Law Library Blog

For those working or studying near Palo Alto this summer:

GLOBAL MEGACITIES

Six films around the world depicting varying aspects of life in a global metropolis

WEDNESDAYS , 7:00PM

Building 200 (Lane History Corner), Room 002

Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall

JULY 8

Black Friday (India, 2004)

Introduction by Linda Hess, Center for South Asia

JULY 15

Istanbul Tales (“Anlat Istanbul,” Turkey, 2005)

Introduction by Burcak Keskin-Kozat, Mediterranean Studies Forum

JULY 22

The Milky Way (“A Via Láctea,” Brazil, 2007)

Introduction by Lyris Wiedemann, Center for Latin American Studies

AUGUST 12

Taxi Blues (“Taksi Blius,” Soviet Union, 1990)

Introduction by Tom Roberts, Center for Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies

AUGUST 19

Enlightenment Guaranteed (“Erleuchtung Garantiert,” Germany, 2000)

Introduction by Carl Bielefeldt, Ho Center for Buddhist Studies and Center for East Asian Studies

AUGUST 26

Lagos/Koolhaas (Netherlands, 2002)

Introduction by Laura Hubbard, Center for African Studies

The Law Library has just subscribed to the LawInfoChina/ChinaLawInfo database of Chinese legislation and case law. LawInfoChina hosts the English language version of the statutes, regulations, and case law, while ChinaLawInfo provides the Mandarin  language information, which also includes treaties and table of contents for Chinese legal journals. Access to both databases is available throughout the Stanford campus. Stop by the reference desk for more information.

ChinaLawInfo  (中文) (http://www.chinalawinfo.com/

LawInfoChina (English) http://www.lawinfochina.com/

The Widows’ Might: Widowhood and Gender in Early British America by Vivian Bruce Conger. Published by New York University Press in 2009.

Find at HQ1058.5 .U5 C657 2009

Working at a law school, it’s hard for me to imagine a time when a widow was not supposed to hire a lawyer to represent her in proving her husband’s will and otherwise settling the estate. According to Conger, “hiring an attorney indicated that a widow was determined to win her case on the basis of the merits of the case rather than by relying on the goodness and sympathy of the court.” The colonial period was not an enjoyable time to be a widow—or to be a women for that matter, since they were looked upon as childlike and in need of male constraint. A woman alone was considered “ungoverned,” and a young widow who did not remarry was seen a threat to a well-ordered society.

The author describes many cases of widows in the colonial period, carefully reconstructing the economic and social challenges they faced in colonial society.

The Crimes of Womanhood: Defining Femininity in a Court of Law / A. Cheree Carlson. Published by the University of Illinois Press in 2009. Find at KF4758 .C368 2009

Feminist themes also permeate this discussion of the courtroom arguments used to defend or condemn women on trial in 19th to early 20th century America. Professor Carlson analyzes several well known trials to reveal how women’s violating social norms could lead to severe penalties. She examines the transcripts, newspaper articles, and other popular accounts and argues that the men in charge of these communication avenues were able to transform their own values and morals into believable narratives to persuade the court and the public of a woman’s guilt or innocence.

One example was Mary Todd Lincoln, who was judged at trial to be insane and sent to a mental institution at the behest of her son. Wanting her freedom, she was able to find help from one of the first women lawyers, Myra Bradwell. Although Bradwell was unable to practice law because of her gender, she was able to get a second hearing for Lincoln, who was eventually declared sane. Other trials include those of Lizzie Borden and the infamous Madame Restell. Attitudes towards abortion and its legality are also discussed.

[cross-posted on LegalResearchPlus]

By Sergio Stone

Going to Extremes : How Like Minds Unite and Divide / by Cass R. Sunstein. Published by Oxford University Press in 2009. Shelved at HN90.R3 S48 2009

Sunnstein explains the inexplicable–how seemingly rational decent people can become sadistic prison guards, for example–using an experiment done here at Stanford (see Zimbardo’s The Lucifer Effect, in the library at BF789 .E94 Z56 2007, for more on that experiment).  Sunnstein shows that like-minded individuals can increase their enthusiasm for a cause just by gathering to discuss it. With enough isolation from other ideas and different points of view, their enthusiasm can develop into something more extreme. Including chapters on polarization, extremism, and movements, he has created a thought-provoking look at group dynamics, suggesting that a free flow of information coupled with diverse ideas and opinions are beneficial to our society.

The Day Wall Street Exploded: a Story of America in Its First Age of Terror by Beverly Gage. Published by Oxford University Press in 2009.  Find at HV6432.44.N7 G34 2009

The black and white plates tell the story—cars upended, bodies covered in white sheets,  crowds milling and being restrained by police—a bomb exploded on the corner of Wall and Broad streets in lower Manhattan on September 16, 1920. This act of terrorism was not eclipsed until the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. Beverly Gage bases this historical detective story on thousands of pages of federal documents, describing the various twists and turns of the investigation, from the anarchy movement to the Sacco-Vanzetti executions.

And closely intertwined with the movement behind the terrorist bombings in Gage’s book is The Sacco-Vanzetti Affair by Moshik Temkin. Published by Yale University Press in 2009. Shelved at KF224.S2 T46 2009

This book approaches the anarchy movement from the prism of the Sacco-Vanzetti trial. The trial of the two anarchists engendered worldwide protest, making Sacco and Vanzetti famous, and, Temkin argues, ultimately provoking their executions. One quote from the book (on p. 222) caught my eye: “One of the more striking aspects of the struggle over Sacco and Vanzetti’s fate in 1927 was the way that the international opposition to U.S. policies became in itself a reason for many Americans to strenuously insist on continuing these policies, in the face of inconvenient facts and undersirable results.” 

Both books offer interesting parallels to 21st century America.

Guanajuato Summer Law Institute (May 31-June 28, 2009)
Guanajuato, Mexico

Supported by a consortium of law schools of the Universidad de Guanajuato, University of New Mexico, Southwestern University, and Texas Tech University courses in Mexican and International Law.

Spanish language proficiency not required.

Details and application instructions: http://mexicanlawclasses.unm.edu/

Stealing MySpace: the Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America, written by Julia Angwin, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal. Published by Random House in 2009. Find at HD9696.8.U64 M973 2009.

Okay, a disclosure—I used to have a MySpace account, but after I read this book I cancelled it! I had no idea MySpace brings in almost a billion dollars a year for Rupert Murdoch’s online empire. This book tells the story of MySpace from its origins and through the struggle for control between Viacom and Murdoch. Stealing MySpace is both a well-written history of the social networking site that copied and replaced Friendster and a glimpse into Internet culture—replete with amateur pornographers, sexual predators, and an enormous community of ordinary account holders.