Today is the anniversary of the ratification of the first written constitution in American history, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which took place on January 14, 1639. The Fundamental Orders outlined the form of government that would be established over the Connecticut River Towns, enumerating its powers and describing the duties of citizens active in government. A fascinating document …
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my hometown library, the Albright Memorial Library, in Scranton, Pennsylvania and its participation in the Federal Depository Library Program. As described in the post, I have a card catalog from the library in our home. My colleague, Elizabeth Moore, stopped by my office last week to ask whether …
This post is co-authored by Barbara Bavis and Robert Brammer, Legal Reference Librarians. Continuing with our Beginner’s Guide series, we turn next to labor and employment law. This area of the law has been prominent in the news over the past several months, particularly in light of the union stronghold of the Midwest, Michigan, becoming …
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 …
The following is a guest post by David Mao, Law Librarian of Congress. He has previously guest posted Justifying Speed, Food for Thought, Another Trip Down Memory Lane, 2012 Burton Awards – Pic of the Week, Shreddy: From the Office of the Law Librarian – Pic of the Week, From the Desk of the Law Librarian, The Law …
The Law Library of Congress houses approximately 60,000 rare items, 25,000 of which are housed in our climate controlled vault. The Law Library’s rare books collection is managed by our Rare Books Curator, Nathan Dorn. For an item to be considered rare, it typically must have been published prior to 1801. This 1788 translation of the U.S. …
Happy New Year! Here at the Law Library of Congress we are looking forward to another busy year filled with fascinating research, great public events, and (of course) many wonderful law books—old and new! We try very hard to share our resources and expertise with as many people as possible, including through our Reading Room, …
We have now completed our second full calendar year of In Custodia Legis. Our team of bloggers has continued to grow as we aim to share what we learn with you. We posted just over 240 times in the last twelve months! And we have been joined by Margaret, Tina, Jeanine, Donna, Barbara, and Robert during that period. Eleven …
This is a guest post by Janice Hyde, Program Officer for the Global Legal Information Network. My colleague, George Sadek, and I had the privilege of accompanying Law Librarian David Mao on a recent trip to Doha, Qatar, where David offered opening remarks at a ceremony inaugurating a new portal that provides access to Qatar’s legal …