justice, speaks about reservations to treaties.

Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court, for an interview in September 2005 in which he introduced himself, and went on to give the historical background of the creation of the International Criminal Court. President Kirsch then when on to explain how the Court functions, its structure, and finally gave a status report of the Court's activites as of 2005.
James Crawford , Whewell Professor of International Law, University of Cambridge, considers his time at the UN International Law Commission as part of the Working Group on an International Criminal Court and the drafting of the 1994 Draft Statute for an International Criminal Court. The 1994 ILC Draft was source of the drafting process which ultimately lead to the 1998 Rome Diplomatic Conference and the creation of the International Criminal Court.
Judge Navanethem Pillay, President of the International Criminal for Rwanda Tribunal (1999 - 2003) and later Judge of the International Criminal Court introduces herself and explains why the Rwanda Tribunal was established. Judge Pillay speaks about the legacy which the ICTR will leave in respect to the evolution of international jursiprudence, and discusses the means by which the ICTR will finish its work.
Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), discusses the feminist approach to international law.

There are many more. Enjoy!

Of course the Yale Law Library has a fantastic print and electronic international law library. For a list of our electronic international law resources, go to our webpage of Foreign, International and Transnational Law Resources. Our international law reference books, treatises, looseleafs, and monographs are in the compact and open shelving areas and reading room on L1 as well as the Upper East Side. The librarians are more than happy to assist you with your international legal research!

Foreign & Int'l: EU and Cuba Renew Relations

Teresa Miguel — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:52:00 -0700

The BBC recently reported that the EU and Cuba have formally renewed ties that were severed 5 years ago following "a mass arrest of dissidents." Cuba will now receive 2 million Euros of aid for the hurricanes that swept over the island this summer; aid will increase to 30 million Euros next year.

The Yale Law Library purchases Cuban legal materials whenever possible, in both English and Spanish. You can find Cuban materials on the Lower East Side (LES), Call No. KGN. See, for example:

The Role of the Judiciary in Post-Castro Cuba - KGH2545 .S26 2003
Instrumentos internacionales sobre derechos humanos ratificados por Cuba - KGN3003 .I57 2001
La protección del medio ambiente en Cuba - KGN3305 .A67 C66 2005

Of course we also collect interdisciplinary materials involving Cuba and the United States. Try a Subject Heading search in our Morris catalog:

Cuba - Foreign Relations - United States; or
Cuba - Foreign Economic Relations - United States
When you pull up an item record on Morris, click on any of the Subjects Headings to view other related Subject Headings. Click again on any of the Subject Headings to find related books.

For a compilation of treaties involving Cuba, try another Subject Heading search: Cuba - Foreign Relations - Treaties . Also check out the new and improved United Nations Treaty Collection database. It's open-access and easy to search.

We also have a few Cuban DVDs:

Lucia (1968) by Humberto Solas (one of my all-time favorites!)
Quien Diablos es Julietta? (1967) by Carlos Marcovich
Check IMDB for reviews: Lucia and Julietta

The Avalon Project also has documents pertaining to Cuba, specifically the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Foreign & Int'l: United Nations Treaty Collection

Teresa Miguel — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:49:00 -0700

The new and improved United Nations Treaty Collection database is up and running. In this fabulous open-access database, you can find the complete run of the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS), League of Nations Treaty Series (LoN), Multilateral treaties deposited with the UN, Status of Treaties (MTDSG), Certified True Copies (CTCs) of treaties (pdfs), and Depositary Notifications (CNs). There is a UN legal research guide, cumulative index, and more. The database has been further refined to offer a variety of advanced search features including Popular Name search, Title search, and Participant search.

UNTS is also available in print in the tunnel between L1 and the UES. You can find all of Yale's subscription-based and some open-access international law databases and resources on our Foreign and International Law Resources page.

