I received a flyer last week from BIALL (British and Irish Association of Law Librarians) announcing a course on “Parliamentary Debates on Legislation: how to do ‘Pepper v. Hart’ research.

The session will be taught by Guy Holborn, of Lincoln Inn’s Library, and the flyer indicates it will cover the following three topics:

• Background on statutory interpretation, the rule in Pepper v Hart (1993 HL) that allows citation of Hansard in court, and developments since it was decided in 1992.
• Parliamentary procedure, including recent developments affecting Pepper v Hart research.
• Bills, Hansard and other parliamentary materials: how . . . [more]

I am currently writing an article which basically looks at and updates a piece I published five years ago on the future of academic law libraries. The central thrust of the piece is the continuing print vs online debate. I give a few examples of print serials and talk about the pros and cons of cancellation in favour of online access and it would help me if I could get some reactions and counter-arguments. In the article I refer to, inter alia, the Harvard Law Review and Ontario Statutes (supposing that the E-Laws version is given authorized status). I use . . . [more]

Pairing my award-winning KM blog with editor Sean Hocking's acclaimed Law Librarian News, the semi-monthly “Law Librarian News & excited utterances” will deliver direct-to-desktop news-you-can-use -- by, for and about the global legal information and knowledge management market.While excited utterances will continue to deliver the same reliable online coverage of legal KM that its readers have come to rely upon, our new combined publication creates the perfect vehicle for legal knowledge managers and law librarians who want to understand the machinations of the current market.excited utterancesIt's by subscription.

I will be attending a “thematic meeting” organized by Library and Archives Canada in Vancouver on Wednesday in connection with LAC’s development of a Canadian Digital Information Strategy.

This is pretty important stuff that is being discussed and the outcome may effect government policy, as I understand it.

More information and background documents can be found at the LAC site. . . . [more]

A new book called Sorcerers’ Apprentices focusses on the role played within the US Supreme Court by law clerks. You can read the first chapter online

Written by two acedemics, Artemus Ward and David L. Weiden, the book is built upon Supreme Court archives, the personal papers of justices and other figures at the Supreme Court, and interviews and written surveys with 150 former clerks.

Sorcerers Apprentices is a rare behind-the-scenes look at the life of law clerks, and their role in agenda setting, opinion writing, and decision making. The authors suggest that seemingly unrelated institutional changes such as circulating . . . [more]

The Slaw Hall of Fame

This is the first obituary in Slaw, but it’s a tribute to a figure whom many Slaw readers may not have known but who was very significant in the development of a distinct Canadian legal culture. Dr. Peter Oliver of York University was not a lawyer, but his work catalyzed the production of a corpus of Canadian legal history.

Peter died of cancer two weeks back, after a tough illness. He was a History Professor at York University, author of five books, Editor-in-Chief of The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, and Associate Editor of . . . [more]

I stumbled on a page constructed by Susan Law dedicated to the architecture and design of Osgoode Hall. If Slaw readers have never had the treat of visiting the great library, this site will whet your appetite.

Nothing to do with the Ministry of the Attorney General or the Law Society of Upper Canada.

The one thing it can’t capture is the fine – and cheap – food available in the Dining Room.

But it’s a nicely done site, and it would be good to have similar guides to the county court houses which are often such dignified additions . . . [more]

Seems that web publishing company O'Reilly and CMP are claiming that “Web 2.0” is their trademark.

In a recent decision, the Sixth District Court of Appeals (California) has afforded bloggers the same kind of protection usually reserved to journalists. Here is an extract from the judgment:

The trial court denied the motion on the ground that the publishers had involved themselves in the unlawful misappropriation of a trade secret. We hold that this was error because (1) the subpoena to the email service provider cannot be enforced consistent with the plain terms of the federal Stored Communications Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2712); (2) any subpoenas seeking unpublished information from petitioners would be unenforceable through contempt

. . . [more]

From June 21st to June 23rd, at the Government of Canada Conference Center in Ottawa, there will be a Retreat for selected legal officers (military lawyers) in Ottawa. On the morning of Day 1, the schedule has the following two sessions:

• Practice and Case Management 101 (30 mins)
• Web Trends & Technologies 101 (30 mins)

Is there anyone interested, preferably but not necessarily a lawyer in private practice from the National Capital Region, in offering these two sessions? We are trying to vary the speakers during this Retreat. This is a nice occasion for networking. If you are interested or . . . [more]

1. Ontario Ministry of Transport Driver Handbook: highway signs
2. Canadian Association of Law Libraries
3. SOQUIJ
4. SOQUIJ: Quoi de neuf: L’excellence de SOQUIJ récompensée
5. CALL/ACBD: Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing
6. Hugh Lawford
7. Quicklaw
8. Elections Nova Scotia
9. Members of the Nova Scotia Legislature
10. Nova Scotia Electoral Districts
11. Elections Nova Scotia: forming a new party
12. Nova Scotia Elections Legislation
13. Nova Scotia Green Party
14. Nova Scotia Liberal Party
15. Nova Scotia NDP
16. Nova Scotia PC Party
17. CBC Nova Scotia Election Coverage 2006
18. Halifax Chronicle Herald
19. Chronicle Herald Election Coverage
20. Halifax Daily News
21. The Coast
22. Nova Scotia Newspapers
23. CBC Nova Scotia Election Coverage 2003

. . . [more]

Though not the worst of its kind, this “signed post” is a visual equivalent of certain portions of the Income Tax Act. On a Friday morning at 8 a.m. with a couple of kids in the car and only two spots to choose from…

Yet signs like thse are the only way to go if you have to have microscopically small jurisdictions. Most of that spot legislating happens in neighbourhoods and on roads. The Ontario government, like the rest, I assume, puts the drivers’ handbook on line, with its pages on road signs. Like an Interpretation Act, the page on . . . [more]