Easy listening legal history

Westminster Hour on BBC Radio4 (Sundays starting at 10 pm)  is currently running a Sunday Supplement on the topic of  Cases that Changed Our World.  Clive Coleman, whose voice you probably already know as he also presents  ‘Law In Action’ for Radio 4 ,  is selecting cases which marked a new departure in the development of  various aspects of the law or the legal system.
The forthcoming session (Sunday 8 November 2009 10 pm) will be about a

A puff too far?

strangely topical  case  about  a “positive” cure for influenza, the woman who discovered it failed to live up to the claims of the advertisement … and the boundaries of contract. Those with access to The Times Digital Archive (Oxford people if you’re off campus, log in to OXLP+ to get access to this database) can read the editorial for July 5 1892 p.9 col.7 for “much diversion and not a little edification.”

(Thanks to Leeds University’s UK Law Online for the image left – click on the image to go to their sight to read all about it.

The first Sunday Supplement was about the perils of jury service in the 1670s, & will be available for a while at this   listen again facility.  Some of you may have seen The Trial of Penn and Mead at the Edinburgh Fringe, or the even luckier among you enjoyed it in London (with a glass of wine) – most of us will just have to settle for reading the account in Howell’s State Trials And of course listening to the BBC!

 

International commercial law

If you are going to be doing research in international commercial law, then you may find the updated Globalex guide on the Harmonization of International Commercial Law  very useful.
  For anyone not familiar with GlobaLex  it is  an electronic legal publication dedicated to international and foreign law research, published by the Hauser Global Law School Program at NYU School of Law. The editors are committed to the dissemination of high-level international, foreign, and comparative law research tools. The information and articles published by GlobaLex represent both research and teaching resources used by legal academics, practitioners and other specialists around the world who are active either in foreign, international, and comparative law research or those focusing on their own domestic law. The guides and articles published are written by scholars well known in their respective fields and are recommended as a legal resource by universities, library schools, and legal training courses. 
While on the topic of international commercial law in particular, there is also an older (2002), but wider-ranging, research guide on  LLRX  International Trade Law Sources on the Internet.  LLRX.com is a free e-journal “dedicated to providing legal, library, IT/IS, marketing and administrative professionals with the most up-to-date information on a wide range of Internet research and technology-related issues, applications, resources and tools.” It was and is the 1996 brainchild of Sabrina I. Pacifici.

Both Globalex and LLRX are invaluable resources for foreign and international law librarians  as their webpages host an ever expanding (and reasonably frequently updated) number of guides to legal research, not just in topics of international law, but for individual jurisdictions as well.

 

Welcome to Michaelmas Term 2009

Bodleian Law Library

Welcome to all new students starting this term and welcome back to all those returning.  We hope that you have a good time and that you visit and make the most of all our services.  We are here to help you and so do contact us and we will help in any way we can.

We continue to have a presence on Facebook and we also Twitter and we are always looking for new fans and followers so take a look and sign up.  Also have a look at the Bodleian Law Library webpages where we have guides and a list of classes for the term.

Just a reminder for everybody using their laptop in the Library, please do use a laptop lock to secure it as the Library is very busy.  There is a wide choice available on Amazon and of course at other similar retailers.

There have been a couple of changes over the summer vacation that those returning may notice. The first one is the Moys reclassification for the UK monographs. This has now been successfully completed and so you will notice that the UK monographs in the main reading room are now arranged differently. There is more background information in the previous blog or if you ask a member of staff we will be happy to answer your questions.

I would also like to introduce myself as a new addition to the Library. My name is Kate Jackson and I am the new Legal Research Librarian. I am in my 4th week now and so gradually getting to grips with everything here, however don’t let that stop you contacting me for help. If you have any questions or problems relating to accessing or using the online databases then do email (katharine.jackson@bodley.ox.ac.uk), phone (01865 271463) or ask for me at the help desk and I will be happy to help.

 

HeinOnline News

During the vacation, somethings have changed on HeinOnline.

