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Abstract: This paper was presented at the Global Issues in Law and Finance Conference, June 30, 2005 in London, England. The Conference was jointly sponsored by the Credit Law Institute and the Conference on Consumer Finance Law. The content of the paper is based on the course Advanced Legal Research: Foreign, Comparative and International Law (hereinafter FCIL) that I teach along with Professor Judith Morgan at the Oklahoma City University School of Law. The paper focuses on research strategies and reference sources for foreign and international law. Specifically it discusses finding treaties, foreign law research and international trade in goods research.
international legal research, foreign legal research, international trade research, international law, foreign law, comparative law, international trade, CISG
Abstract: Professor Peoples reports the results of a study finding that the opinions and performance of modern legal researchers do not support the traditional notion that print digests are the tool of choice for researching legal rules while electronic databases are best suited for finding cases discussing unique factual situations. Tomorrow's lawyers are unaware of some common shortcomings of electronic research and do not possess the strategies to compensate for them. Law librarians must become more involved in electronic database instruction, integrate legal information literacy education into the curriculum, and advocate for improvements to electronic databases to improve the situation.
west digest, west key number, keysearch, legal research, electronic legal research, usability study, computer assisted legal research
Abstract: Wikipedia has been cited in over four hundred American judicial opinions. Courts have taken judicial notice of Wikipedia content, based their reasoning on Wikipedia entries, and decided dispositive motions on the basis of Wikipedia content. The impermanent nature of Wikipedia entries and their questionable quality raises a number of unique concerns. To date, no law review article has comprehensively examined the citation of Wikipedia in judicial opinions or considered its long-range implications for American law.
This article reports the results of an exhaustive study examining every American judicial opinion that cites a Wikipedia entry. The article begins with a discussion of cases that cite Wikipedia for a significant aspect of the case before the court. The impact of these citations on litigants’ constitutional and procedural rights, the law of evidence, judicial ethics, and the judicial role in the common law adversarial system are explored. Part II discusses collateral references to Wikipedia entries. Part III proposes a set of best practices for when and how Wikipedia should be cited. Detailed statistics on the quality of Wikipedia entries cited in judicial opinions and the completeness and accuracy of citations to Wikipedia entries are provided. The article concludes with a discussion of the impact of Wikipedia citations in judicial opinions on the future of the law.
wikipedia, judicial opinions, de-legalization, wiki, adjudicative facts, judges, judicial opinions, legal research, legal reasoning
Abstract: Lee Peoples' guide on researching international agricultural law includes documentation and links on intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, treaties and agreements, dispute resolution, customs, tariffs, domestic trade law and policy, and statistics.
International Law, International Trade, Treaties, Agriculture, Food, IGO, NGO
Abstract: Finding a balance between growth and restraint has been a central tension in common law countries. Various practices have been employed to achieve a balance between growth and restraint. The nineteenth century legal treatise tradition, the American Law Institute's Restatement, the West Digest System, uniform laws, legal encyclopedias, and other devices have been used in the United States in an effort to bring order to the rapidly expanding common law. The Law Commission, Law Reform Committee, Digest, and Halsbury's Laws of England are examples of similar efforts in England. Publication practices and no-citation rules play an important and controversial role in controlling the growth of the common law. These practices seem fundamentally in conflict with a system that bases its very existence on widely available judicial decisions that are presumptively citable. Common law systems have employed these measures in part to satisfy a bench and bar who complain of drowning in a sea of cases. England and America have taken drastically different approaches to publication practices and no-citation rules. The English approach is found in a combination of rules limiting the rights of lawyers to cite unreported judgments and giving judges the power to prospectively declare the precedential value of their judgments. In contrast, American federal appellate courts are free to issue unpublished opinions and to decide their precedential value, but are prohibited from imposing any restrictions on the citation of unpublished opinions. This Article examines why England and America took divergent approaches and explores the potential consequences for the common law. Part I of this Article establishes a context for the discussion through a historical survey of publication and citation practices in England and the United States. Part I concludes with an explanation of the current rules in both jurisdictions. Part II examines efficiency arguments advanced to justify the practices employed in England and explores why these arguments were accepted in England and rejected in the United States. Part III addresses policy arguments made in each country over no-citation rules. Part III also compares the substantial differences in both the volume and substance of policy arguments made in each country. Part IV predicts the impact no-citation rules will have on the future of the common law through an examination of the precedential value of unreported and unpublished cases, the role of the judiciary in controlling the growth of the common law, jurisprudential theories, and the degree no-citation rules will be enforced in both jurisdictions.
