Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Institutions Of Learning Or Havens For Illegal Activities: How The Supreme Court Views Libraries, 25 N. Ill. U. L. Rev. 1 (2004), Raizel Liebler

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

The role of libraries in American society is varied: libraries act as curators and repositories of American culture's recorded knowledge, as places to communicate with others, and as sources where one can gain information from books, magazines and other printed materials, as well as audio-video materials and the Internet. Courts in the United States have called libraries "the quintessential locus of the receipt of information, "'places that are "dedicated to quiet, to knowledge, and to beauty," and "a mighty resource in the free marketplace of ideas." These positive views of libraries are often in sharp contrast with views by some …

Meaning What You Say, James Boyd White

Book Chapters

In this essay I talk about a wide range of themes in the hope of establishing a connection among them: writing (including the teaching of writing) and what is at stake, for the writer and the rest of the world, in doing it well or badly; certain forces in our culture-hard to define and understandthat tend to reduce or trivialize human experience, indeed the very value of the human being; the conception of the human being, not trivial at all, that underlies our practices of self-government in general and constitutional democracy in particular; and the idea of justice at work, …

Leaky Boundaries And The Decline Of The Autonomous Law School Library, James G. Milles

Journal Articles

Academic law librarians have long insisted on the value of autonomy from the university library system, usually basing their arguments on strict adherence to ABA standards. However, law librarians have failed to construct an explicit and consistent definition of autonomy. Lacking such a definition, they have tended to rely on an outmoded Langdellian view of the law as a closed system. This view has long been discredited, as approaches such as law and economics and sociolegal research have become mainstream, and courts increasingly resort to nonlegal sources of information. Blind attachment to autonomy as a goal rather than a means …

Rethinking Crime Legislation: History And Harshness, Victoria Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

There is a truth about the criminal law that scholars evade as much as they criticize: the criminal law is produced by legislators (rather than the experts). The author states she does not know of any way to make law in a democracy other than through the voters' representatives. And, yet, it is the standard pose of the criminal law scholar to denigrate legislatures and politicians as vindictive, hysterical, or stupid. All of these things may be true but name-calling is a poor substitute for analysis. As in constitutional law, so too in criminal law, it is time to put …

Building An Infrastructure For Empirical Research In The Law, Lee Epstein, Gary King

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Reconceptualizing Criminal Law Defenses, Victoria Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In 1933, one of the leading theorists of the criminal law, Jerome Michael, wrote openly of the criminal law "as an instrument of the state." Today, criminal law is largely allergic to claims of political theory; commentators obsess about theories of deterrence and retribution, and the technical details of model codes and sentencing grids, but rarely speak of institutional effects or political commitments. In this article, the author aims to change that emphasis and to examine the criminal law as a tool for governance. Her approach is explicitly constructive: it accepts the criminal law that we have, places it in …

A Complete Research Guide To The Laws Of The People's Republic Of China (Prc), Wei Luo, Joan Liu

Scholarship@WashULaw

A guide to the legal systems and laws of the PRC (based on civil law) and of the Hong Kong (based on English common law) and Macao (based on Portuguese law) Special Administrative Regions. Taiwan, with its own legal system, is not included. The guide lists English and Chinese print and nonprint resources, arranged by topic, language, and format.

Negotiating And Analyzing Electronic License Agreements, Duncan E. Alford

Faculty Publications

Mr Alford analyzes license agreements for electronic resources and suggests certain negotiation points to consider when entering into such an agreement. He begins by describing the results of a survey of law librarians about their preparation for and techniques used when negotiating electronic license agreements and the legal strategies used by publishers to support the licensing of electronic information. After reviewing selected principles of licensing issued by library associations and several standardized electronic license agreements, he identifies provisions in a typical agreement that should concern libraries and suggests certain arguments to use in negotiating terms more favorable to the library.

Building A Foreign Law Collection At The University Of Michigan Law Library, 1910-1960, Margaret A. Leary

Articles

Ms. Leary describes the vision, energy, imagination, and techniques of the dedicated people who built an eminent foreign law collection at the University of Michigan Law Library. She also uses Michigan as an example to illustrate the development of libraries and librarianship nationally.

How Many Copies Are Enough? Using Citation Studies To Limit Journal Holdings, Kincaid C. Brown

Law Librarian Scholarship

Mr. Brown introduces the University of Michigan Law Library’s use of citation study literature to develop a new policy regarding the number of duplicate copies of law review titles to be held in the library’s collection. The specifics of the new policy are described

Book Review. Teaching Legal Research And Providing Access To Electronic Resources (Gary L. Hill, Et. Al., Eds.), Peter A. Hook

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Using A Civil Procedure Exam Question To Teach Persuasion, Sophie M. Sparrow

Law Faculty Scholarship

Studies show that learners master new material more effectively when it builds upon what they already know. By revisiting assignments from a previous semester, students can focus their efforts on persuading, rather than learning new doctrine or facts. Turning a predictive discussion into a persuasive argument demonstrates that making an argument requires the same rigorous thinking as predicting a result. One way to do this is to assign students to write an argument based on their fall Civil Procedure exam.

