The history of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (C.A.L.L.) has many parallels with the history of the International Association as set out by Dr. Dahlmanns in No. 28 of this Bulletin. The year 1960 seems to have been a turning point in law library development in Canada and the decade following it was a period of rapid and extensive growth both in the number of law libraries and in the size and scope of their collections. Before 1960 the possibility of a law library organization had been discussed, but in 1960 it became a reality. Under the guidance of Eunice Beeson, the newly appointed law librarian at the Dalhousie University Law School in Halifax, C.A.L.L. first came into being as a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries. Eunice brought with her to Canada valuable experience in the American organization and she lost no time in getting the five or six widely scattered Canadian law librarians into touch with one another in a way in which they could work together on common projects and share similar concerns. She drafted the constitution of the organization, articulated ideas for co-operative ventures, and indicated practical ways of achieving what had to be done. Her death in the spring of 1966 was a great loss, but she had laid a firm foundation for the future development of the Association.

Law libraries are the stepchildren of legal and general library literature. This observation made by Kurt Schwerin a decade ago is still valid in the Federal Republic of Germany. No comprehensive publications exist to describe the history, current status or the prospective tasks of our law libraries. The few articles published on the topic describe only one library or one group of libraries. The reports published by juridical institutes often contain useful information on the respective libraries. Another source of information on law libraries may be found in the guides published by several law libraries to facilitate the use of their holdings.

On numerous online discussion forums in various countries, ordinary people pose specific legal questions and both ordinary people and lawyers answer them. This article considers this new and rapidly growing method of providing legal advice. It emphasizes qualitative over quantitative issues. It seeks to answer questions such as “What kind of questions are being asked?”; “What sort of people are giving legal advice?”, “What sort of people are getting legal advice?”. For those few legal systems that I know something about, I also have considered the question, “How good is the advice?” This is a comparative study, involving discussion forums for Armenian, Australian, Austrian, Brazilian, Canadian, Croatian, English, French, German, Italian, Moldovan, Portuguese, Russian, Scots, Spanish, Swiss, Ukrainian, United Kingdom, and United States law.

The use of abbreviations saves considerable time and space. This translates into savings in costs. However, one unfamiliar with abbreviations will lose considerable time in searching for their meanings.

Czechoslovakia was established on October 28, 1918. For a better understanding of its legal history, allow me to mention first a few historical events that influenced the creation of Czechoslovakia and, in later years its legal development.

The Communications Directorate of The Scottish Parliament is responsible for the development and implementation of strategy and policy in respect of information generation, publication and dissemination. Within The Directorate, it is the Information Systems business unit that has particular responsibility for the external information policy, that is to say, the policy regarding the provision of parliamentary information to the world outside The Parliament.

At the 1994 Summit of the Americas, leaders of democratic nations in the Western Hemisphere committed to establishing a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by January 2005. The Declaration of Principles resulting from that Summit called for building on “existing sub-regional and bilateral arrangements in order to broaden and deepen hemispheric economic integration and to bring the agreements together.” Although ambitious, this endeavor was undertaken during a decade marked by an unprecedented proliferation of trade agreements. In 1991, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay agreed to initiate the formation of a common market now known as the MERCOSUR. Then in 1994, Canada, Mexico and the United States signed the North American Free Trade Agreement which replaced the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement. Later that year, nations around the world formalized the existing General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, creating the World Trade Organization. In 1997, the Andean Community of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela formalized its plans to establish a common market. Members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market also agreed in several protocols to further their economic and social integration. During the 1990's, numerous other trade agreements were negotiated, and their development continues at the same rapid pace today.

The law of parliamentary privilege in New South Wales is the sum of certain immunities, rights, and powers enjoyed by the individual Houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, together with their members and committees, as constituent parts of the Legislature. The law is complex. It is liberally interspersed with uncertainty and ambiguity. It is also distinctly different from the law of privilege in other Australian jurisdictions, including the Commonwealth, and also from overseas jurisdictions. It is singular in the degree to which it relies on the common law, without recourse to statutory expression or to the historical privileges of the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, in some respects, the Parliament of New South Wales has been remarkably successful through the courts, and through its own procedures, in asserting the powers and rights of members under the banner of parliamentary privilege, notably in relation to orders for the production of State papers.

U.S. law librarians are formal sources of information to information-seekers in the United States. U.S. law librarians are approachable and visible assets of law libraries within institutions. They also act as gatekeepers of legal information, preventing information corruption and spearheading research into new frontiers of information.

Whales have captivated the human imagination for millennia. Indeed, evidence of the first whale hunting dates back to at least 6,000 B.C. These incredible cetaceans have been a source of human food, fuel and tools, and have inspired art, myth and literature around the globe. Legal issues affecting whales are varied and far reaching. Only since the mid 20th century, with the establishment of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) under the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) have whales benefited from any type of conservation effort.

The number of Chinese legal scholarly publications has grown dramatically in the last ten years as the Chinese government legislature churned out an expansive body of law, with an impressive proliferation of print treatises and web-based legal information in the vernacular. This article offers a sampling of legal scholars and their treatises. It is organized by subject area, and is offered as a selective annotated treatise finder. The list focuses on legal publications published within the last two decades subsequent to the amendment of the 1982 Chinese Constitution in 1989. Some of the authors included here wrote extensively on specific legal topics, while others were involved in the deliberation, preparation, and drafting of key legislation. It is hoped that the article provides a roadmap that will be useful to students and others new to research in Chinese law; to help them locate relevant treatises, journal literature, and to jumpstart their research into specific legislation and legal topics.

This empirical study starts from the newest medium, the internet, and explains briefly what researchers can expect to find there in terms of legal information, and how to find the needed information. It focuses on U.S. legal information, but also touches on foreign and international law. It includes comparisons with other legal research platforms and raises a few issues.