This is a guest post by Roberta I. Shaffer, the Law Librarian of Congress. Download the PDF version of the FY2016 Law Library Annual Report. New Opportunities and Perspectives The year 2016 witnessed a historic change at the Library of Congress – the installation of the first woman and first African-American Librarian of Congress. Chief Justice …
This year there have been a number of new Law Library Reports published. I looked through In Custodia Legis and found all of the new reports that we blogged about over the year. They cover a wide range of topics. Legal Reports on Counterterrorism Laws and other Security Measures Parliaments Around the World New Resource Covers …
On Tuesday, December 6, the Law Library of Congress and the Center for the Book hosted a book talk with Michael Signer. Signer is an author, political theorist, attorney, and the mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia. He discussed his book, Becoming Madison: The Extraordinary Origins of the Least Likely Founding Father (Public Affairs, 2015). Signer said he wanted …
The following is a guest post by Peter Roudik, Director of Legal Research at the Law Library of Congress. Peter has contributed to In Custodia Legis a number of posts related to Russia and the former Soviet Union. These include posts on a spring holiday for workers, the Soviet investigation of Nazi war crimes, lustration in …
On January 30, 2016, Mexico News Daily printed an article stating that President Enrique Peña Nieto had officially announced that what had been the Federal District would now be known as Mexico City. So why does that matter to the Law Library’s Collection Services Division? Looking at two consecutive issues of the gazette for …
The following interview is with Roswell Encina, the chief communications officer at the Library of Congress. Describe your background. I can be described as your stereotypical Navy brat–well, maybe not the brat part. My father was in the U.S. Navy and we were stationed like many military families all over. From Connecticut to Virginia all the …
On December 18, 2016 the Tel- Aviv Military Court convicted a brigadier general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of sexual offenses against female soldiers serving under his command. The conviction is believed to be of the highest ranking IDF soldier of such crimes, based on the officer’s admission as a result of a plea bargain. The officer had initially been …
December 2, 2016, marked the 250th anniversary of the first Swedish Freedom of the Press Act, which has been regarded as the world’s first statute related to freedom of the press. The Act abolished censorship and specifically provided a right for Swedish citizens to access government archives. It was therefore also the first act to establish …
Every time I drive down the Pennsylvania Turnpike to visit family in Somerset County, PA , I know I have reached my exit when I see the verdigris copper dome of the Somerset County Courthouse. It sits high on a hill above the turnpike and the rest of the city of Somerset. From the first …