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Posted by: Jennifer Davis
Are you happy today? If not today, are you happy with your life generally? If you’re wondering why that question matters, and you tend to think about pursuing happiness as a poetic flourish rather than a mission statement, you might want to look at the United Nations’ (UN) declaration in support of its 4th International …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Jenny Gesley
On March 25, 1957 – 60 years ago tomorrow – the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed the “Treaties of Rome”, thereby establishing what would later become the European Union (EU). The “Treaties of Rome” consist of two different treaties: the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC Treaty) and the Treaty establishing the European …
Posted in: Global Law, In the News
Posted by: Ruth Levush
What impact do prolonged periods of stress and fear have on a soldier’s behavior? Do the horrors of war and terrorist acts justify conduct that would otherwise be unlawful? While such circumstances do not seem to amount to justification for violating the law, it is notable that “exceptional stressors” and constant threats faced by soldiers were recently considered …
Posted in: Global Law, In the News, Law Library
Posted by: Margaret Wood
My colleague Andrew recently showed me photographs of his trip to New York City earlier this year. The trip included a visit to the Statue of Liberty. Looking at these photographs, I was reminded of the public celebrations for the Statue’s centenary in 1986. Back then, I was living in New York City, had participated in …
Posted in: Pic of the Week
Posted by: Nathan Dorn
The first English language publication to mention the Jewish Ghetto of Venice was a travelogue that appeared in 1611 under the unlikely title Crudities. Below is an image of that edition’s title page: The central text on the page reads: “Coryats Crudities: hastily gobled up in five moneths trauells in France, Sauoy, Italy, Rhetia com[m]only called …
Posted in: Event, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Robert Brammer
The Law Library of Congress is excited to bring you a collection of World War I declarations of war from around the world. If you’re not familiar with our collections, you might wonder how we came to acquire these century-old foreign legal materials. The reason is that, as the United States assumed a greater role in international affairs, the Law Library of Congress …
Posted in: Law Library, World War I
Posted by: Jennifer González
This interview is with Daina Andries, a volunteer metadata technician with the Digital Resources Division of the Law Library of Congress. Describe your background. I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My dad’s family is from Pennsylvania and Michigan. My mom’s family immigrated to Wisconsin from Lithuania after World War II and eventually …
Posted in: Interview, Law Library
Posted by: Kelly Buchanan
During a recent vacation in Scotland I took several treks along the Royal Mile in Edinburgh’s Old Town. On one such walk, in the darkness of the late afternoon, I snapped a picture of Advocate’s Close and the plaque that provides brief information about it. All along the Royal Mile there are narrow alleyways called “closes,” …
Posted in: Collections, Global Law, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Jenny Gesley
On my recent visit to Düsseldorf, Germany, I could not stop my nerdy lawyer self from visiting the Administrative Court of Düsseldorf (Verwaltungsgericht Düsseldorf). The Administrative Court in Düsseldorf is the court of first instance in administrative matters and handles all kinds of non-constitutional public law matters. Examples include disputes over building permits, access to public institutions and …
Posted in: Global Law, Pic of the Week