“Each of us has a crouching tiger deep in the heart.” This is what internationally-acclaimed Taiwanese director Ang Lee told a Chinese journalist, Chai Jing, in a recent interview about his latest film, Life of Pi. The crouching tiger is Lee’s metaphor for the inner power driving him in his continuous efforts to try “thrilling” …
I finally realized that U.S. sports channels just aren’t going to bend to my will and start showing more rugby. The result of this is that I’ve been watching a lot of American football lately instead. One thing I’ve always noticed when watching football is how many commercial breaks there are during the game. During …
For those of us who are global legal news buffs, 2012 was a great year. I am speaking of the Global Legal Monitor (GLM), a Law Library of Congress publication which provides summaries on new legal developments around the world. In 2012, GLM published 512 articles on a range of legal issues in various jurisdictions. …
The idea of republican simplicity is a relic from the age of the American Revolutionary War. To get at its meaning, it’s easiest to meditate on its opposite. Think to yourself: How do I address a king? Am I meant to bow/curtsey? How low? What do I do with my hands while I bow? Do …
The following is a guest post by George Sadek, a Senior Legal Analyst at the Law Library of Congress. Last week George provided an overview of the drafting process and content of the Egyptian Constitution of 2012. He has also previously written posts on Egypt’s constitutional referendum and several other topics. In my last post, …
Israeli voters are going to the polls today (January 22, 2013) to cast their ballots for the 19th Knesset (Israel’s parliament). Unlike in the U.S., where after the ballots are counted the presidential winner can go ahead with selecting his cabinet, the winner of the Israeli elections is not necessarily going to head the upcoming …
The following is a guest post by George Sadek, a Senior Legal Analyst at the Law Library of Congress. George has previously written posts on Egypt’s constitutional referendum, elections in Saudi Arabia, and the trial of Seif al Islam al Gaddafi in Libya. The development and adoption of a new Egyptian Constitution has received a …
The following is a guest post by Peter Roudik, Director of the Global Legal Research Center and a specialist on the laws of Eastern European and former Soviet Union jurisdictions. In previous posts, my colleagues have discussed different types of laws from various countries. These have included unusual laws, little-known laws, and laws that were …
King Canute may have failed to stop the rising of the tide when he commanded the sea to halt, but Pope Gregory XIII was able to decree the annulment of time itself; or to be more specific, he declared the erasure of 10 days in October of 1582, and he pulled it off in such …