Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals - Now Online!

The Osgoode Library now has access to the online version of this important series of international criminal law reports. Access is available to all members of the York University community via Passport York and no username/password is required. Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals provides you with the full text of the most important […]

A Topsy-Turvy Image of the Lawyer-Client Relationship

With its classical symmetry, coffered ceiling, modern furnishings and book-lined walls, all suffused with old book smell (“A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness”), the Canada Law Book Rare Book Room is a near perfect space and a wonderful place to work. The […]

"That's the letter U and the numeral 2"

With the recent passing of Casey Kasem, known primarily in the US as the voice of the "American Top 40" radio countdown and as the voice of Shaggy in the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons, I thought of one of Kasem's more notorious outings, and one that was an early example of current hot-button topics such as copyright, […]

Election Special - Five True Patriot Tips from 1899

Our provincial election is coming up, but I’m sure that many of us are still scratching our heads and wondering which way to send our vote. As established by Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it is our right as citizens to vote in federal and provincial elections, and it is […]

Glanvill's Tractatus: The First Treatise on English Law (ca 1188, First Print Ed 1554)

Glanvill, Ranulf de, 1130-1190. Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie. Londini : In aedibus Richardi Totteli, 1554. [1st edition]. ― Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliae. Londini : postant venales apud J. White et E. Brooke, 1780. [3rd edition]. “Here begins the treatise on the laws and customs of the realm of England, composed […]

Size Matters

Over the past few months, members of the law library staff, myself included, have been preparing to reorganize our special collections. Now, as all savvy library users know, libraries generally organize their collections and shelve their books by subject. You’re all familiar with the Library of Congress classification system, used in academic libraries throughout the English-speaking […]

Bust of Justice George E. Carter Unveiled in Osgoode Library

Family and friends of Justice George E. Carter, a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School’s Class of 1948 who became this country’s first Canadian-born black judge, watched with pride April 27 as a bronze bust was unveiled in the Osgoode Hall Law School Library commemorating his leadership and contributions to Canadian society. Osgoode Dean Lorne […]

BC Laws & Legislative Documents -- Now Comprehensive and Free on the Web

British Columbia laws and legislative documents, once available only in the content-rich and highly functional but subscription-based service called QP LegalEze, is now available to everyone free on the web in a new service called BC Laws. We congratulate the BC Queen's Printer on this exciting development, another landmark example of Canadian leadership in the […]

A Distinguished Doodle - and How to Catalogue It

After I wrote my previous post on finding those two books containing Sir John A. MacDonald’s autographs, I remembered another discovery of mine. I found this friendly fellow – with excellent hipster facial hair, I might add – as I was recataloguing books the other day. He looks to me like he belongs in one […]

Oxford Handbooks Online

The Osgoode Library has acquired the complete collection of law-related Oxford Handbooks Online and the records for the individual titles have been uploaded to the online library catalogue. Oxford Handbooks Online brings together the world's leading scholars to write review essays that evaluate the current thinking on a field or topic, and make an original argument about the […]