Due Process: Georgetown Law Library Blog

We have now concluded the 2012 Annual Student Survey for the Georgetown Law Library.  This year, 485 students responded.  Here's a quick overview chart showing the respresentation of student responses:

Thanks to all the students who responded.  We've published a summary of responses on our site: 2012 Law Library Student Survey Responses.

Congratulations to 1L student William D. Reiter, who won an Amazon Kindle Fire as part of the drawing for this year's survey.  He was chosen at random from all student responders.  He is shown here with Associate Law Librarian Kumar Jayasuriya along with his new device.

Thanks again to our students for providing valuable feedback on library services, online content and resources.  We're starting now to review all comments.  Over the coming weeks, we'll review all comments.

This entry was posted on April 23, 2012 at 10:52 PM and has received 1081 views. Print this entry.

Special Collections’ recent acquisitions include a unique 18th century annotated compilation of European treaties, an 1760 collection of Portuguese and Papal laws for the colony of Brazil, a first edition of the first official Tennessee law reports, and an early 19th century American legal apprentice’s notebook.

The eight volumes of the Corps Universel Diplomatique du Droit des Gens; ou Recueil des Traitez d’Alliance, de Paix, de Treve, etc. faits en Europe, depuis Charlemagne, jusqu’a Present; avec les Capitulations, Imperiales et Royales, et autres Actes Publics and the five volumes of the Supplement au Corps Universel Diplomatique du Droit des Gens were bound into twenty-four multi-part volumes. Begun by Jean Dumont, Baron de Carlscoon (1667-1727), this compilation of European treaties in their original languages from 315 to 1730 CE was then completed by Jean Rousset de Missy (1686-1762) and Jean Barbeyrac (1674-1744), and published from 1726 to 1739. In addition to being worthy of inclusion and notice a century later in the 1847 American Marvin’s Legal Bibliography as “still hold[ing] the first rank among all collections of this description,” (quoting James Reddie, Inquiries in International Law (Edinburgh 1842)), this particular set is a fine example of 18th century speckled calf binding with gilt-stamped spines and speckled text-block edges.

The 1760 second imprint of the Colleccao dos Breves Pontificios, e Leys Regias, que Forao Expedidos, e Publicadas desde o Anno de 1741, sobre a Liberdade das Pessoas, Bens, e Commercio dos Indios do Brasil is bound together with the 1760 Supplemento a Colleccao dos Breves Pontificios, Leys Regias, e Officios que Sepassaram Entre as Cortes de Roma e Lisboa. These are collections of laws affecting the rights of persons, property and commercial activities in Brazil, many of which were promulgated to limit the activities of the Jesuit Order within the colony. The last set of laws in the Supplemento are concerned with the expulsion of the Jesuits from Brazil, which was part of a more extensive effort to expel the Jesuits from Portugal and all its colonies. Our newly acquired copy is a beautiful example of 18th century "cats-paw" decorated sheep binding with a gilt-stamped spine.

Tennessee Reports, Cases Ruled and Adjudged in the Superior Courts of Law and Equity, and Federal Courts for the State of Tennessee, edited by John Overton, and Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Court of Errors and Appeals of the State of Tennessee, from the year 1816 to 1817, edited by John Haywood, report territorial, state, and federal decisions from 1791 to 1817. Overton and Haywood were early Tennessee judges during the period covered by their reports. They were also both natives of North Carolina, where Judge Overton had served as a delegate to the 1789 convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution and Judge Haywood had compiled two volumes of North Carolina’s first court reports. After settling in Tennessee, Judge Overton became a friend and business colleague of Andrew Jackson and leading supporter and organizer of Jackson’s presidential campaigns in the 1820s. Judge Haywood subsequently authored two of the leading early works of Tennessee history – The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee and The Civil and Political History of Tennessee. Our copies of these five volumes have been recently rebound in period-style calf.

The manuscript notebook of Robert Frame (1800-1847) contains outlines of legal subjects written while Frame read the law as an apprentice in the law office of a John M. Clayton (1796-1856), who would subsequently become a U.S. Senator, Chief Justice of Delaware, and later a U.S Secretary of State in the 1830s, 40s and 50s. Frame himself would later be appointed Attorney General of Delaware when he was 30 years old, and went on to serve in the General Assembly. His apprentice’s notebook was compiled at some point between 1820 and 1823 (his index is dated 1823), with some entries likely being added after that period. He was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1824. Frame’s Notebook is an example of how many early American lawyers taught themselves the law by ‘reading the law’ in an established attorney’s office. The blank notebook was purchased for $3 by Robert Frame circa 1820, and is in its original faux tree-calf sheep binding .