Foreign & Int'l: Messi conflict in Barcelona v. FIFA

Teresa Miguel — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:01:00 -0700

Lionel Messi, one of the world's greatest football (i.e. soccer) players at the moment, is caught in the middle of a conflict. His national squad, Argentina, has called him to play in the Olympics this month. His club team, Barcelona, who pays his multi-million euro salary, does not want him to go because of Champion's League obligations. Barcelona has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a ruling. Here is the court's summary of the dispute:

The CAS has registered an appeal from FC Barcelona against the decision made by the Single Judge of the FIFA Players' Status Committee regarding the release of players for the Olympic Games. This appeal will be handled together with the appeals filed by FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen against the same FIFA decision. The CAS will deliver its final ruling on or before 6 August 2008.

FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the governing body of football, has long contended that players should be released to play with their national teams. A single judge from the FIFA Players' Status Committee ruled on July 30, 2008 that the clubs must release their players to the national teams. This ruling was appealed by the clubs to the CAS.

AUGUST 6 UPDATE: According to Reuters, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has shockingly ruled that club teams may recall their players from their national teams! Regardless, both FIFA President Sepp Blatter and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge are calling on the clubs to allow their players to remain in China to compete in the Olympics.

Photo of Lionel Messi in his Argentina kit from the Guardian: CAS steps in to stop players heading to Beijing.

The Yale Law Library has quite a few resources pertaining to the Court of Arbitration for sport such as:

The proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport - 2006 Conference - K3702 .P36 2007
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, 1984 - 2006 - K3702 .C686 2006
Arbitraje deportivo - K3702 .G66 2006

We also have other titles dealing with various aspects of sports law:

The regulation of sport in the European Union - KJE6063 .R44X 2007
Equal play: Title IX and social change - KF4166 .E68X 2007
The strict liability principle and the human rights of athletes in doping cases - K3702 .S64 2007

There are many sports law journals, too (do a subject heading search in Morris, for example: Sports - law and legislation - united states - periodicals):

Seton Hall journal of sports and entertainment law - K23 .E83 and Hein Online
The sports lawyers' journal - K23 .P67 and Hein Online

Foreign & Int'l: Guantanamo Bay Cases

Teresa Miguel — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:00:00 -0700

The U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia has created a webpage of public information on the Guantanamo Bay cases. Find the court schedule, court orders and opinions, and press releases and notices.

Meanwhile, back at the camp, the trial of Osama Bin Laden's driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, began about 10 days ago, as reported on NPR. In 2006, Yale law students worked closely with Mr. Hamdan's lawyer, Neal Katyal, a YLS grad, in his challenge of the use of military commissions; they were victorious. As a result, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Another Guantanamo prisoner, Omar Khadr, has been in the news recently as a result of the release of a videotaped interrogation conducted on the island. The video was released by Mr. Khadar's defense team, as explained in this story on NPR. An interesting history of Mr. Khadar's life and eventual detention at Guantanamo can be read in a 2006 article in Rolling Stone; a summary of his legal history can be found on Human Rights First.

The U.S. Dept. of Defense, Military Commissions, has a website with court filings and documents pertaining to Mr. Khadr's and Mr. Hamdan's cases, as well as other Guantanamo Bay detainees facing trial. The Military Commissions Act and Military Commissions Manual can also be found here.

The Yale Law Library has several recently published book on the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the Guantanamo detainees:

Honor Bound: Inside the Guantanamo Trials by Kyndra Miller Rotunda (2008)
Bush, the Detainees, and the Constitution: The Battle over Presidential Power in the War on Terror by Howard Ball (2007)
Beyond the Law: The Bush Administration's Unlawful Responses in the "War" on Terror by Jordan J. Paust (2007)

We also have interesting historical works on military commissions in the U.S.:

Constitutional Limitation on Trials by Military Commissions by Harold Loeb (1943) (microfiche)
Military Commissions for the Trial of Citizens: A Letter to the Attorney General of the United States by John H. James, Jr. (1860) (microfiche and MOML)
An Argument to Establish the Illegality of Military Commissions in the United States, and Especially of the One Organized for the Trial of the Parties Charged with Conspiring to Assassinate the Late President, and Others, Presented to that Commission, on Monday, the 19th of June, 1865 by Reverdy Johnson, one of the counsel of Mrs. Surratt (1865)