 If you are used to printing from this database – the printer icon has moved to the middle of the page toolbar (it used to be far right hand corner).
 If you now do a text search in HeinOnline, the search term(s) you used will not just be highlighted on many more fields than before, including title, author, description, and citation.
The U.S. Statutes at Large library has a new search tool in that Library’s Citation Navigator for finding public laws quickly. It is split into 2 parts to  accommodate the different formats used over the years to cite public laws. The upper section will find statutes using the naming method used by the 57th Congress to present(ex: 87-5 or Chapter 1, 57 Congress). The bottom section will find laws using the naming method used by the 1st-56th Congresses.  There is a short video explanation available if you need more help using this feature.

 

Private International Law new free access journal

The Cuadernos de Derecho Internacional was launched earlier this year as a freely accessible online journal. It is published by  the Private International Law Section of the University Carlos III of Madrid, and is peer reviewed. Although it will accept articles written in any of the major European languages, so far it is largely the vehicle for Italian, Spanish and Portuguese scholarship. For the linguistically challenged, the editors do provide abstracts in English.  The journal, CDT for short, has just released its second issue.  As a legal presence in the commendable Open Journals System it is hoped that it will both flourish and encourage more legal research journals down this path.

 

A Sea of Books: Moys Reclassification Underway

Readers coming to the library during August have been confronted by a sea of books arranged on the desks on the main reading-room floor.

The main reading room floor

These are the monographs from the United Kingdom (Cw UK) section, and it’s amazing to think that all these books fit into such a relatively small space of shelving in the library. So, why have these books left their usual place and migrated to the desks? No, this isn’t a new initiative to bring the Law Bod books closer to you, our readers! Well, at least not literally closer, anyhow. In fact it is the final stage in our ongoing reclassification project. Soon the books will all be back on the shelves, but with a very important difference.

Readers returning to the library in September and October will find that the old law library shelfmarking scheme for UK monographs has changed to the Moys classification scheme. So whereas a shelfmark for a book on UK tort law used to look something like this: Cw UK 570 B345a2 ; it will now look something like this: KN30.BAR 2002. The reason for this change is to ultimately make the collection more accessible to you.

The Moys scheme is named after its creator, the law librarian Elizabeth Moys, and is tailor made for academic law collections. The Moys scheme gives a much more detailed subject classification that will make browsing the shelves an easier and more fruitful exercise. For example, where under the old scheme books on agency, contract, competition law, sale of goods, and finance were all mixed up together under Cw UK 530, under Moys they will each have their own separate sections.

This is an exciting new development for the Law Bod, and although things might seem unfamiliar at first, the staff will, as ever, be ready to help you find your way around.

 

Fog clearing from Chancery

The National Archives (formerly the PRO) staff have made great strides in a project to make Chancery records much more accessible to legal historians, other  historians and genealogists.

Equity Pleadings Database

About 30,000 cases from class C6 (Court of Chancery, Six Clerks Office: Pleadings before 1714, Collins) can be searched online via the Equity Pleadings Database.

The friendly  The Search Screen means that you do not have to start with a Piece Reference, by supplying a range of other search forms  – notice the four tabs offering searches via Persons, Places, Subjects and Case Details - which can be used independently or in combination one with another. Much more useful for the researcher – or those on a “fishing” trip!

The Search by Case Details option will doubtless first catch the eye of lawyers.  If you do not know both parties’ names, you  can just enter eg  Jarndyce as  either plaintiff or defendant.  It is also possible to set a date limit. Narrowing a search to Jarndyce as either plaintiff or defendant is also possible on the Search by Persons screen - use the drop down menu alongside Type of Person. On the same screen,  it is even possible to limit search to cases where Jarndyce was testator – see the Role option.
A surname search could also be refined by a greographical limitation. First, fill in as many boxes as you can/or think useful under the Persons tab, then,  before you click search, click the Places tab,  set a country first (via drop down menu), then go for county, town, parish, or even try the name of field or pub! Click  Search now.  To clear the search string you have to click Clear.

Search by Subjects allows use of up to 3 keywords.

The National Archives recommend  Horwitz’s  Chancery equity records and proceedings, 1600-1800 : a guide to documents in the Public Record Office. (PRO handbooks ; 27)(1995) for anyone not familiar with this court and its workings. I am happy to say we have a copy of this work in the Law Library at   Ref Bibl Cw UK H824a

Since 2003,  TNA staff have had a special project to bring order to the pleadings filed in the Court between 1801 and 1875  – hence the allusion to Bleak House in this blog’s title. (Now there is a bit of background reading  (or background video-watching) that could truly  be classed as  good holiday entertainment! ) I hope that they receive the funding so that they can continue this essential background work – and that their labours will be recognised by a flood of new scholarhip in the history of chancery.

