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Posted by: Nathan Dorn
It’s surprising, but true, that the laws of nature sometimes find themselves at the mercy of the courts. I found a great example of this in a book that the Law Library recently acquired for its rare book collection. Tractatus juridicus & practicus, de partu of Alonso Carranza (Cologne, 1629) is a staggeringly comprehensive book about human embryology …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Hanibal Goitom
While considering a post on Trial by Ordeal (TBO) in Liberia, the first thought that came to my mind was to define the term. The first online source (not particularly authoritative or official) I could find defined it as “a primitive method of determining a person’s guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to …
Posted in: Global Law
Posted by: Kelly Buchanan
The following is a guest post by David Mao, Deputy Law Librarian of Congress. Throughout the year, the Law Library has visitors that want to see and hear about our exceptional collections and services. Visitors come from near and far; over the past several months we’ve seen visitors from as close as Capitol Hill and …
Posted in: Collections, Guest Post
Posted by: Kurt Carroll
This week’s interview is with Nathan Dorn, who is a rare book technician in our Collection Services Division. Nathan is no stranger to In Custodia Legis; he recently wrote a guest piece on the Law Library’s Jewish law collection. Describe your background. I’ve been working at the Law Library for just over five years, first …
Posted in: Collections, Interview, Law Library
Posted by: Kelly Buchanan
This blog post discusses the Sorcery Act 1971 of Papua New Guinea.
Posted in: Collections, Global Law, In the News, Law Library, Pacific Islander History
Posted by: Clare Feikert-Ahalt
The genesis of this post lies in research that led me to the Law Library stacks and into one of my favorite locations: the section containing English trials. Long before the arrival of soap operas and reality television programs, people (well, us Brits, anyway) used to be titillated by sordid criminal trials. I suppose to …
Posted in: Collections, Global Law