Languages

Research Tip: Your Friend, the Legal Form

Legal forms may be the unsung heroes of legal research, especially for people with limited legal practice experience. Both Lexis and Westlaw have large libraries of legal forms that you can use as models for your own documents. Here a few examples of occasions where legal forms can help save you time and guide you in the right …

Research Tip: Your Friend, the Legal Form Read More »

Great News From Germany: Legal Publisher Beck Verlag is Renaming the Palandt Civil Code Commentary

It’s an historic day in the world of German law following the announcement that the Beck Verlag, a prominent legal publisher, is renaming one of its most well-known titles, the Palandt Civil Code Commentary. I spoke and wrote briefly on this topic in my presentation and paper at Yale Law Library’s legal citation symposium this past spring. The …

Great News From Germany: Legal Publisher Beck Verlag is Renaming the Palandt Civil Code Commentary Read More »

New Title Spotlight: “Testamente und Erbstreitigkeiten” (“Wills and Inheritance Disputes”)

The law library recently added a very interesting book to the collection: Testamente und Erbstreitigkeiten: von Kriemhild bis Cornelius GurlittWalter Zimmermann2018, C.H. BeckISBN: 9783406730238 This book provides a historical survey of wills and inheritance disputes and includes transcriptions (in normal, readable font) of actual language from testamentary instruments.  Researchers who are interested in historical wills will especially enjoy …

New Title Spotlight: “Testamente und Erbstreitigkeiten” (“Wills and Inheritance Disputes”) Read More »

Spotlight on Research: Looking Up Legal Terms of Art

Law is full of legal terms of art that are used to express a specific thing or idea in a legal context.  While some may dismiss legal language as “legalese,” the words that lawyers and legal scholars use when talking about law are important because they communicate specific legal concepts, rather than general ideas. Take, for example, a word like …

Spotlight on Research: Looking Up Legal Terms of Art Read More »

AALL Conference; Lex Baioariorum – Law of Bavaria

I will be joining several of my colleagues at the annual American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) conference in Baltimore this year, which begins on Sunday.  I missed last year’s conference, so I am really looking forward to connecting with my law library colleagues from all over the country.  I’ll be posting about a few of the conference …

AALL Conference; Lex Baioariorum – Law of Bavaria Read More »

Thoughts on Library Research Guides

Since I came back to the law library from my professional development leave, I have been looking at and thinking about the research guides I have written here.  (You can view the list of them.)  I was never formally trained on writing research guides.  I learned a little bit about them, conceptually, in library school, but mainly I …

Thoughts on Library Research Guides Read More »

Another Option for Finding Library Materials by Subject

I have written before in this blog about using the Hollis library catalog to find materials in the law library by subject. Specifically, I find the Hollis catalog’s hyperlinked Library of Congress (LC) Subject Headings to be a great way to discover what the libraries at Harvard have on a particular topic, especially if I’m looking for materials in multiple …

Another Option for Finding Library Materials by Subject Read More »

New Title Spotlight: The Liechtenstein Rules of Arbitration

One of the more recent European jurisdictions to make itself available as an arbitration venue is the Principality of Liechtenstein. In 2010, Liechtenstein amended its Civil Procedure Code (Zivilprozessordnung) to include a number of provisions related to arbitration. The Liechtenstein Arbitration Association was formed in 2011. Since its formation, this organization has worked to establish Liechtenstein as a desirable forum for resolving …

New Title Spotlight: The Liechtenstein Rules of Arbitration Read More »

German Passports and Identification Documents: A History

In browsing the library’s German stacks recently (“KK” call numbers – 3rd floor of the Lewis/ILS building) I discovered a very cool book: an illustrated history of German passports and identification documents from the middle ages to the present. Der Passexpedient: Geschichte der Reisepässe und Ausweisdokumente – vom Mittelalter bis zum Personalausweis im Scheckkartenformat Andreas Reisen Nomos Verlag, 2012 …

German Passports and Identification Documents: A History Read More »

“Transliteration” of Foreign Languages in HOLLIS Records

The law library’s print collection includes many non-English books and journals, including materials published in languages that do not use the Roman/Latin alphabet. The example below shows the HOLLIS+ record of a Russian-language book that was recently added to the collection.  Information in several of the fields, including the title, is shown first in Cyrillic, and then in what is …

“Transliteration” of Foreign Languages in HOLLIS Records Read More »

Scroll to Top