This is a guest post by Elizabeth Boomer, an international law consultant in the Global Legal Research Directorate. Elizabeth has previously written for In Custodia Legis on Technology & the Law of Corporate Responsibility – The Impact of Blockchain, and the 30th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Tomorrow, …
This month, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH)—Germany’s supreme court for civil and criminal cases—is celebrating its 70th anniversary. It was established on October 1, 1950, and immediately started hearing cases as it took over the case files from the German Supreme Court for the British Zone (Oberster Gerichtshof für die Britische Zone, …
The Law Library of Congress has developed a guide to our collection of foreign legal gazettes. Gazettes are generally the first place that a ruling body will publish its laws, making them an invaluable resource for foreign legal research. The Law Library has been collecting foreign legal gazettes since the mid-19th century. We are one of …
In recent months we have witnessed major changes in many areas, particularly following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the Law Library of Congress Legal Research Institute’s Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar Series, we will be presenting a webinar on global developments in election and campaign finance laws, both before and during the pandemic. …
The following is a guest post by Sayuri Umeda, a foreign law specialist who covers Japan and other countries in East and Southeast Asia. Sayuri has previously authored posts on New Era, New Law Number, Holy Cow – Making Sense of Japanese Wagyu Cow Export Rules, Japanese Criminal Legal System as Seen Through the Carlos Ghosn Case, Disciplining Judges for “Bad Tweets”, Engagement under Japanese Law …
The permeation of misinformation and disinformation relating to any conceivable issue, particularly on social media platforms, is rampant. This problem has become particularly acute with the advent of the COVID-19 global pandemic. A policy document issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) described the ubiquity of false information and the challenge it presents in …
Unlike most countries, Austria does not have just one constitutional document, like the Constitution of the United States for example, but several documents that have constitutional status. Of these documents, the most important one is the Austrian Federal Constitutional Law (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz). It was adopted by the Constituent National Assembly on October 1, 1920—100 years ago today—and entered into force …