If you have visited our Reading Room you may have noticed some of the books have a white dot on the spine. This does not mean the books were bought on clearance or as factory seconds. The white dots indicate the books have gone through a process of deacidification or have been printed on acid …
The following is a guest post by Nicole Atwill, Senior Foreign Law Specialist. One of our readers suggested that I write about the role of the doctrine as source of law in contemporary French law. This subject took me back in time to my law school days in Grenoble, France, where I studied under some …
Inspired by the statue of William Blackstone in front of the U.S. District Courthouseourthouse in DC while biking to work, this blog post was intended to introduce the reader to the Law Library’s William Blackstone Collection. While the Law Library does not have a statue of Blackstone, we do have a very nice portrait. Blackstone …
As you may have noticed in my previous posts, I’m making an effort to highlight useful tools contained on the Law Library’s website that our readers may not be aware of. A section of the website that I use frequently is called “How Do I Find…?“ The guides are especially helpful in the beginning of …
In honor of Human Rights Day, today’s Pic of the Week is the cover of a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This particular item is from our Rare Book Collection and is a duplicate of the special edition of the UDHR placed in the cornerstone of the United Nations Headquarters Building …
While the United States does not publish an official gazette, most countries of the world do. These primary law sources are invaluable for foreign legal research. While no two countries’ gazettes are identical, most contain legislation, orders, regulations, statutory instruments, and international agreements. Some even include decisions of courts and administrative agencies. The currency of …
Some of the real gems of the Law Library’s collection require special handling and cannot be shelved in the open stacks. For these materials, we have the Rare Book Collection. The Law Library’s collection of rare books consists of approximately 60,000 volumes of books and bound manuscripts. The collection is a great place for researchers …
The following is a guest post by Taru Spiegel, Reference Specialist in the European Division. A lawyer I know who does legal drafting says that there is no need to use archaic terms such as “aforethought,” “forthwith,” “wherefore,” or “to wit.” Legal language should be clear, concise, and unambiguous. Everybody should be able to understand …
Although I’m from New Zealand, my mother is American and my family gets together with other American Kiwis to celebrate Thanksgiving each year. However, as there is no public holiday for this day, we tend to need to improvise with dates, with Thanksgiving dinner generally occurring on a weekend some time between October and January. …
The following is a guest post by Matt Braun, Legal Reference Librarian in our Public Services Directorate. Over the last five years, legal blogs (or “blawgs” = law + blogs) have increasingly become vehicles for legal scholars, practitioners, and observers from across the globe to share information on developments in various areas of law, as …