Magna Carta, the Charter of Liberties sealed by King John of England in 1215 AD, is routinely cited as one of the most important documents of our constitutional tradition. It ranks with the English Bill of Rights (1689), The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in symbolic power. And while the details of …
The United Kingdom’s rich ancient legal history provides ample examples of legislation that has a rather bizarre or odd angle to it. I always find it interesting to read about these odd laws, and wonder at what point they are simply urban legends, rather than real laws. Most times, posts about weird laws don’t provide …
At the start of May for the last few years I’ve seen multiple news items about the baby names that were rejected by the New Zealand authorities during the previous year (e.g., Lucifer, Prince, J, Rogue…). The list of names, and the fact that the government is able to deem them unacceptable, draws plenty of interest …
You may have noticed that the issue of poaching and trafficking in wildlife, particularly involving African elephants and rhinos, has been in the news a lot lately. This is mainly because the situation, apparently fueled by an appetite for illegal wildlife products in Asia (especially China and Thailand), is getting increasingly dire. The decline in …
The Global Legal Research Center of the Law Library of Congress recently completed a major report titled Firearms- Control Legislation and Policy (February 2013). The study examines the different legal approaches taken by eighteen countries and the European Union with regard to various activities involving firearms. The countries surveyed were Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, …
March is Women’s History Month. This year, March has also seen the Centennial of the 1913 Suffrage March, and International Women’s Day. Women’s History Month was established in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 to establish Women’s History Week. Both this law and the subsequent Presidential Proclamation 4903 speak to the important role women played …
Last December, I set out to discover my law library colleagues’ favorite cases. Some responded with humorous cases and some with landmark cases that forever changed the face of law. I was unable to talk to everyone in December, so this month I resumed my efforts to discover my colleagues’ favorite cases. Shameema Rahman, Senior …
This post was coauthored by Barbara Bavis. One of the defining features of the common law system is the emphasis placed on the precedential value of case law. Until recently, case law has not been widely available on the Internet, leaving researchers with no choice but to seek out print reporters and commercial electronic databases …
In 1796, towards the end of his second term, President Washington wrote a letter to the “People of the United States” in which he announced that he would not be seeking a third term. This letter to the nation was originally published in the American Daily Advertiser and then in other papers throughout the country but …