Introduction To "Books", Margaret A. Leary

Articles

It's well known that graduate William B. Cook's generosity provided the Law School with its trademark Gothic Law Quadrangle. It is less universally known that Cook endowed the Law School with a trust to support faculty research, and had a strong interest in the nature of that research. He chose to call the library building "Legal Research" and to inscribe above the main entrance "Learned and cultured lawyers are safeguards of the republic." Cook often said that the lack of "intellectual leadership 1s the greatest problem which faces America," and he wanted this Law School to provide that missing leadership. …

Finding Out What They Want To Know, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

A skilled reference librarian knows more than simply where and how to look up information. Recognizing the importance of knowing what to look for as well, Ms. Whisner discusses the venerable reference interview and its role in this key aspect of patron services.

Journals Of The Century In Law, Christopher Byrne

Library Staff Publications

In this essay I will humbly add my contribution to this vast literature by ranking the twentieth century's best law journals. I am not treading upon virgin ground. Over the past twenty years a number of scholars have ranked law reviews and journals using a variety of methodologies.

What Law Librarians Collect, Penny Hazelton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Digital Legal Information: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Digests Of Pennsylvania, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Published case law in Pennsylvania dates from the colonial period and constitutes one of the largest collections of court decisions in American law. Digests have long stood as an important tool for those conducting research in this material, with the first appearing not long after the cases themselves. Mr. Fishman helps to document the history of Pennsylvania digests by reviewing their publication, beginning with the early nineteenth century to the present. A bibliography is appended.

Internet For Legal Information - The U.S. Experience, Claire M. Germain, Pat Court, Jean Wenger, Scott Childs

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

What's On The Horizon?: A Report From The 1996 Conference For Law School Computing, Juliet Casper Smith

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Review Of Hibbitts' Last Writes?, I. Trotter Hardy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Reports Of The Supreme Court Of Pennsylvania, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

The history of court reporting in Pennsylvania dates from the early days of the Republic and the establishment of Pennsylvania as a Commonwealth. Mr. Fishman helps to document that history by reviewing the publication of the reports of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from the early nominative reports of the mid-eighteenth century to the present. A bibliography is appended.

The Top Fives: An Internet Pathfinder For Law Librarians, Yolanda Patrice Jones

Journal Publications

Many law librarians are currently beginning to explore the Internet as a source of legal information. One of the most frequently asked questions after one gets an Interet connection is "Where do I go from here?" The following pathfinder is a list of what I consider to be the most important resources which will lead the legal researcher to the widest possible amount of legal information on the Internet. This list is purely subjective, and certainly not complete. I tried to stick to the 'top five' format as much as possible, but every so often I couldn't help myself from …

The Top Fives: An Internet Pathfinder For Law Librarians, Yolanda Patrice Jones

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Many law librarians are currently beginning to explore the Internet as a source of legal information. One of the most frequently asked questions after one gets an Internet connection is "Where do I go from here?" The following pathfinder is a list of what I consider to be the most important resources which will lead the legal researcher to the widest possible amount of legal information on the Internet.

This list is purely subjective, and certainly not complete. I tried to stick to the 'top five' format as much as possible, but every so often I couldn't help myself from …

The History Of Statutory Compilations In Pennsylvania, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Pennsylvania was the last state in the country to codify its statutes. Mr. Fishman reviews the various editions of unofficial compilations of Pennsylvania laws that have been published from the early eighteenth century to the present. A bibliography is appended.

Catalogue Of Modem Law Books, 1855, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

In his recent work on A History of American Law Publishing (1990), Professor Erwin Surrency emphasized the need to learn more about how lawyers purchased books in nineteenth-century America, especially since few book catalogs have survived to the present day.¹ A random searching of older periodicals located in my library drew my attention to the "Catalogue of Modem Law-Books," consisting of three parts.

The Scholar's Workstation Now A Reality! Enhancing Faculty Information Access And Delivery, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Of Legislative Histories And Librarians, Stephen G. Margeton

Scholarly Articles

Professor Margeton outlines the history of federal legislative history research, tracing the achievements of Washington, D.C., area law librarians and the Law Librarians' Society of the District of Columbia in compiling legislative histories, creating cooperative programs, and improving access to congressional materials.

Why Do Jury Research?, Richard O. Lempert

Book Chapters

Inside the Juror presents the most interesting and sophisticated work to date on juror decision making from several traditions - social psychology, behavioural decision theory, cognitive psychology, and behavioural modeling. The authors grapple with crucial questions, such as: why do jurors who hear the same evidence and arguments in the courtroom enter the jury room with disagreements about the proper verdict? how do biases and prejudices affect jurors' decisions? and just how 'rational' is the typical juror? As an introduction to the scientific study of juror decision making in criminal trials, Inside the Juror provides a comprehensive and understandable summary …

The Case Of The Disappearing Briefs: A Study In Preservation Strategy, Margaret A. Leary

Articles

Federal appellate court records and briefs are significant to researchers in many disciplines, but academic law libraries are discarding them. Ms. Leary chronicles the demise of paper holdings in law libraries, the rise of microforms, and the contents and usage of the National Archives and Records Administration's files. She then derives principles for preservation strategies that may apply to other categories of legal material.