Liberia, a West African country of over 5 million people, is unfortunately all too familiar with the destructive nature of an epidemic. From 2014 through 2016, the country dealt with an Ebola outbreak. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “[t]he 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic was the first and largest epidemic of its kind, …
The following is a guest post by Clare Feikert-Ahalt, a senior foreign law specialist at the Law Library of Congress covering the United Kingdom and several other jurisdictions. Clare has written a number of posts for In Custodia Legis, including Weird Laws, or Urban Legends?; FALQs: Brexit Referendum; and The UK’s Legal Response to the London …
With 2,415 confirmed cases and 27 deaths due to COVID-19 as of April 14, South Africa is the hardest hit African country so far. In the last few weeks, the government has taken a number of measures to contain the pandemic and mitigate the damages it has caused. In this post, I will highlight some of these …
The current COVID-19 pandemic has put the healthcare systems of countries around the world to the test. While governments typically had laws and institutions in place to deal with pandemics and similar health crises, these have often had to be revised to deal with the current pandemic. In many cases, drastic new measures have been …
Today’s interview is with Haolin Wang, Foreign Law Intern at the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. Describe your background. I was born in Guangzhou, an open and diversified city in south China. I attended Wuhan University in Wuhan, where I received an undergraduate law degree (LL.B.). During my third year of undergraduate studies, I …
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised serious challenges not only for scientists who are working on finding a cure and developing a vaccine, and for medical personnel who take care of the sick, but also for policymakers. In an effort to stop the spread of the virus, governments around the globe have introduced extraordinary measures, including travel restrictions, …
As airlines and airports are limiting operations across the globe, many airports are significantly less busy and noisy than usual. However, they are not completely quiet and there are reports that some commercial airplanes continue to fly, without passengers. In a recently-published report, Airport Noise Regulations, the Law Library of Congress looks at national strategies and rules for reducing noise from …
A recent Law Library of Congress report, Legal Provisions on Gender Equality, examines the legal provisions governing inheritance rights, the legal age of marriage, and the transmittal of citizenship through the mother in 18 Middle Eastern and North African countries. The countries surveyed include Israel, Iran, and 16 Arab countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, …