See you next year!
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
WELLNESS WEEK
Hey everyone,
SOULS and IPLS are hosting Wellness Week until Friday 28 September.
Come and enjoy the activities, including a book nook.
SOULS and IPLS are hosting Wellness Week until Friday 28 September.
Come and enjoy the activities, including a book nook.
Friday, September 7, 2018
Law Library display for Te Wiki o te Reo Maori
A lot has happened in the legal world of te Reo Māori since the presentation of the petition to Parliament in 1972.
Come to the Law Library in September to see for yourself.
Come to the Law Library in September to see for yourself.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori
"September 14 is Māori Language Day commemorating the presentation of the 1972 petition on the Māori Language to parliament. Hundreds of people now celebrate September as Mahuru Māori, in which they dedicate themselves to speaking only Māori."
"The theme is 'Kia Kaha te Reo Māori’ ... ‘Kia Kaha’ is well known in New Zealand English with its correct Māori meaning of ‘be strong’. We often talk about languages as if they are people – talking about language health, strength and revitalisation. So when we say ‘Kia Kaha te Reo Māori’ we’re saying - ‘Let’s make the Māori language strong'."
The Library will host several events during the week of 10 September, including a Law Library display showcasing a few legal milestones around the development and acceptance of te reo Māori.
Want to know what is happening around the country too?
The Library will host several events during the week of 10 September, including a Law Library display showcasing a few legal milestones around the development and acceptance of te reo Māori.
Want to know what is happening around the country too?
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Wellness Week. Every Day
Focus, resilience, balance and overall wellness are essential to a successful and fulfilling experience as a law student.
It is important that you feel supported in pursuing wellbeing, both as a student and in preparation for practice – research suggests that many lawyers struggle in this area.
It is important that you feel supported in pursuing wellbeing, both as a student and in preparation for practice – research suggests that many lawyers struggle in this area.
The University has a number of services designed to support student wellbeing.
On this Stay Well resource page, you will find links to both general and law-specific wellness websites, podcasts, apps and other resources.
On this Stay Well resource page, you will find links to both general and law-specific wellness websites, podcasts, apps and other resources.
Thursday, April 12, 2018
The Art of Selecting Cases to Cite
By Jamie Baker, Associate Director of the Law Library at Texas Tech University School of Law.
A question that comes up pretty often from law students in legal writing classes is, “how do I know which cases to cite?”
This is a good question and one that really depends on the cases that are found during the research process. An article by Douglas K. Norman titled “The Art of Selecting Cases to Cite” in 63 Tex. B. J. 340 (Apr. 2000) does a wonderful job of discussing how to select cases to cite.
From the article:
“Most legal writers seem to have developed an instinct for which cases to pick and which to discard. Moreover, the considerations that the writer consciously or subconsciously brings to bear on which cases to include in legal citation are more complicated than merely citing to the most recent case from the highest court. These considerations probably begin with an informal categorization of all the cases found in the process of researching a given issue.”
The article goes on to discuss categorizing cases. “The cases supporting a given proposition of law might roughly be categorized as follows:
Seminal Case–This is generally the first case from the highest court to have decided the issue and stated the proposition of law in question. If the proposition was itself a reversal or revision of earlier authority, the seminal case is the reversing or revising case. As the first case to have stated the proposition in question, the seminal case has generally gone into some depth in analyzing the issue and the court’s rationale in a manner that might not be repeated in later cases.
Parroting Cases–With a common proposition of law, numerous cases will have simply parroted the language of the seminal case, adding little or nothing to the analysis.
Bolstering Cases–In addition to parroting seminal authority, the bolstering case adds new reasoning and analysis to support the underlying proposition of law.
Reformulation Cases–These cases take the proposition of the seminal case and either restate it in different terms or refine the analysis in some way that may be more or less helpful to the reader. When, for example, the seminal case was written in the legalistic jargon of the past, the reformulation case may delete the jargon and restate the proposition in plain English.
Pseudo-Seminal Case–When the seminal case has been forgotten or lost in the chain of citation, a more recent case will often emerge as the one most courts presently cite as the oldest or most reliable case to support the given proposition. This case effectively takes the place of the lost seminal case.
Companion Cases–As I use the term here, companion cases (not to be confused with the more technical use of this term) are parroting cases that have over time been so consistently cited together with the seminal (or pseudo-seminal) authority that they achieve a certain perceived legitimacy and it would now seem awkward to break the habit of citing the companion case together with the seminal authority.
Parallel Cases–Occasionally, separate lines of authority for the same proposition develop without any common source; or, perhaps more likely, the original source or seminal case is buried so far back in the chain of citation that it has been all but forgotten. This then leads to two or more lines of cases standing for the same proposition, with different courts typically preferring one or the other of the parallel lines of authority.
Storehouse Cases–It sometimes happens that, when there are multiple parallel cases with no clear seminal or pseudo-seminal case to which they all refer, somewhere down the road a particular case will attempt to collect or “storehouse” all of the parallel lines. If this storehouse case is reliable, it is a prime candidate to be cited from then on as pseudo-seminal authority.
