Friday, December 2, 2016

New interactive crime data reporting tool goes live

NZ Police have created an up to date interactive tool for the public to look at crime statistics.
Some of this data was on the StatsNZ website, and has been integrated into this new tool.
There are currently five datasets around victim demographics and offender demographics, with the intention to add more in 2017.
 
This press release from NZPolice has more information.

The tool itself is here www.policedata.nz

Friday, October 28, 2016

Exam Stress-relief : clowns and pirates

For some Friday Frivolity, check out these vaguely Law-related and quite entertaining stories.
This morning on National Radio, I heard about Iceland's Pirate Party, which was founded four years ago as a party for hackers and activists. After the elections on Saturday, they could be the new government!

Then on a blog I follow (see below) called Law & Humanities Blog, there was a big piece about the rise and rise of creepy clowns. "(Please don't) send in the clowns?".
Apparently some states in America are banning clown costumes for Halloween, which in turn has raised the question of a first amendment breach.
There is also a nice reminder that clowns have always been creepy .... think Punch and Judy, medieval court clowns.....




Friday, October 14, 2016

GOOD LUCK FOR EXAMS

Good luck everyone. Study hard, study well.
Look after yourselves, and just as importantly, be considerate of your colleagues.

Study spaces are filling up, so PLEASE share the spaces equitably. The 'egg' dividers assist in creating equal sized spaces, if used correctly. Please do not 'hog' more than your fair share!

Do take breaks, get some fresh air, and eat your (delicious) greasy, crunchy or smelly food out of the library.

All the best, your librarian

Friday, September 30, 2016

Selected NZ District Court decisions now free online

The District Court has begun to post selected decisions online . They will be selected from the criminal, civil, youth and family jurisdictions.
According to the NZ Law Society latest news:

"Criteria for publication in the criminal jurisdiction include sentencing notes and reserved decisions in judge-along trials in cases of more serious offending, or cases where there has been discussion of high-level principles.

In the civil jurisdiction the aim is to publish all reserved judgments and costs awards, injunction decisions, judgments discussion interpretation of the District Courts Rules, appeals from tribunals, and decisions related to professional bodies.

Selection criteria in the Family Court will differ depending on the legislation that proceedings are brought under. While criteria of public or legal interest will apply in the Youth Court, there will also be emphasis on points of law on which there is little or no previous authority.

All decisions resulting from proceedings brought under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 will be published automatically because this is a requirement of that legislation."

Monday, September 19, 2016

CanLII now includes relevant DLR decisions

CanLII (the Canadian Legal Information Institute) have announced the inclusion of the DLR (Dominion Law Reports) in their database.
The new content of around 4000 decisions is limited to reports since 1980, which have also been cited by cases in CanLII. In otherwords, just the relevant stuff!
Enjoy.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Canadian Hansard Online

More good news in the world of parliamentary sources.

http://www.lipad.ca/

This is what the creators are saying about this amazing project:

"The transcript of Parliamentary Debates (“Hansard”) is a 150-year running record of Canadian political history. This richness presents political historians with a needle-in-a-haystack problem of an enormous magnitude. At a rate of a novel’s worth of reading each day, it would take 27 years to read the 680 million words of Hansard. It would take a further 6 years to read what was added in the interim.
In 2013, a group of political scientists, computer scientists, and historians teamed up at the University of Toronto to solve this problem. With support from the SSHRC, the NSERC, the Digging into Data initiative, the Library of Parliament, Library and Archives Canada, Canadiana.org, and Michael Mulley at openparliament.ca, a key output of this collaboration is the first machine-readable and fully searchable historical Hansard. We have linked to these data to various biographical properties of parliamentarians, including their party and gender. This corpus underpins the search interface of this website.
We are continuously expanding this corpus and features on this website. We are adding the Debates of the Senate and the transcripts of parliamentary committees. We are also integrating more and more information about parliamentarians, including information about the demographic profiles and election outcomes in their constituencies. To request data or for information about how to get involved in this project, please contact us.
A full description of our project in a published article for citation purposes is forthcoming."

Thursday, August 18, 2016

It's confirmed: Professor Ruru is a Supreme Teacher!


staff_large_ruru_jacinta

Professor Jacinta Ruru has won the Prime Minister's supreme award for tertiary teaching.
Congratulations Jacinta!

Read more here, from the ODT, and here.

Friday, August 12, 2016

Former PM calls for a written constitution

MEDIA RELEASE

10 August, 2016 – "Former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer is calling for a modern written constitution in New Zealand to boost public confidence in government.
Sir Geoffrey and constitutional expert Dr Andrew Butler have been working on a proposed new constitution and will soon publish a book, A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand, setting out their ideas and seeking public comment on them."

Alongside the upcoming book is a new website, to promote the adoption of a written constitution.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Historic NZ Parliamentary Debates now available

Good news everyone.
 NZ Parliamentary Debates (aka Hansards) from 1854 to 1985 are now available via HathiTrust
These debates are full-text scans from the original. They are searchable, but be patient!
Access via the Law Subject Guide - under NZ - Government & parliament
Happy researching!

Monday, July 25, 2016

ADVANCED DATABASE TRAINING -THIS WEEK

The trainers are coming!
From Tuesday 26th to Friday 29th the database trainers will be running refreshers database sessions.
There are still some seats available, so book your session today!
See Law Subject Guide for booking information.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

SAVE THE DATES: ADVANCED DATABASE TRAINING

In the week beginning 25 July, expert trainers from the three NZ legal database providers will be here. They will run three workshops each, focusing on tips and techniques to get the best out of their products.
If you need a refresher training session, this could be the thing for you.

LexisNexisNZ - Tuesday 26 July @ 11am; 12 noon or 2pm
CCH Intelliconnect - Wednesday 27 July @ 3pm; Thursday 28 July @ 11am or 12 noon
WestlawNZ - Friday 29 July @ 9am, 10am or 11am.

Further advertisements, including booking sheets will be posted nearer the time.

Friday, May 20, 2016

New Zealand Law Society asks Professor Henaghan 10 questions



The New Zealand Law Society webpage is an excellent source of news and information about all things law related in NZ.
They interviewed Professor Mark Henaghan yesterday, and you can read it here. 



While you are there, check out career prospects, see the latest law reform submissions to parliament, or sign up to their weekly newsletter.

When you go into practice, the NZLS will be your go-to for many services, including regulatory requirements, library access and much much more. 

Friday, May 13, 2016

YOU ASKED FOR IT

Advanced legal research databases workshops coming soon....

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Welcome Back!


Happy New Year, Law Library inhabitants!