Landmark Legal Decisions Highlighted in American Law Yearbook

| By Mike Tyrkus | Since 1998, American Law Yearbook has served as a companion volume to extend the value of the Gale Encyclopedia of American Law by gathering the top legal stories from the previous year and then discussing them in concise, insightful entries written by legal experts. This year, the need for a … Read more

Explore Timely Coverage of Emerging Legal Issues

| By Mike Tyrkus | The need for a layperson’s comprehensive and understandable guide to terms, concepts, and historical developments in American law has traditionally been well met by The Gale Encyclopedia of American Law. Previously published in a third edition in 2010 (in eBook format) and 2011 (in print) by Gale, The Gale Encyclopedia … Read more

Seven Reasons to Secure LegalForms in Your Library

| By Holly Hibner and Mary Kelly |

A common reference question received at public library reference desks is whether the library has legal forms. When you get that question as a generalist reference librarian (ie. not a law librarian…), it is very comforting to know that the Gale LegalForms resource is at the ready.

State-Specific
My library has access to the Michigan legal forms, so we know they are relevant to our state laws. There are categories like divorce, bankruptcy, power of attorney, and incorporation (among others). You simply choose a category and then choose from a list of available forms.  Each form gives a full description to help laypeople choose the right one. With one click, the form opens with spaces to click and fill in your own information like your name, city, and even case number. Forms are available in a variety of formats, including Microsoft Word, Rich Text, PDF, and sometimes even Word Perfect. The forms included in the database are official forms that law firms use, so you never have to wonder if they will be accepted by the court system.

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Not Studying for an Exam is a Crime…

| By Traci Cothran |

Two University of Kentucky students were arrested last week and charged with third-degree burglary for allegedly breaking into a professor’s office in the dead of night to steal an exam. The pair told police they entered the office via ceiling air ducts, and their teacher caught them upon returning to the office from a food break around 2 am.

While this does conjure up some cool images from Mission: Impossible, let’s not forget that these students now not only face a failing test grade, but college disciplinary action as well as legal proceedings . . . not to mention having to explain their actions to their parents.  And I have to wonder, dear reader, wouldn’t it have been just as easy (and less perilous) to study for the final?

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American Civil Liberties Papers, 1912-1990

Behind the scenes access to the most influential court cases of the twentieth-century

Part of the Making of Modern Law series, American Civil Liberties Papers, 1912-1990 gives researchers access to the more than 2 million documents contained in the records of the American Civil Liberties Union at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript library at Princeton University. As part of the Gale Primary Sources platform the American Civil Liberties Union Papers, 1912-1990 can be integrated with complementary primary source collections to allow users to make eye-opening research discoveries.

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A Captivating Crime Story: the Brighton Railway Murder

Posted on May 4, 2016

By: Daniel Pullian

The compartment was much bespattered with blood’: the Brighton Railway Murder

Barely a week went by in the nineteenth-century press without a sensational crime story appearing. Whether it was the gory prospect of blood and dismembered bodies, or simply the thrill of a classic ‘whodunit’, there can be little doubt that crime reporting made compelling copy. This was certainly the case with the ‘Brighton Railway Murder’ which took place in the summer of 1881. From beginning to end, the case captivated the imagination of the British people, eager to discover who had murdered wealthy tradesman Frederick Gold, and what would become of the culprit. A search of Gale Artemis: Primary Sources highlights the case’s notoriety, giving me the perfect opportunity to trace its development.    

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Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture: “Enthralling” and “Remarkable” Primary Sources

Searching for “extraordinary” materials to enhance understandings of the evolution of criminal justice and penal reform? Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture 1790-1920 features “easy to use navigation” paired with 2.1 million pages of materials supporting the study of nineteenth-century criminal history, law, literature, and justice, to enhance law and society knowledge during a pivotal era of social change. Only Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture, 1790-1920 helps users explore the links between fact and fiction by integrating legal and historical documents with literature, an emerging crime-fiction genre, newspaper reports, and more.

Read a review posted by Cheryl LaGuardia of Library Journal, April, 2016

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