Google Scholar Adds US Case Law

On November 17 Google Scholar made a large collection of US Federal and State case law available online. See: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/finding-laws-that-govern-us.html

While Google has yet not provided details of the extent of the coverage, it appears as though coverage of US Supreme Court decisions begin with volume 1 of the United States Reports and other Federal and State decisions begin at 1950. (Our test of volume 10 (1810) of the United States Reports found every case we searched).

It is unclear what Google’s sources are for much of this case law (some appears to come from publicresource.org) but all cases have the same pagination as the printed reporters but do not include editorial content such as headnotes and Key Numbers.

At this stage of course the commercial sources’ (Lexis, Westlaw) added editorial content and the ability to note up make them a more complete academic research tool. Still this is an interesting development that could lead to wider access to US case law in the same way that CANLII has increased access to Canadian case law.

In addition to US case law Google Scholar also searches some major online journal collections such as Hein and JSTOR. Searching Google scholar while connected to the UofT network will link you to the full article via the Library’s licensed access to Hein or JSTOR. When not connected to the UofT network, search results are limited to only the first page of a journal article.

We will update this entry as more information comes out.

New and Cool: Jotwell: The Journal of Things We Like (Lots)

It is often difficult to keep current with what is new in the world of legal academic publishing. Jotwell, sponsored by the University of Miami School of law, attempts to make this task easier by identifying and discussing the best new legal scholarship in the form short (500-1000 words) reviews of recently published articles, or contributions to pre-publication sites like SSRN or BePress. Each section of the site is supervised by an editorial team of legal academics who solicit entries from the academic community.  The site includes sections on

• Administrative Law
• Constitutional Law
• Corporate Law
• Criminal Law
• Cyberlaw
• Intellectual Property Law
• Legal Profession
• Tax Law

Users can subscribe to an RSS feed which makes keeping up to date even more efficient by delivering content to you via your news aggregator or directly to you e-mail

New Title: Selden Society Publications and the History of Early English Law

Selden Society Publications and the History of Early English Law

This new resource from Hein Online provides U of T students with access to  huge collection of resources. These resources include searchable PDF versions of  publications from the Selden Society and Harvard’s Ames Foundation as well as the English Reports ( 1220-1694), the Statutes of the Realm (1235-1713), and collections of early English legal classics and scholarly law review articles on the subject.

The Selden Society is a ‘learned society devoted to the history of English Law.” Each year the Society publishes a volume of reprints of  original legal sources; including early law reports, courts’ records, judges’ notebooks, legal treatises, precedent and practice books. The source material is accompanied by a modern English translation. The Ames Foundation, has also published a number of reprints including the Year Books of Richard II and Lex mercatoria.

The collection also includes:

• Fitzherbert’s Grand Abridgement of the Law
• Brooke’s Grand Abridgement of the Law
• Bracton’s Laws of England
• Hughes Grand Abridgment of the Law
• Rolle’s Abridgment
• Cowel’s Interpreter
• Matthew Hale’s History & Analysis of the Common Law of England
• Pufendorf’s Law
• Selden’s Opera Omnia
• Viner’s Abridgment  & Supplement
• Blackstone’s Analysis of the Laws of England
• Blackstone’s Commentaries
• Comyns’ Digest – First and Second Editions
• Bacon’s Reading on the Statute of Uses
• Coke’s Institutes – First through the Fourth Parts
• Coke’s Reports
• Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws
• Travers Twiss’ Monumena Juridica, The Black Book of Admiralty

The collection can be accessed from the library catalog at  http://main.library.utoronto.ca/eir/EIRdetail.cfm?Resources__ID=889043&T=J&F

New Title: Annotated Leading Cases of International Tribunals

Another new electronic resource in the library.  The Annotated Leading Cases of International Tribunals provides the full text of decisions, including concurring, separate and dissenting opinions from the ICTY, ICTR, The Special Court for Sierra Leone, The International Criminal Tribunal for Timor-Leste and the International Criminal Court. Each case is accompanied by commentary from scholars and experts in international criminal law. This index can be accessed directly from computers on Campus. U of T members using an external Internet address can access the site using my.access.

 

Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600-1926 Now Available

The Library has recently added to its collection of historical legal material with the acquisition of The Making of Modern Law: Trials 1600-1926. The MOML: Trials  is an extensive collection (over 10,000 titles) of cases in the form of official trial transcripts, briefs and arguments as well as unofficial accounts of trials in the popular press and literature.  In addition to including accounts of notorious courtroom dramas,  the collection also includes precedent-setting cases that have a continuing influence on the common law in the United States, the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries.

Why is this collection so important? According to the publisher ” Trial publications may be the best historical source we have for sex, gender, class, marriage and divorce and raise interesting questions about the nature of celebrity and crime within a given era.”

