Looking for a space to Study?

The 6th floor contains some quiet study spaces, and the Library Seminar Room, with computers.
Access is via the back of the law library, down the south tower stairs.
In a few days time the rest of the 7th floor should also be suitable for studying again.

Old cases

Today we were trying to locate a case with a footnoted reference something like Parish of Eltham v Warreyn (1657) Duke 67. It looks like an early nominate report so we checked the table of cases for the English reports, which reprint a lot of nominate reports. Not there. So we checked a dictionary of legal abbreviations and found an entry for Duke, Law of charitable uses 1676. Sounds more like a book than a report series so off to the catalogue and sure enough, there it is. As an e-book. With the case-note we wanted, on page 67.
A couple of points about this.

• English reports (KF53 E6; also available online via the catalogue) are usually a good source of early English case law but they don't have everything.
• Dictionaries of legal citations and abbreviations are beautiful things. And include references to books as well as primary sources. I used the Raistrick book (on the reference shelves at K112 R433) but the online Cardiff index would have solved this too.
• The library catalogue is also a beautiful thing, even for very old material.
• And one more thing - the Eltham v Warreyn case is cited in a number of ways - sometimes just like that, sometimes it's the Inhabitants of Eltham or the Parish of Eltham, sometimes with a date, sometimes without. So be a little flexible with your search techniques in case you miss what's there.

KL & KM

The KL & KM sections of the library have moved to a temporary location on the 7th floor South Tower, while their usual 9th floor location gets tarted up. The oversize books (i.e. A4-size) are at the start of the sequence.
If you can't find what you want, just ask! Someone will know someone who knows.

guide me

We're working on updating our library guides. Here's what we've got so far:

• a guide to the Law Library collection, or rather what it will be when the refurbishment programme is complete - the KL-KM range is temporarily moving to the 6th floor while work continues on the 9th floor
• notes on using secondary sources for law
• notes for Family Law students
• some basic library info for undergraduates and honours/postgrads

Anything else you'd like? Just ask.

Why blog?

One of the most effective ways of learning how to use the library is to talk to people. We do it all the time. You may have noticed that if you ask a question, you might get or two or even three library staff members involved in finding the answer. We learn a lot from these conversations - about the library and how it gets used.

The blog is a way for you to eavesdrop on some of these conversations. You might learn something useful - about a recent case, or a new book, or tips for using the databases.

We'd still like you to come and talk to us. The blog is just another way of sharing the conversation.

Two to a page

If you want to print two to a page, do it with Properties.


Here's the ITS advice:
"Getting more pages per sheet
You can print 2 or more pages
onto one piece of A4 paper from
Word (and other programs).
Type Ctrl-P to bring up the Print
window and choose Properties.
Change Pages Per Sheet to a
number bigger than 1. Click OK.
DO NOT USE ZOOM or the
printer may just give you blank."


Lifted from the How to Print tipsheet on their website.


They also have a lot of other tips, including a work around for memory stick problems, if that has been bugging you.

Open Lectures for Maori Law Week

Te Wiki o Te Ture
Maori Maori Law Week
Te Tumu School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, Otago University
Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 August Open Lectures

Light refreshments served from 5:30pm before the open lectures on the 1st floor of Te Tumu.

John Chadwick
"Travelling the whakapapa highway"
Wednesday 19 August, 6pm Te Paparewa, Ground Floor

Mamari Stephens
"Creating New Zealand's first Maori Legal Dictionary"
Thursday 20 August, 6pm Te Paparewa, Ground Floor

Jolene Patuawa
"The changing goalposts of the Crown in Treaty Settlements"
Thursday 20 August, 7pm Te Paparewa, Ground Floor

Open to all students, staff and interested community members.

Advice to our future lawyers - don't yawn in court!

A Canadian man is facing up to 6 months imprisonment for "making a yawn-like sound" in court.
See the full story at http://49th-parallel.blogspot.com/2009/08/ouch6-months-for-yawing-in-court.html

8th Floor Here We Come!

"There's a time, and the time is now and it is right for me" Said Jon Andersen from Yes. On Thursday and Friday this week it is time to move!
Come Friday morning we'll be back upstairs in our flash new digs.
Hope you like it!

From the do you actually expect anyone to believe you file

Man blames cat for more than 1000 pornographic images found on his computer
http://tinyurl.com/lwfrdh

Friday moment for collection development...

In The Dictionary of Legal Bullshit, you will find the definition of such words as:
Bankrupt The state of being that one attains when the government sticks your creditors with the bill for your extravagant expenditures.
Jail Exclusive public housing with lousy neighbors, no view, poor facilities and one of the highest cost per square foot of any living space ever built; but with slightly less violence and fewer drug dealers than the public housing that is available to the populous at large.
Plus, find key Latin translations, like: Res ipsa loquitor Duh. Res judicata You lost, get over it. Respondeat superior Sue the one with the most money.

Young, R. C. (2007). The dictionary of legal bullshit. Naperville, Ill: Sphinx Pub.

Moving experience

We've enjoyed camping out on the 6th floor but it's time to move on. And up. We'll be returning to the 8th floor next week. Watch this space!

Last in the Berryman saga available

The final decision in the long-running Berryman saga is now available fulltext from the University of Otago's Unreported Judgment Collection at http://www.library.otago.ac.nz/law/uji/pdf/2009/August/BERRYMAN.pdf