There are several online, free research guides pertaining to the Military Commissions Act of 2006:

Foreign & Int'l: Paraguayan President Granted Holy Dispensation

Teresa Miguel — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:41:00 -0700

In an unprecedented decision the Vatican has granted Paraguayan President-elect Fernando Lugo dispensation of "all obligations as a priest, as a bishop and as a religious man of the Divine Word" (my translation). The dispensation by Pope Benedict XVI was formally announced today in Paraguay by Orlando Antonini, Apostalic Nuncio of the Vatican. Antonini also stated that this decision was reached after several years of research and analysis into Canon Law.

President-elect Lugo resigned from the priesthood in 2006 when he decided to run for president. His victory in April 2008 ended the 61-year rule of the Partido Colorado in Paraguay. He will officially take office on August 15, 2008. At the time of his 2006 resignation, he was advised that he might be excommunicated for violating the Vatican's rule against clerical involvement in politics. Read more...

Yale has a fantastic Canon Law collection located on the LES (Lower East Side) of the library, with current and historical texts in many languages, such as:

The Canon Law (2002) (a handbook of Catholic Theology)
Die Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des Canonischen Rechts (1875) (The History of the Sources and Literature of Canon Law (my translation) - a bibliography).

There are also several law reviews dedicated to Canon Law, such as:

There are several excellent, free, online research guides to assist with Canon Law research:

There is even a blog dedicated to Canon Law by Prof. Edward N. Peters, J.D., J.C.D., Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, MI:

In Light of the Law

Foreign & Int'l: Recueil de Cours - online! Part II

Teresa Miguel — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:06:00 -0700

Recently I wrote that The Hague Academy of International Law's Recueil des Cours de l'Academie de la Haye was online with free browsing but at the time the Yale Law Library had not yet purchased a subscription to the full-text.

Today I am happy to write that we have subscribed and you can now browse, search and access all the full-text articles.

"The Academy is a prestigious international institution for the study and teaching of Public and Private International Law and related subjects. The work of the Hague Academy receives the support and recognition of the UN. Its purpose is to encourage a thorough and impartial examination of the problems arising from international relations in the field of law. The courses deal with the theoretical and practical aspects of the subject, including legislation and case law. All courses at the Academy are, in principle, published in the language in which they were delivered in the Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law.

You can also access our complete print collection in the Yale Law Library on L1, Call No. KZ 3092 .R43.

Foreign & Int'l: China-Related Electronic Journals

Evelyn Ma — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:35:00 -0700

Legal periodicals are often a good starting point when you are researching a broad legal topic. The Law Library has access to three online legal journal databases in Chinese: Chinese Academic Journals (CAJ), Wan Fang's Chinese Online Journals (COJ) and ChinaLawInfo's journal collection. For those who are interested in researching China law but are not proficient in Chinese, HeinOnline (Law Journal Library and Foreign & International Law Resources Collection), JSTOR and SpringerLink's Frontiers of Law in China include a variety of China-related legal and inter-disciplinary journal titles published in English. The latter, a collaborative publication by publisher Springer with Renmin University in Beijing consists of English translation of selective law review articles originally published in the vernacular by universities in China. While the quality of the English translation varies, the selection of articles provide an overview of legal issues currently of interest to the Chinese legal community.

For better access, the China Law Research Resources page in Morris (under Research tab) now has a link to a union list of China-Related Electronic Serial Titles included in the three journal databases. The selective list includes the more commonly known journals currently accessible from three A to Z lists in the law library research website (Legal Databases, Yale University Library E-Journals & Newspapers and Other Databases). They are arranged alphabetically by their Pinyin or English titles in the union list. Information relating to the coverage of each journal title is available as well as direct links to the databases.

Lastly, a recent blog post in Law Librarian Blog includes a useful bibliography of China-related journal articles and treatises published in English and German in 2007compiled by Dr. Knut Benjamin Pissler of Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. See here.