From Less Than the Least Blog:

I learned through the grapevine yesterday that Bill is one of a small handful of law fellows (the others are Justice Stevens and six law professors) who have just been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. This is an incredibly high honor, and couldn’t have been more deserved. Congratulations, Bill.

Indeed, congratulations, Prof. Stuntz.  And Professor Elizabeth Warren, as well!

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing April 30 on the subject of “secret law.”

“Secret law is an abomination,” wrote Professor Kenneth Davis in his classic treatise on Administrative Law. Chaired by Sen. Russ Feingold, this hearing will explore the extent to which secret law has become more common.

LexisNexis and Westlaw provide only limited access to students during the summer between June 30th and August 1st.

Students wishing to use their LexisNexis and Westlaw student accounts for a qualifying academic purpose may register to extend their access through the summer. Full access for continuing, non-graduating students will be restored on August 1st. See LexisNexis and Westlaw Student Summer Access for more information.

The Law Library is currently conducting a brief (emphasis on the word “brief") survey of students that have been involved with any of the student-edited journals over the past academic year.  We’d like to know how we are doing! It should take less than five minutes to complete the survey, which you can do by clicking here.  (You’ll need to enter your Harvard ID and pin.) If you have any questions, please contact .

The survey will remain open until midnight on Friday, May 2nd, and we thank you in advance!

The Old Bailey, also known as Justice Hall, the Sessions House, and the Central Criminal Court, is probably the most famous criminal court in the world.  It hears cases remitted to it from all over England and Wales as well as the Greater London area. 

Transcripts of 210,000 trials from across four centuries are now freely available online through a new website: The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913. The website also includes 195,000 digital images and contemporary maps, images of the courtroom and information on the historical and legal background to the Old Bailey court.

Thomson Reuters SDC Platinum 3.0 is now available for download and installation.

Thomson Reuters encourages users of versions 2.3b and earlier to upgrade to take advantage of the many new features and enhancements offered by version 3.0. See the HLSL SDC Platinum download & installation page for detailed instructions. (HLS email username and password required)

Thomson Reuters SDC Platinum is a software-based tool for analyzing corporate finance and capital markets transaction information. We have subscribed to the SDC Platinum Global New Issues and Mergers & Acquisitions databases. Interested in finding out more about data resources available to you? See HLSL Data Resources for a listing of data resources useful for legal research.

The editors of the Bluebook are soliciting input on how to improve the next edition (which will be the 19th) of the Bluebook.  This is your chance to make your ideas be heard!  Please take a moment to complete the survey by clicking here.

As a special bonus, ten responses will be randomly selected to receive a free copy of the Nineteenth Edition, as well as a year-long subscription to The Bluebook Online. That could be quite a savings!

Please note, completed surveys must be received by the editors by June 30, 2008, to be considered for the Nineteenth Edition. Comments and suggestions are always welcome at .

Does anyone else out there remember what edition they used when they were in school? I’m not embarrassed to admit it - I used the 15th. That doesn’t make me too old, does it?

A genetic propensity to commit murder, mitigating or aggravating factor? Familial DNA searches, open to constitutional challenge?

Genes and Justice, a series of special reports from the Washington Post, explores the growing use of DNA testing in the U.S. legal system. The first article in the series, DNA Tests Offer Deeper Examination Of Accused, Washington Post, April 20, 2008, explores new and expanding uses of DNA testing in the courtroom. The second article, From DNA of Family, a Tool to Make Arrests, Washington Post, April 21, 2008, explores the use of DNA testing in law enforcement.

With wonderfully ironic timing - the American Associations of Law Libraries meets in Portland in July - the Legislative Counsel Committee of the State of Oregon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Justia, a free online resource for judicial decisions and statutes, claiming that Justia’s posting of the Oregon Revised Statutes violates its copyright. 

Sam Bayard blogs about the case at the Citizen Media Law Project. Boing Boing gives us Carl Malmud’s report on Public.Resources.Org‘s response. There is more at ars technica.

Yes, according to Goodwin, Proctor’s Litigation Knowledge Manager David Hobbie. PreCydent is a free (for now, anyway) law search engine that aims to offer “google-like” access to case law (more details here). 

Hobbie did several case law searches, as described on his blog, Caselines, and in his view, PreCydent consistently provided the best results.  Despite this, Hobbie doesn’t recommend giving up Westlaw or Lexis, at least not for now.  PreCydent “only covers a limited amount of federal appellate caselaw—in most cases, that after 1950 and up to July 2007,” and has a few other disadvantages, as Hobbie explains in his article Nevertheless, you may want to get a free preview of what might turn out to be the next major law search engine. 

Interested in international law?  The web-based International Law Video Library features videos on International Law subjects, including an entire subsection on International Human Rights topics. 

The videos feature conversations with experts such as James Crawford, Whewell Professor of International Law, University of Cambridge; Phillippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court; Judge Navanethem Pillay, President of the International Criminal for Rwanda Tribunal (1999 - 2003 ) and later Judge of the International Criminal Court; Nobel Prize Laureate Dr. Joseph Rotblat; Christine Chinkin, Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science; Judge Thomas Buergenthal of the International Court of Justice and several other experts. 
Topics range from basic concepts, such as jus cogens and sovereignty, to international criminal law, disarmament, and many more.  Often, videos include some footage of the organization in which the expert works.  According to the site, the Library was launched in 2006 with funding provided by Queen’s University of Belfast. 
Hat tip: Library Boy.

One of the area’s finest used book stores has just moved to a new location less than one mile from HLS.

Recent HLS hire Cass Sunstein is blogging today at the Volokh Conspiracy about the “libertarian paternalism.” Lots of comments - join the conversation. 

Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog.

Identifying nineteenth-century broadside and ballad printers is often difficult, as many signed their work only with their surname and street. 

In 1825 London, for instance, there were 20 active printers named Taylor. While cataloging the Special Collections department’s Crime Broadsides we used a few resources to help us sort out these difficulties, including William B. Todd’s “A Directory of Printers and Others in Allied Trades: London and Vicinity, 1800-1840” and the online database the British Book Trade Index, which lists printers throughout Great Britain from William Caxton, the first English printer, until 1850.

Detail of HOLLIS 8107338

Sometimes, these resources could not answer our questions, as with this broadside, printed by “T. Storer, Fleur-de-lis Court, Fleet-Street, London, [1816].” I suspected that this was printed by Thomas Storer, a journeyman active in London from 1815 to 1817. However, I could not find a record of him at Fleur-de-lis court or on Fleet Street. In fact, he was listed from 1816 to 1817 at 1 Fetter Lane. From early maps of London, I knew that Fetter Lane and Fleet Street converged, but Fleur de lis court was at 9 Fetter Lane, too far from Storer’s listed address to convince me. My usual resources exhausted, I gave Google a try.

Google Books returned the the trial transcript for the 1817 trial of James Watson for his role in the Spa Fields Riots. Thomas Storer was implicated in printing a treasonous tract for Watson. During the trial, there was a lengthy questioning of witness Thomas Preston as to the exact location of Mr. Storer’s house, which perfectly answered my question:

That confirmed that this was my T. Storer of Fetter Lane, and also explained why he stopped printing in 1817 after such a short career.

Post contributed by:
Matthew Reidsma
Curatorial Assistant

For more information see:

- Crime Broadsides Website
- British Book Trade Index
- Trial of James Watson
- Maps of Early Modern London
- Fleet Street and Fetter-Lane today