InternationalProBono.com is a development of the International Bar Association aimed at providing a place for lawyers around the world who are involved in pro bono work to share reports and draw on resources provided on the site.
As you might imagine there’s an associated blog, to which you’re invited to submit a post as a guest blogger interested in pro bono work. . . . [more]
Surveillance cameras seem to be everywhere these days. They are one of the creeping invasions of privacy that raise difficult issues. Isolated cameras on private homes or businesses controlled by the owner and which retain images for short periods of time are easy to justify on security grounds. On the other hand, massive networks of connected and centrally controlled cameras that track everyone’s every move (the UK for example) and save that information for long periods of time cross the Orwellian threshold.
Some of the questions that don’t appear to have fact based answers include:
– Does camera surveillance really . . . [more]
This began as a comment, and then got out of hand. It is a response to Simon Fodden’s post on squigglies, pilcrows, and gaspers and Gary Rodrigues’ post, “The full stop in legal citation – has its time finally come?“.
Looking at a printed page in a law report, I don’t care whether the law report abbreviations have periods or not, as long as the periods are consistently there or not there. The context will almost certainly make it clear, without the periods, whether “A” is the Atlantic Reporter or an indefinite article, and whether “OR” is the . . . [more]
Doing some filing work I came across a photograph I took during a visit to the Supreme Court a couple of years ago: In one of the courtyards that bring light to inner-facing windows (see an image of the plan) there’s a badminton court. At least, I’m reliably informed that’s what it is:
click image for full view
The thought of justices whacking away at shuttlecocks is a mighty pleasing one, though I suspect that the court is used by staff or the clerks. The net seems a bit low to me, though, so maybe it’s for counsel to . . . [more]
Charon QC, the UK’s one-man blogging, podcasting and ‘zine publishing machine, has put a contract text online and made it available for free. Properly Mike Semple Piggot, he has taught contract law over the past 25 years at BPP Law School, an institution that he helped found. His text is, as he says, more of an outline, along with a collection of other resources related to contract law. On the site you’ll find up-to-date contract news; links to appropriate recent case reports are available within the text notes.
Semple plans a similar site dealing with the sale . . . [more]
Law commissions like to operate on a relatively regular schedule of making documents public, whether consultation papers or interim or final reports, especially given the insatiable demands of today’s websites. As with any organization, however, the ready excuse of “best laid plans…” naturally operates to throw off the timetable. A consultation paper scheduled to be released in April may be postponed until September for unforeseen reasons, for example. Difficulties finding a translator may mean a delay of a month in releasing a final report. Even building in some leeway in setting timetables doesn’t always address delays, just like thinking you’re . . . [more]
Congratulations to Connie Crosby for penning the 6000th comment for Slaw. I haven’t done any real analysis, but if we assume conservatively that each comment consists of only 50 words, that totals to 300,000 words our readers have written. And if a novel comes in at 50,000 words, say, that means you’ve written six novels in four years — not a bad rate at all. Keep up the good work, please. . . . [more]
This week was for introductions:
Karl-Heinz Schreiber, who I believe must have set some sort of record for the most appearances of any individual in reported Canadian caselaw. My count is 44 decisions.
Leaving aside the current story, the legal merits and the political background, which are in the hands of the Oliphant Inquiry and in the presciently accurate work of my friendStevie Cameron. The sheer quantity of court appearances and decisions is impressive. Two appearances in the Supreme Court of Canada, and on the extradition issues, as the judge noted, five applications for judicial review, four of which were dismissed, the . . . [more]
Anne Foster Worlock’s comment reminded me of how far we have come in the technology of legal research.
And we had furious debates in the Eighties comparing this to the Walt. There would be a dedicated terminal for legal research in each library. And we had to remember commands like . . . [more]
Canadian law report citations are riddled with “full stops”, more commonly referred to as “periods”, all of which are completely unnecessary. Needless to say, there are crusaders amongst us who would do away with them altogether, sooner rather than later.
I will admit to having been the unwitting source of a number of the offending citations. In the development of Carswell’s series of topical law reports, an official citation was required for each of them. By tradition, it is the publisher who determines what the citation shall be and how it is to be styled. That task fell to me. . . . [more]
I have talked in the past about The Law Librarian podcast on Blogtalk Radio, created by Richard Leiter and Brian Striman. They are starting the show back up again with the aim to make it a little more consistent, at least once a month to start.
The next episode will be recorded live this Friday, August 7th at 2:00 pm CT. The discussion will be a recap of the American Association of Law Libraries conference held in Washington, D.C. last week. I’m pleased to be invited in as a guest participant for this month’s show. Rumour has it if things . . . [more]
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada | Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada
