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Archive: March 2016 (20 Posts)

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Happy Birthday, César Chávez!

Posted by: Francisco Macías

Sí se puede.—César Chávez First President of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) Born March 31, 1927, César Estrada Chávez is perhaps the most renowned Latino civil rights activist. Two years ago, perhaps with the aim of seeing “one of America’s greatest champions for social justice” get his rightful place among his peers, President …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

FALQs: New Zealand’s Flag Referendums

Posted by: Kelly Buchanan

This blog post is part of our Frequently Asked Legal Questions series. Between March 3 and March 24, 2016, New Zealanders were able to vote in the country’s second referendum related to whether or not to change the official flag.  Previously, in November-December 2015, voting in the first referendum narrowed the list of possible alternative flag designs …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

James Madison’s 265th Commemorative Birthday

Posted by: Liah Caravalho

On Wednesday, March 16, the Law Library and the Library’s Manuscript Division commemorated James Madison’s 265th birthday with a panel discussion by distinguished attorneys and Madison biographers Mary Sarah Bilder and David O. Stewart, and a birthday cake celebration that featured musical performances by Stephen Winick and Jennifer Cutting of the American Folklife Center. The events were …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Becoming the Plutarch of Renaissance Lawyers

Posted by: Nathan Dorn

Quid sit quod multi vitas principum and ducum… diligentissime conscripserint atque inde genus hoc scribendi profectum, paulatim ad eos homines pervenerit, qui leniores quodammodo virtutes profitentur, Philosophos dico, Medicos, Oratores, Poetas… donec ad Rhetores ac Grammaticos deventum est, nemo adhuc extiterit, qui sibi Legumlatorum et Iurisprudentum vitas in argumentum iusti et peculiaris operis desumpserit… How …

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How Many Federal Laws Were Passed Last Year?

Posted by: Robert Brammer

The following is a guest post by Shameema Rahman, senior legal research specialist in our Public Services Division. The United States Congress passed 115 Public Laws in 2015. The laws are numbered from Public Law 114-1 through Public Law 114-115. The number 114 represents the current congress followed by the numerical order of the law. These public …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

¡Happy Birthday, Benito Juárez!

Posted by: Francisco Macías

…el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.–Benito Juárez 210 years ago, on March 21, 1806, Benito Juárez (Benito Pablo Juárez García), one of Mexico’s most renowned leaders, was born.  Ask any Mexican about Benito Juárez, and you may find them promptly reciting a well-known aphorism of his:  “… el respeto al derecho ajeno es …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Manuscript Waste Bindings at the Library of Congress – Pic of the Week

Posted by: Nathan Dorn

In this week’s pic of the week post, we catch up with Library of Congress employee Dan Paterson, who is a senior rare book conservator in the Conservation Section of the Library’s Conservation Division. Since 2013, Dan has been surveying book bindings in the Library’s special collections, looking for bindings that incorporate manuscript waste. Manuscript …

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New Resource Covers the Laws of 157 Countries on the Extradition of Citizens

Posted by: Ruth Levush

The Law Library of Congress has recently published a chart containing information on the terms that apply to the extradition of citizens in 157 jurisdictions around the globe. Of the countries surveyed, 60 were found to have laws that prevent the extradition of their own citizens, while the laws of 31 other countries generally allow such requests. …