comparative law, United States, United Kingdom, citation, publication, case law
Abstract: In her article inspiring this symposium Lyonette Louis-Jacques observed While citation analyses exist for American legal materials, there are none for foreign and international law. The Opinions of the Advocates General of Court of Justice of the European Communities (hereafter Court or E.C.J.) are fertile ground for such an analysis yet they have almost never been the subject of study. Citations to foreign law can be found in Advocates Generals' Opinions. The citation of United States law in Advocates General's Opinions has been the subject of two previous studies. Peter Herzog's 1998 article United States Supreme Court Cases in the Court of Justice of the European Communities looked at ten Advocates General Opinions from 1980 through 1995. Dr. Carl Baudenbacher's 2003 article Judicial Globalization: New Development or Old Wine in New Bottles? looked at references in eight opinions from 1985 through 1998, including several opinions mentioned in Herzog's article. Both articles only discuss the Advocates Generals' citation to the law of the United States. To date no study has looked beyond citations to United States law when examining the use of foreign law in Advocates Generals' Opinions. With this study I intend to mind the gap and examine references in Advocates Generals' Opinions to the laws of all non-Member States. This study will also update the Herzog and Baudenbacher articles by examining citation to foreign law in Opinions from 1998 through 2007. Part I of this article discusses Opinions citing U.S. law over the past decade and compares those Opinions with the Opinions identified in the Herzog and Baudenbacher articles. The theories posited in the Herzog and Baudenbacher articles are examined in light of the past decade of citation to U.S. law in Advocates Generals' Opinions. Part II explores the citation of non-Member State jurisdictions other than the United States in Advocate Generals' Opinions. Part III critically analyzes the citation of foreign law by Advocates General. This section explores why Advocates General cite foreign law, why they typically provide complete numerical citations when referring to U.S. law, and why they devote more textual space to discussing U.S. law. The study concludes with predictions for the future.
Advocate Generals, Foreign Law, Comparative Law, European Union, European Communities, European Court of Justice
Abstract: This paper was accepted for the 2008 International Association of Law Schools' Educational Program. It outlines the educational, cultural, and professional programs offered during Oklahoma City University School of Law's Certificate in American Law Program. The paper discusses the challenges of introducing Chinese law students to American legal ethics, legal research and writing in America, and American trial practice. The relevance and importance of these subjects to Chinese law students are discussed.
China, Chinese, Experiential Education, Study Abroad
Abstract: This article reports the results of an exhaustive study examining the citation of blogs in judicial opinions. The article begins with an exploration of opinions citing blogs for their discussion of substantive legal issues. The unique status enjoyed by several boutique blogs is examined including the importance of Douglas Berman’s Sentencing Law and Policy blog in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Blakely and Booker decisions. The citation of blogs for factual information is discussed and the impact of these citations on litigants’ constitutional and procedural rights, the law of evidence, judicial ethics, and the judicial role in the common law adversarial system are explored. Serious questions about the preservation of blogs cited in judicial opinions have yet to be answered. The way that blogs are cited in judicial opinions varies widely. Some judges do not provide enough information to accurately retrieve the blog post viewed by the court. Blog entries frequently change after they are posted. Some blog entries and entire blogs disappear without warning. There is currently no uniform approach to archiving or preserving blogs. Detailed statistics on the completeness and accuracy of citations to blogs in judicial opinions are provided. A set of best practices detailing when and how blogs should be cited is proposed. The Judicial Conference’s recently released Guidelines on Citing To, Capturing, and Maintaining Internet Resources in Judicial Opinions are discussed and critiqued. Solutions explored at the Future of Today’s Legal Scholarship Symposium held at the Georgetown Law Center in July of 2009 are evaluated. The article concludes with a discussion of the impact of blogs on the future of the law.
blog, blogs, blawgs, citaiton studies, legal ressearch, legal authority, precedent, judges
Abstract: Researching consumer law issues is challenging. Researchers working in most legal subject areas are able to focus primarily on the single area of law at issue. Consumer law is an amalgamation of several interrelated areas of law. The consumer law researcher must be adept at research in a number of subject areas including bankruptcy, sales, real estate, mortgages, and banking law. Further complicating the picture is the numerous types of authority involved in consumer law research. The consumer lawyer must wade through not only numerous cases and statutes but a morass of administrative agency rules, administrative law decisions, staff interpretations, commentary, guidelines, and other pronouncements. Consumer lawyers must also be adept at researching issues at both the state and federal levels.
Consumer Law, Legal Research, Banking Law, Truth in Lending
Abstract: This essay reviews Tim Birtwistle's Principles of Euopean Union Law. Comparisons to similar titles are included.
European Union, Book Review, International Law, Tim Birtwistle
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