All documents are  searchable and are presented in PDF format. The site can be directly from computers on campus or to the U of T community via my.access

The Making of Modern Law: Trials is a companion to the Making of Modern Law:  Legal Treatises 1800-1926 which includes over the full text of 21,000  casebooks, local practice manuals, form books,works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters and speeches relating to all aspects of Anglo-American Law.

Sign-up For Weslaw Canada and LexisNexis/Quicklaw Training Sessions

Westlaw and Quicklaw are invaluable  tools for conducting effective legal research. All law students must know how to use these databases for their research, both at school and in the work force.  These sessions provide a really good introduction to the contents and use of these databases.

Training Schedule

Contact Alexa Evans – alexa.evans@utoronto.ca to register for the sessions.

Westlaw Canada Training

Friday October 2 –  12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

Thursday October 8  – 12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

Friday October 9 -  12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

Wednesday October 21  – 12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

Thursday  October 22  - 12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

LexisNexis/Quicklaw Training

Tuesday September 29 – 12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

Wednesday September 30 – 12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

Monday October 5        – 12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

Tuesday October 6        – 12:00 to 2:00 in the Library Computer Lab (Room 1030)

Exam Database for Law Students

Law School Exams for the last five years are now available in a searchable database via  e.legal.  Rather than the simple chronological list of list from previous years, the new exam database is searchable by professor, subject or course title and academic year. Students can access the database through the Library’s student portal or from the e.legal drop down menu on the homepage.

e.legal is available by password to the U of T Faculty of Law Community only. Incoming students will receive their e.legal passwords via e-mail in early September.

House of Lords ends role as final appeal court in the UK

From the UK Parliament Website

“On 30 July 2009, the judicial function of the House of Lords and its role as the final – and highest – appeal court in the UK ended, bringing about a fundamental change to the work and role of the House of Lords.”

The New United Kingdom Supreme Court was established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and will start work on 1 October 2009. This court will act impartially and  independently from Parliament and will be the highest court of appeal .

“The Supreme Court will also have jurisdiction in relation to devolution matters under the Scotland Act 1998, the Northern Ireland Act 1988 and the Government of Wales Act 2006.” (http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/supreme-court-about.htm).

 

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

Further to our previous blog post and,  in light of the news that Facebook has agreed to let third party advertisers use your posted pictures without your permission, here are 10 ways to protect your privacy on Facebook from the All Facebook blog. The  posting 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know describes how and why to customize Facebook’s privacy settings by

1) Using  Friend Lists

2) Removing Yourself From Facebook Search Results

3)  Removing Yourself From Google

4. Avoiding  Photo/Video Tag Mistakes

5. Protecting Your Albums

6. Preventing  Stories From Showing Up in Your Friends’ News Feeds

7. Protecting  Against Published Application Stories

8. Making Your Contact Information Private

9. Avoiding  Embarrassing Wall Posts

and

10. Keeping Your Friendships Private

To prevent Facebook from using your image in ads

Click on SETTINGS up at the top where you see the log out link. Select PRIVACY. Then select NEWS FEEDS AND WALL. Next select the tab that reads FACE BOOK ADS. There is a drop down box, select NO ONE. Then SAVE your changes.

Privacy Commissioner decides Facebook must improve practices to meet Canadian legislative requirements

Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart ruled that social media giant Facebook has failed to adequately address four “well-founded” allegations about its practices that contravene federal privacy law. The ruling comes after an investigation into a complaint filed by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. The CIPPC had alleged that Facebook had contravened the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act in a dozen distinct subject areas. The commissioner ruled that in eight of these subjects the allegations were not well-founded or well-founded but had been resolved leaving four subjects (third-party software applications, account deactivation and deletion, accounts of deceased users, and non-users’ personal information) where the allegations were deemed to be well-founded and where Facebook had not yet agreed to adopt the commissioners’ recommendations. In particular, the commissioner raised significant concerns around the sharing of users’ personal information with third-party developers creating Facebook applications. According to the investigation Facebook lacks adequate safeguards to effectively restrict these outside developers from accessing profile information. The report recommended that third party developers should be able to access only the user information actually required to run a specific application and nothing else. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner will review after 30 days the actions Facebook takes to comply with the recommendations. In the event of non-compliance by Facebook the Commissioner has the authority to go to Federal Court to seek to have these recommendations enforced.

Remarks by Jennifer Stoddart, Privacy Commissioner of Canada:

http://www.priv.gc.ca/speech/2009/sp-d_20090716_e.cfm

Full Report of Findings:

http://www.priv.gc.ca/cf-dc/2009/2009_008_0716_e.cfm