Considerable changes took place in Romanian law after the conclusion of the Second World War and the establishment of the Romanian Socialist Republic. Pre-war legislation was not abolished in toto. It was replaced gradually by new laws more suited to the new government programs.

During the early period of legislative change and reform, there was no option for systematic and codified modification of the existing law. Therefore, a greater than usual emphasis was placed on ministerial decrees, orders, instructions, and regulations. These, as well as the regulations and instructions of other government agencies, proliferated extensively. More recently, some of these temporary legislative methods either have been repealed or have become obsolete through passage of time.

The ensuing uncertainty of repealed statutes and other legislative provisions eventually led to the adoption of the following legal measures:

1. 1) Establishment of a consultative body, known as the Legislative Council;

2. 2) Creation of a register (or index) of legislation in force (for this purpose the entire legislation before 1973 was scanned and, as a result, 2300 laws and other legislative acts were cancelled and another 3000 were found to have lost significance);

3. 3) Establishment of a clear program of legislation, with fixed objectives for the areas of law requiring improvement and codification;

4. 4) Formulation of a set of rules (methodology) governing all legislative activity and dealing with the initiation and passage of legislation, legislative drafting, delegation of legislative power, public discussion of legislative projects, and other matters pertaining to the making of laws.

Academic legal literature in the USA is punctuated at regular intervals by discussions of the quality of legal research and writing tuition in the law schools. None of these discussions makes question of the place of such courses within the curriculum. The debate centers upon what should be taught, when, and by whom, and how effective such teaching may be. My first contact with such courses came during a period of work in the USA and when, on my return to the UK, I was required to set up a course in legal information studies, I turned to the UK literature for material on teaching legal research. The result of my search was a complete blank. Indeed, it is difficult to find discussion of any kind on such topics as curriculum planning and the interrelation of legal subjects in teaching programs. The structure of legal education in the UK has been the subject of government reports, but in the main these deal with mechanical and financial aspects—what the apprentice lawyer should learn—and how his professional ability may be enhanced by his education is barely touched upon. There is certainly nothing in the UK literature since the turn of the century on the methods of teaching legal research, nor any debate upon the desirability of teaching such a subject. Basic textbooks on legal bibliography exist, most of which offer guidance, at various levels of sophistication, as to how the novice may handle the literature of law, but it is apparent on examination that none of these are teaching texts, evolved and tested during the repetition of a course of instruction, as are many US texts. We possess nothing in print that might be compared with Price and Bitner's Effective Legal Research (to name just one such book), with its guidance on search strategies and evaluation of sources and facts. I decided to do some basic research and ask all the UK institutions teaching law courses leading to eventual professional qualification what, if anything, they offered by way of instruction in legal research techniques.

This year the Italian Parliament celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of its formation under the Republican Constitution of 1947, which went into effect on January 1st of the following year. Because of the parliamentary system established by the Constitution, the role of the Italian Parliament extends far beyond the law-making function.

The foreign attorney new to the field of US taxation is likely to find it an alien, frustrating terrain, crisscrossed by a forbidding network of vaguely interrelated statutory provisions. His initial reaction will undoubtedly be to seek out a competent text to guide him through the maze. But selecting the right text may prove a chore in itself. Some works assume an initial familiarity with the area which the attorney will lack; others may gloss over a particular point of interest or not address it at all; conversely, the work may narrowly focus on an aspect of taxation with which the attorney has little concern.

It is an indisputable fact that there are not many English or other translations of the primary legal sources of Spain and Latin America. The situation with secondary Hispanic language law sources is not much better. There are very few entries registered in the sections for Spain and Latin America in the AALS Law Books Recommended for Law Libraries that appear to be written in languages other than Spanish. The same situation is detected when browsing through the AALL Basic Latin American Legal Materials. Furthermore, of the hundreds of articles indexed in the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals that refer to the legal systems of Spain and Latin America only a few appear to be written in a foreign language.

South Africa has a long tradition of law journal publishing. The Cape Law Journal was founded in 1884. Its name was changed to the South African Law Journal in 1901 and it has continued to appear ever since. Certain other journals commenced in the past, then either disappeared or now appear in another guise. For instance the South African Law Times was published for a few years in the 1930's only. Similarly Butterworths South African Law Review was the precursor to the current Acta Juridica. However, today a wide range of titles are published. Juta and Company Limited (P.O. Box 123, Kenwyn, Cape Province 7790) publishes the South African Law Journal and several other law and law-related periodicals and law reports. Another regular publisher of legal journals is Butterworths and Co. (S.A.) (Pty) Limited, (P.O. Box 792, Durban 4000).

The needs of the clients of law libraries in Israeli universities (Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv and Bar Ilan) have long shown the importance of, and the need for, collaboration and cooperation among these libraries in order to present the best of services to their clientele. Therefore, the work of Mrs. Bar-Niv, from the Law Library at Jerusalem University, has been wholeheartedly welcomed. With the cooperation of the other two law libraries, Mrs. Bar Niv published in 1975 the Union List of Periodicals in Law Libraries in Israel (updated through a supplement in 1976). This list has proved an indispensable aid for staff and students.