 

Update on OpenJurist.org

On 5 June 2009, I described a new website that offers free access to a substantial body of the case law of the U.S. federal courts: http://openjurist.org

The website is ambitious in its scope, and should be particularly valuable to the many people who do not have access to databases such as Lexis and Westlaw. It did, however, contain a number of anomalies which I described in detail in my earlier post.

I am pleased to be able to report that some of these anomalies have now been corrected. Although more remains to be done, the editors have corrected some of the inaccuracies in the description of the content, and have (and this is extremely helpful) provided an instruction for searching by case name.

OpenJurist should be seen as an important source of U.S. case law for anyone who requires free access.

 

Free human rights resources

As our dedicated law library web page shows, there is no shortage of freely accessible, good quality human rights material available to all via the internet. Indeed sometimes the problem is keeping up.

We have just added a link to Human Rights Update maintained by the chambers called One Crown Office Row.  The barristers in that chamber realised that the Human Rights Act 1998 would have wide-ranging impact (HRA came into force in October 2000), so quickly set up a case analysis database which it is happy to share with the public. To see the full content you have to register with the site, but this is free.

At the moment, you can access analysis of about 1,000 cases; the site is updated weekly so the currency is good. The Human Rights Update also posts articles and seminars (also available via itunes) for general use.

If you are a law graduate with a special interest in Human Rights, why not consider entering the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Washington College of Law) essay competition? The current topic (for writers in English) is: “The Rights of Freedom of Expression and International Human Rights Law”.  Deadline for submissions is February 1, 2010. 

• Candidates must hold a law degree.
• Submissions must be unpublished legal papers in English, written solely by the candidate.
• Articles must not exceed 35 pages, including footnotes, and must be double spaced using 12-point Times New Roman font.
• Articles must be submitted via email to hracademy@wcl.american.edu in Microsoft Word format.
• The deadline to submit articles is February 1, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. EST.
• Winners will be announced on April 1, 2010 on our website
• A comprehensive list of rules is available at: www.wcl.american.edu/hracademy.hraward.cfm  

If you have any queries about this competition please contact the Academy via email at hracademy@wcl.american.edu.

 

 

Indian Supreme Court Cases

Reports of the decisions of India’s SCC from 1969 are now available to OU members via the Singapore Legal Workbench of LawNet (Singapore Academy of Law) as well as Manuptra (coverage from Manupatra starts with 1950). Both these databases require special passwords even if you are within the OU network, so go to this Weblearn site first, and use your normal Oxford Single Sign On to discover each one’s special open sesame! (Please also remember your netiquette when using either of these sites and Log Out via the Log Out button.)

Once you have logged onto the Singapore site, click on the prominent SCC online logo to go to a search screen.( They recommend that you expand the search screen to full size by clicking on the icon on your browser.)
You are first offered Easy Search – and typing in the name of party is a good simple way to start! Note that after the report of the case you are given both a reminder of the search terms you used, but also (under the red bar) the later history of the case: clicking on either the name of the later case or the next manicule takes you to its report  – and, obligingly, back again to your original report.  But if you are being simple in the sense of stupid, and  search without much precision (eg by just typing in “negligence”),  the result will be a polite “Confirmation required” screen which indicates the number of hits (in this case over 900!), and prompting you either to just opt for a certain proportion (in this instance 200) of the most recent or to Edit your search.
The advantage of the Advanced Search option is that it allows you to limit the number of years of the search. Note also that if you are already armed with a citation, a Search by Citation tab is offered from both across the top of the web page and via the left hand column. Make sure to select the journal (or law report series as we might think of them) via the drop down menu first – then when you click into the box to fill in your citation miraculously a good deal of it is ready supplied: all you need do is type the year and the page number correctly!
Incidentally, if  an SCC case has been referred to in a Singaporean or Malaysian case, you will be given a hyperlink directly through to the relevant Indian report as part of the reference trace.