Special Collections is located in Williams 210, and may be contacted at specl@law.georgetown.edu.

This entry was posted on February 16, 2012 at 12:31 PM and has received 5789 views. Print this entry.

It's that special time of year again! Yes, once again we hear the seasonal sounds of complaints about a 'War on Christmas' wafting through the blogosphere and cable news channels. Whatever one may think of this alleged suppression of all things Christmas, the current 'conflict' pales in contrast to the genuine banning of Christmas celebrations that took place in 16th and 17th century Britain and New England. The Real 'War on Christmas': 1581-1690 exhibit in the Williams Library Atrium displays facsimiles of several laws enacted during this period that outlawed the singing of carols, the holding of feasts and festivals, and other aspects of what we today cluster together under the seasonal rubric of holiday joy. These materials illuminate an easily overlooked chapter in the history of religious liberty, and give some valuable perspective to the current debate over the 'War on Christmas'.

This entry was posted on December 9, 2011 at 11:55 AM and has received 8159 views. Print this entry.

Over the years, a number of Georgetown Law graduates have published interesting and useful books.  The Georgetown Law Library is proud to feature almost two dozen of these, all written by people who graduated in classes ending in 1 and 6.  Take a look at the online exhibit of alumni author works to see the breadth of works this group of graduates has written.  During the current Law Center Reunion, all of these items are on display near the reunion registration desk in the Hotung Building.

This entry was posted on October 14, 2011 at 11:06 AM and has received 11020 views. Print this entry.

One of the truly delightful aspects of working with rare books is finding unique and sometimes suprising objects, inscriptions, and other miscellanies within them. The newest exhibit in the atrium display cases of the Williams Library location of Georgetown Law Library features a few such hidden treasures. Miscellanies Found in Blackstone's Commentaries includes a handwritten index to the first American edition of Blackstone's that included editorial notes and supplementary essays on, and case citations to, American law - Tucker's Blackstone published in 1803; a bookmark from the law bookstore frequented by Georgetown Law students in the early 1900s - John Byrne & Co.; and, a study outline list of Offenses against Public Justice written by Thomas A. Tighe of the Georgetown Law Class of 1914. Pictured here is Georgetown Law Library's copy of vol. 1 of the 1765 first edition of Blackstone's together with the original owner's inscription and bookplate found on the inside front cover.

This entry was posted on September 16, 2011 at 4:43 PM and has received 12586 views. Print this entry. Download attachment.

The login process for our catalog system is working again. Access to patron records and off-campus databases has been restored, as well as the ability to request an item.

Thanks again for your patience.

This entry was posted on August 31, 2011 at 6:33 AM and has received 13123 views. Print this entry.

17^th century England was a nation beset by recurrent periods of political and legal turmoil. Disputes between Parliament, the Common Lawyers, and the Crown, which had begun to hinder the functions of government in the 1620s, developed into civil war by the mid-1640s and reverberated through the end of the century well into the next. Lawyers and printers often found themselves caught up in both sides of the struggle. A number of pamphlets and treatises were written to defend and promote the rightness of both causes. Authors and publishers risked being charged with disparaging the prerogative rights and powers of the Crown or Parliament. This often led to the production of multiple variant imprints of a single work, many of them unauthorized by either the government or the author.

Georgetown Law Library Special Collections holds several such controversial variant imprints. Images from two such works produced to support the opposing sides in the English Civil War are currently on display in the Special Collections Exhibit Case located outside the Special Collections Reading Room (Williams 210) off the west end of the main reading room in the Williams Library.

This entry was posted on August 26, 2011 at 6:47 PM and has received 13617 views. Print this entry.

Georgetown Law invites alumni to study for the bar exam in the comfort of the law library.  All Georgetown graduates have lifetime access to the library during regularly scheduled hours.  While on campus, alumni may use the library’s space, collections, and all databases except for Westlaw and Lexis.

The Robert L. Oakley Reading Room in the Williams Library hours for the Law Center community and its graduates are 7:00 a.m. to midnight each weekday, 9:00 a.m. to midnight on Saturdays, and noon to midnight on Sundays. During the days leading up to the summer bar exams (July 18 – 27th) the Reading Room will remain open till 2:00 a.m. Please refer to the library's website for a full and updated list of law library hours.

Best of luck!

This entry was posted on May 31, 2011 at 4:48 PM and has received 19311 views. Print this entry.