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Editorial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2015

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Abstract

Type
Editorial
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015. Published by British and Irish Association of Law Librarians 

INTRODUCTION

The summer issue of Legal Information Management offers the eclectic mix of papers. There is a Feature Article, an article in the ongoing Occasional Series, a couple of articles under Current Issues and five articles combining to create a short theme. Often during the course of a LIM editorial year one of the quarterly issues contains a focus on an overseas jurisdiction in relation to legal information. We also regularly include articles under the International Perspective banner. In this issue we feature both. In the past there have published themes concerned with German law and legal information matters (in (2014) LIM 14(2)) and Chinese legal information ((2013) LIM 13(1)). In this issue we highlight as a theme a number of prominent matters in connection with Latin America; an area of the legal landscape that seems deserves our interest and some further examination. The theme was inspired by the Editor's attendance at the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL) conference which took place in Buenos Aires in late September 2014. While BIALL is arguably more UK and Ireland-focused, nevertheless the Association has always been an outward-facing organisation with interests further afield.

FEATURE ARTICLE

As promised in my last editorial, the summer issue launches with an article marking the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta that aims to view this legal document from the information management perspective. The Editor is truly grateful to Alex Lock and Jon Sims for jointly providing us with an insightful tour through the history of this most iconic of legal documents. The title of their article is, “Invoking Magna Carta: Locating Information Objects and Meaning in the 13th to 19th Centuries”.

OCCASIONAL SERIES

Under the Occasional Series banner, Lesley Dingle, founder of the Eminent Scholars Archive at the Squire Law Library, reviews her latest submission to the ESA of conversations, biographies and bibliographies, This time she interviewed Dame Rosalyn Higgins and the article highlights her legal scholarship as well as her career in international adjudication. She was appointed to the Bench of the International Court of Justice in 1995 before becoming President of the ICJ in 2006.

SOUTH AMERICAN LAW AND LEGAL RESOURCES

The theme for this issue begins with ‘Justice Systems in Latin America: the Challenge of Civil Procedure Reforms in Latin America’ by Santiago Pereira Campos. Then we address ‘Judicial Authority in Latin America’ with a survey provided by Teresa Miguel-Stearns of Yale University. Gloria Orrego Hoyos, from Argentina, describes the ‘Tools for Academic Research on Human Rights in Latin America and the Inter-American Human Rights System’. Rene Francisco Hellman and Mariana Cesto give an account of the ‘New Civil Procedure Code and the Challenges for the Brazilian Legal Education System’ and, finally, we take account of some ‘Reflections on the Issue of Reproductive Health in Argentina: Challenges for Egalitarian Access’, a piece written jointly by Mariana Lavalle and Mercedes Robba.

CURRENT ISSUES

In this section there is a short article, a version of which was published previously in the BIALL Newsletter (November 2014, p.12) on ‘Good’ Law written by Daniel Hoadley of the ICLR. Kate Faulkner, Indexer and Librarian, describes her work in relation to a small law archive relating to the late Henry Button.

CURRENT AWARENESS

Lastly, readers will discover our regular feature, the Current Awareness section, that has been compiled by Katherine Read and Laura Griffiths at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.

NEXT ISSUE

The next issue of LIM, for autumn 2015, will contain a theme specifically relating to law firm information matters. The winter issue will, as usual, offer a range of papers given at the forthcoming BIALL conference which will take place in Brighton in June.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to all the contributors to this issue. As always, particular thanks go to our colleagues at Cambridge University Press, especially Sue Perkins and Hannah Patrick, and to all the members of the LIM Editorial Board including the Chair of that committee, Dunstan Speight and team of proof-readers to whom I am always truly grateful.