Application Cases–Some cases that have only marginal value as support for an abstract proposition of law, have great value in their application of the proposition to facts similar or analogous to the facts of your own case.”
After categorizing cases, it is time to select the cases to cite. The article offers guidelines for selection:
Jamie Baker "The art of selecting cases to cite" (3 April 2018) <https://texastechlawlibrary.com/2018/04/03/the-art-of-selecting-cases-to-cite/>
A question that comes up pretty often from law students in legal writing classes is, “how do I know which cases to cite?”
This is a good question and one that really depends on the cases that are found during the research process. An article by Douglas K. Norman titled “The Art of Selecting Cases to Cite” in 63 Tex. B. J. 340 (Apr. 2000) does a wonderful job of discussing how to select cases to cite.
From the article:
“Most legal writers seem to have developed an instinct for which cases to pick and which to discard. Moreover, the considerations that the writer consciously or subconsciously brings to bear on which cases to include in legal citation are more complicated than merely citing to the most recent case from the highest court. These considerations probably begin with an informal categorization of all the cases found in the process of researching a given issue.”
The article goes on to discuss categorizing cases. “The cases supporting a given proposition of law might roughly be categorized as follows:
Seminal Case–This is generally the first case from the highest court to have decided the issue and stated the proposition of law in question. If the proposition was itself a reversal or revision of earlier authority, the seminal case is the reversing or revising case. As the first case to have stated the proposition in question, the seminal case has generally gone into some depth in analyzing the issue and the court’s rationale in a manner that might not be repeated in later cases.
Parroting Cases–With a common proposition of law, numerous cases will have simply parroted the language of the seminal case, adding little or nothing to the analysis.
Bolstering Cases–In addition to parroting seminal authority, the bolstering case adds new reasoning and analysis to support the underlying proposition of law.
Reformulation Cases–These cases take the proposition of the seminal case and either restate it in different terms or refine the analysis in some way that may be more or less helpful to the reader. When, for example, the seminal case was written in the legalistic jargon of the past, the reformulation case may delete the jargon and restate the proposition in plain English.
Pseudo-Seminal Case–When the seminal case has been forgotten or lost in the chain of citation, a more recent case will often emerge as the one most courts presently cite as the oldest or most reliable case to support the given proposition. This case effectively takes the place of the lost seminal case.
Companion Cases–As I use the term here, companion cases (not to be confused with the more technical use of this term) are parroting cases that have over time been so consistently cited together with the seminal (or pseudo-seminal) authority that they achieve a certain perceived legitimacy and it would now seem awkward to break the habit of citing the companion case together with the seminal authority.
Parallel Cases–Occasionally, separate lines of authority for the same proposition develop without any common source; or, perhaps more likely, the original source or seminal case is buried so far back in the chain of citation that it has been all but forgotten. This then leads to two or more lines of cases standing for the same proposition, with different courts typically preferring one or the other of the parallel lines of authority.
Storehouse Cases–It sometimes happens that, when there are multiple parallel cases with no clear seminal or pseudo-seminal case to which they all refer, somewhere down the road a particular case will attempt to collect or “storehouse” all of the parallel lines. If this storehouse case is reliable, it is a prime candidate to be cited from then on as pseudo-seminal authority.
Application Cases–Some cases that have only marginal value as support for an abstract proposition of law, have great value in their application of the proposition to facts similar or analogous to the facts of your own case.”
After categorizing cases, it is time to select the cases to cite. The article offers guidelines for selection:
- Provide Both Seminal and Recent Authority
- Generally Omit Parrots
- Use Vertical Strings To Show Continuity Within a Court
- Use Horizontal Strings To Show Continuity among Courts
- Reconcile Parallel Lines of Authority
- Use Bolstering and Reformulation Cases to Strengthen and Better Explain
- Use Application Cases For Similarity and Analogy
Jamie Baker "The art of selecting cases to cite" (3 April 2018) <https://texastechlawlibrary.com/2018/04/03/the-art-of-selecting-cases-to-cite/>
Monday, March 26, 2018
Don't go into the Library. Alberto Ríos, 1952
Don’t Go Into the Library
The library is dangerous— Don’t go in. If you do You know what will happen. It’s like a pet store or a bakery— Every single time you’ll come out of there Holding something in your arms. Those novels with their big eyes. And those no-nonsense, all muscle Greyhounds and Dobermans, All non-fiction and business, Cuddly when they’re young, But then the first page is turned. The doughnut scent of it all, knowledge, The aroma of coffee being made In all those books, something for everyone, The deli offerings of civilization itself. The library is the book of books, Its concrete and wood and glass covers Keeping within them the very big, Very long story of everything. The library is dangerous, full Of answers. If you go inside, You may not come out The same person who went in.
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/dont-go-library#
Monday, February 5, 2018
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index 2017-2018
The latest index is now available. See how NZ stacks up. See who doesn't stack up. All very interesting - and nothing very surprising!
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Welcome Back!
I hope you had a relaxing and revitalising summer holiday.
We look forward to seeing you very soon.
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| Law Librarians' holiday: Pororari River Track, Punakaiki December 2017. |
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