Monthly Archives: August 2006

Tracking the Presidential Veto Power

Presidential Vetoes (1789 to Present)
The Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives has a web site charting all presidential vetoes from 1789 to the present. The chart lists each type of veto a president has made, and whether or not a veto was overridden.
There are two types of vetoes. The one we most often hear about is the “regular veto,” which requires each House of Congress to get two-thirds of its members to vote for an override. The other type of veto is called a “pocket veto, ” and can not be overridden. The pocket veto becomes effective when the President fails to sign a bill after Congress has adjourned.
Guess who had the most vetoes of any president? Franklin D. Roosevelt!

Review Searching on LX & WL

Did you have such a great summer that you forgot how to search Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis? No worries, both the Lexis and Westlaw representatives are available for training to help you get back into school mode. If you don’t find Mark or Debbie in the Computer Lab, the reference desk will give you their email address.

Finding A Good Paper Topic – Circuit Splits

Finding a disagreement in the circuit courts is one good way to find a paper topic. You can read the arguments in each circuit and then decide how the circuit split should be resolved. The drawback of course is that a higher court may rule on the split and decide the issue before your paper is finished (or before your article is published). But even with that risk, this is still a tried and true way to find a topic.
BNA’s United States Law Week used to publish a popular feature called the “Circuit Split Roundup.” Professors still recommend this feature and students still come to the library looking for it, but it hasn’t been published for several years. Perhaps the best place to find current circuit splits is “Split Circuits – A blog dedicated to tracking developments concerning splits among the federal circuit courts,” written by Professor A. Benjamin Spencer from the University of Richmond School of Law.

What Books Will I Use In My First Year?

We have compiled a short list of the main books used by 1Ls. We have included information about casebooks, study guides, hornbooks, and the primary resources you’ll use in your LW&R class. We also listed a few books focusing on how to succeed in law school. If you have any other questions about law books or using the law library, stop by the reference desk and we’ll try to point you in the right direction. For additional information about the library, refer to our FAQ page or simply email a reference librarian.

Library Renovation Update

We recently heard that renovation of the 200 McAllister Building is 50 percent complete and so far it is almost on time. It is expected that the Library will start moving books back into our new space over the summer 2007, and we have been told that “the building will be ready before school starts for fall 2007.” For an update on the construction and to view photos showing the progress, visit the College’s Renovation Webpage.

Your Hastings Library Card

Your Hastings identification card also serves as a your library card. Before you can use it though, present your card to the Circulation Desk to get its barcode scanned into the Library’s system. Once entered into the system, you can place items on hold, check out DVDs or books, use course reserve items, and log on to the Library’s electronic databases from home.

World Fact Book

Did you know the CIA publishes basic information about every country, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, as well as some major regions, such as the Western Sahara? Go to the World Fact Book, at https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html to check it out. For each country, there is information on geography, people, the government, the economy, the military, transportation, communications, and transnational issues. Maps and flags of every listed nation are also online. The World Fact Book was just updated, so the information is current.

Law Dictionaries

Where can you find a good law dictionary? The preeminent law dictionary for American Law is Black’s Law Dictionary. It is available in the First Floor Library at the Circulation Desk and the Reference Desk and on the regular shelves at KF156 .B53 2004. There is a copy available on the dictionary stand in the Gold Reading Room. There is also a copy available in the Computer Lab on Floor 1M. The first edition of Black’s was published in 1891; the most recent edition is the 8th edition published in 2004.
black's.jpg
The 8th edition of Black’s is also available on Westlaw.
There are some very basic law dictionaries available for free online:
- Commonly Used Terms (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts)
- Everybody’s Legal Glossary (Nolo Press)
- Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law, 1996 (Findlaw)
- People’s Law Dictionary (Law.com)
- Law Dictionary–Glossary of Legal Terms (LawyerIntl.com)
- One-L Dictionary (Harvard Law Library)
- Glossary of Terms Used in Legal Research (West Publishing)
- Wex Legal Dictionary and Encyclopedia (Cornell’s Legal Information Institute)