At the 1994 Summit of the Americas, leaders of democratic nations in the Western Hemisphere committed to establishing a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by January 2005. The Declaration of Principles resulting from that Summit called for building on “existing sub-regional and bilateral arrangements in order to broaden and deepen hemispheric economic integration and to bring the agreements together.” Although ambitious, this endeavor was undertaken during a decade marked by an unprecedented proliferation of trade agreements. In 1991, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay agreed to initiate the formation of a common market now known as the MERCOSUR. Then in 1994, Canada, Mexico and the United States signed the North American Free Trade Agreement which replaced the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement. Later that year, nations around the world formalized the existing General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, creating the World Trade Organization. In 1997, the Andean Community of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela formalized its plans to establish a common market. Members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market also agreed in several protocols to further their economic and social integration. During the 1990's, numerous other trade agreements were negotiated, and their development continues at the same rapid pace today.

U.S. law librarians are formal sources of information to information-seekers in the United States. U.S. law librarians are approachable and visible assets of law libraries within institutions. They also act as gatekeepers of legal information, preventing information corruption and spearheading research into new frontiers of information.

There is a difference between voluntarily giving somebody an amount of money and having the same amount of money taken away from one, maybe even without one noticing it at first. Even though the economic situation might be the same, it is the loss of control, of sovereignty over one's own affairs, which we find troublesome. Likewise, hardly anyone, when buying something from a complete stranger, would assent to the idea that one is to hand over one's wallet, let the seller take whatever he or she sees fit, and return the wallet, with the buyer only being able to find out much later, how much was taken.

In a common-law jurisdiction, “Supreme Court” is not always the name of a court of final appeal. There are 41 Supreme Courts and Supreme Courts of Judicature with general original jurisdiction. They cover 60 political units. In addition to general original jurisdiction, some of those courts have general appellate jurisdiction. There is a number of political units in which a second appellate consideration is possible.

This article provides information about Supreme Courts and Supreme Courts of Judicature with general original jurisdiction. It includes a list with the names of the political units served by Supreme Courts or by Supreme Courts of Judicature with general original jurisdiction; a statement whether a Supreme Court or a Supreme Court of Judicature of a political unit has both general original jurisdiction and general appellate jurisdiction, or only general original jurisdiction; and further information.

The goal of this article is to inform librarians, lawyers, solicitors, and barristers about the many court systems in the common-law world, in which the court of general original jurisdiction is named “Supreme Court” or “Supreme Court of Judicature.” Those courts are found in diverse political units, including Australian states and territories, Belize, Brunei, Canadian provinces and territories, Gibraltar, and Samoa. The oldest among them is the Supreme Court of New York, founded more than 300 years ago.

The number of Chinese legal scholarly publications has grown dramatically in the last ten years as the Chinese government legislature churned out an expansive body of law, with an impressive proliferation of print treatises and web-based legal information in the vernacular. This article offers a sampling of legal scholars and their treatises. It is organized by subject area, and is offered as a selective annotated treatise finder. The list focuses on legal publications published within the last two decades subsequent to the amendment of the 1982 Chinese Constitution in 1989. Some of the authors included here wrote extensively on specific legal topics, while others were involved in the deliberation, preparation, and drafting of key legislation. It is hoped that the article provides a roadmap that will be useful to students and others new to research in Chinese law; to help them locate relevant treatises, journal literature, and to jumpstart their research into specific legislation and legal topics.

Law libraries are the stepchildren of legal and general library literature. This observation made by Kurt Schwerin a decade ago is still valid in the Federal Republic of Germany. No comprehensive publications exist to describe the history, current status or the prospective tasks of our law libraries. The few articles published on the topic describe only one library or one group of libraries. The reports published by juridical institutes often contain useful information on the respective libraries. Another source of information on law libraries may be found in the guides published by several law libraries to facilitate the use of their holdings.

