Author Archives: Mabel Shaw

China’s Claim to South China Seas Rejected!

Today, the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China’s expansive claim to a large swath of the South China Sea.  The full text of the award can be found on the PCA website, although their servers have been having some difficulties keeping up with demand.  China has predictably rejected the finding with a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

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Did you know that “island” is defined by international law?  See Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law database is a good starting point when you are investigating a new topic!  Go ahead and take a look

Get in line says Supreme Court to their Bar Members

Time is a precious commodity in the D.C. area and plenty of folks just don’t have the time to

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

wait in line for Congressional hearings, popular restaurants, or Supreme Court arguments.  The solution?  Hire someone else to wait in line for you!  Paid line sitters will camp out and hold a spot for you.  However, the Supreme Court has ended this practice for members of the Supreme Court bar.  One of the few perks for high court bar members is the much shorter admission line to attend oral arguments, but even this line can get very long for big cases.  That’s when the paid line-sitters make some extra cash.  On Monday, the Supreme Court stated that “Only Bar members who actually intend to attend argument are allowed in line for the Bar section; “line standers” are not permitted.”  Note that this rule only applies to the lawyer line and not the general public line.  Paid line sitters can still wait with the rest of us in the long general admission line.

Long Live the Queen!

Before she became Queen, Princess Elizabeth age 3.

At approximately 5:30pm (London time) today, Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest reigning British monarch in history surpassing her great great grandmother, Queen Victoria.  According to careful calculations which factored in hours, leap years and lengths of different months, Queen Elizabeth has reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours, 30 minutes!  The Queen has been low key about this milestone and is currently spending time at her Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Come visit the Wolff Library’s display about U.K. Succession on the upper level.  British succession has a long and storied past that can read like a soap opera.  Think Downton Abbey entailment on steroids.

 

U.K. Succession Display at Wolff Library

While Princess Charlotte is adorable, she is also a trailblazer.  For this generation of royals, the U.K.  line of succession to the crown is no longer dependent on gender.  Previously, the crown passed to sons, uncles, or nephews with female relatives as back up.  Because of this recent change, Princess Charlotte bumped Prince Harry down a notch on the succession ladder.  Of course, Prince George is the heir apparent after his grandpa Prince Charles and his daddy Prince William.

English succession rules have deep roots back to King Henry VIII and the English Reformation.  Come visit our display on U.K. succession located in the display case on the upper level of the Wolff Library!ImperialStateCrown

Denim Day

Denim Day

jeansFor several years, a day in April has been designated as “Denim Day” to promote awareness of sexual violence against women.

It began in 1999 in response to an Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) decision that overturned a rape conviction. There was a dispute about consent. In overturning the decision on the consent issue, the court found that it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them.  There is an interesting law review article about this case, Blue Jeans, Rape, and the De-Constitutive Power of Law, in 35 Law & Society Review 89 on HeinOnline.

There was a second, similar case in 2008 where the Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) reviewed a lower court decision with very similar reasoning.  This time the high court overturned the lower court and its own 1999 ruling.  This development has “closely aligned the Italian Supreme Court with the European Court of Human Rights’ dictates, and ultimately has marked a step forward towards gender equality and women’s right to sexual autonomy.”

Women continue to be victims of sexual violence around the world as seen in recent news reports.  Denim Day serves a reminder to combat such attitudes.
photo Attribution License by CananZembil

standing deskFolks requested standing desks in the most recent library survey, so we shopped around and purchased two standing desks.  These Varidesks sit on top of the table or carrel.  The height and positioning can be adjusted for comfort.  We haven’t decided on a permanent location within the libraries, so we may move them around until we can find the best placement.  You can always ask at the circulation desk for exact location.  There is one in each library.   Feedback is always appreciated!

FIFA Disciplinary Code & Biting

What happens when a soccer player bites another player?  Article 43 of the FIFA Statutes includes provisions for a FIFA Disciplinary Committee whose functions are governed by the Disciplinary Code.  It looks like Article 48 (see page 30) of A deep dive into the wonders of Skellville: Dinosaur teeththis code addresses misconduct against opponents and 48(3) allows for the application of Article 77 (page 44) which states that “the Disciplinary Committee is responsible for: a) sanctioning serious infringements which have escaped the match officials’ attention.”  This is important since no red card was given to the Uruguay player Luis Suarez during the game.  Note that decisions from the Disciplinary Committee can be appealed to the Appeals Committee.  Visit the FIFA website for more information on FIFA laws and regulations.

Attribution License by kevin dooley

Denim Day – April 2nd

jeansFor several years, a day in April has been designated as “Denim Day” to promote awareness of sexual violence against women.

It began in 1999 in response to an Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) decision that overturned a rape conviction. There was a dispute about consent. In overturning the decision on the consent issue, the court found that “it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them.”  As a response to this decision female legislators appeared on the doorstep of Parliament wearing jeans and holding signs that read “Jeans: An Alibi for Rape.”

There was a second, similar case in 2008 where the Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) reviewed a lower court decision with very similar reasoning which had found that “it was impossible to, with the girl wearing jeans and being seated, put his hand under her pants and touch” her. This time the high court overturned the lower court and its own 1999 ruling finding that “[t]he fact that the girl was wearing jeans was not an obstacle to her intimate parts, because it is possible for him to penetrate with his hand under the garment, which is not comparable to a chastity belt.”

This development has “closely aligned the Italian Supreme Court with the European Court of Human Rights’ dictates, and ultimately has marked a step forward towards gender equality and women’s right to sexual autonomy.”

Women continue to be victims of sexual violence around the world.  Denim Day serves a reminder to combat such attitudes.
photo Attribution License by CananZembil

New Historical Foreign Law Database

The library recently subscribed to The Making of Modern Law: Foreign Primary Sources, 1600-1970. This database primarily contains historical native language primary law sources such as codes and regulations as well as some commentaries. The following jurisdictions are covered:

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • France
  • Germany
  • Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • Hungary
  • Ireland
  • the Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Switzerland

The database contains over 1500 titles approximately half of which are in English. The database compliments others in our collection such as The Making of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative, and International Law, 1600-1926, which contains a large number of pre-1926 legal treatises. These treatises along with the primary law provided in Foreign Primary Sources provide an excellent look at historical foreign law.

New Database – Social Explorer

Our main campus library recently acquired Oxford Social Explorer.  Users can easily create interesting maps and tables from U.S. Census data, American Community Survey, Religious Congregations & Membership Survey, and a few other sources.  It’s easy to select a category (such as income, housing, race, etc) and coverage year, then a colorful map is produced.  Depending on the data, your map can be presented as dot density, shaded area, or bubbles overlaid on a map of the United States.  Maps can be saved or exported for use in documents or presentations.