The history of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (C.A.L.L.) has many parallels with the history of the International Association as set out by Dr. Dahlmanns in No. 28 of this Bulletin. The year 1960 seems to have been a turning point in law library development in Canada and the decade following it was a period of rapid and extensive growth both in the number of law libraries and in the size and scope of their collections. Before 1960 the possibility of a law library organization had been discussed, but in 1960 it became a reality. Under the guidance of Eunice Beeson, the newly appointed law librarian at the Dalhousie University Law School in Halifax, C.A.L.L. first came into being as a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries. Eunice brought with her to Canada valuable experience in the American organization and she lost no time in getting the five or six widely scattered Canadian law librarians into touch with one another in a way in which they could work together on common projects and share similar concerns. She drafted the constitution of the organization, articulated ideas for co-operative ventures, and indicated practical ways of achieving what had to be done. Her death in the spring of 1966 was a great loss, but she had laid a firm foundation for the future development of the Association.

Copyright is a monopoly conferred upon authors or creators of literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works to produce, reproduce, adapt, or perform their works for a limited time. The Copyright Law, by conferring this monopoly upon authors and their assignees, provides an economic incentive “to those with the requisite ability to create intellectual property” and to “publishers, recording firms, and similar enterprises to package and distribute these intellectual creations to the general public.” Prior to the invention of the printing press the possibility of commercial gain from the production of intellectual property was severely limited by the drudgery involved in manual copying of manuscripts, which work was performed by slaves in ancient times and monks under a vow of obedience later. Private patrons and universities provided the only economic incentive to authors to produce intellectual property and the book trade was small. Although both law and literature existed in abundance in ancient and medieval Europe, Copyright Law was unknown.

It is an honor to speak at the opening of this 38th Annual Course of the IALL. It was not difficult to accept the invitation to do so, not least because it was extended by Ms. Petal Kinder. Members of the IALL will know Petal because of her close involvement with the IALL as a Board member and as President; Petal was known to me as the Librarian of the High Court of Australia, a position she held when I joined the Court. She was highly valued and respected in that role, and popular amongst judges and staff. We were saddened to hear of her passing earlier this year.

One of the principal difficulties involved in the search for and use of Latin American publications, whether of an official, legal, economic, or general nature, is a haphazard identification of resources. This is not to say that those in need of Latin American information are less than resourceful in their investigation, but rather, that the very character of the literature they seek can be an elusive and sporadic one.

Shortly after the Meiji Restoration, under the influence of French law, a modern system of judicial administration was introduced in Japan. In 1871 the Ministry of Justice was created, and in 1872 several kinds of courts were established. However, in this period, the separation of powers had not yet been implemented. Therefore, it was not until 1875, the Eighth year of the era of Meiji, that Japan established a unified judicial system. In that year, for the first time, the judicial service was separated from the executive power and became independent, except that the Ministry of Justice retained responsibility for the functioning of the courts and the appointment of all court personnel, including judges. Under “Taishinin Sho-saibansho Shokusei Shōtei” (the Rules for the Organization of the Great Court of Judicature and Various Other Courts), one highest court “Taishin-in” (the Great Court of Judicature) and two types of inferior courts “Jōtō-saibansho and Fu-kensaibansho” (Higher Courts and Provincial Courts) were set up.

This article identifies and provides a brief description of Malaysian electronic legal information and resources. It guides non-legal and legal information-seekers to find useful legal information and resources on the web. A brief description of the Malaysian legal system and its history is also highlighted to give an understanding of the context of the development of the country's legal system and its resources.

Currently, in the field of law as well as in other fields, societal developments, global interaction, and the increasing importance of technology in acquiring information resources have led to a rapid growth in the number of information sources. Furthermore, this growth has resulted in greater access to various sources. The great majority of the users of law-related information are legal academicians, law students, practicing lawyers, judges, and law consultants.

Good afternoon. I would like to thank the International Association of Law Libraries, the organizing committee and especially Gloria Orrego Hoyos for the invitation. It is a real pleasure and honor for me to be here.

Today I will talk about the influence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the rulings of Argentina's Supreme Court. I will focus particularly on the importance that the Argentinian Supreme Court gave to the Inter-American Court in the most significant decisions during the process of reopening cases of crimes against humanity.