Pace Law Library Blog

In a decision by Justice Thomas, the Supreme Court has ruled that you cannot patent natural human genes.  However, you can patent modified genes.  The case, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., involved the patenting of BRAC 1 and BRAC 2 genes which are involved in certain breast and ovarian cancers. Myriad had discovered the location of and the sequencing of these genes and attempted to patented them.  Molecular Pathology wanted to use those genes to develop cancer treatments.

Tags: bioethics, BioPharmaceutical, patents

Congress.gov, currently in its beta version, is the new portal bringing you the United States Legislative Information.

[It] contains legislation from the 107th Congress (2001) to the present, member profiles from the 93rd Congress (1973) to the present, and some member profiles from the 80th through the 92nd Congresses (1947 to 1972).

According to Congress.gov, the plan is

to transform the Library of Congress’s existing congressional information system into a modern, durable and user-friendly resource.

The goal for this site is to eventually contain all of the information currently available on THOMAS.gov. Users are welcome to visit Coverage Dates for Legislative Information to see a comparison of the scope of legislative information on THOMAS.gov v. Congress.gov.

From the first looks of it, Congress.gov features modern and more intuitive interface. Users can search by a Bill Number, Public Law Number, or by a keyword. Currently, the search box recognizes a phrase while search operators will be added in the future. Results can be further filtered by Congress, Legislative Source, Chamber of Congress, Legislative Type, Subject of Legislation, Statues of Current Legislation, committee, Sponsor, Cosponsor, or a Political Party, allowing users to exercise a better control over the results.  For more information about search options, see the Search Tips Overview.

Users are invited to take advantage of the number of education tools, including up to date videos explaining the legislative process.  The site conveniently presents all related documentation for each bill (or other document) directly from the page of that bill (or that document). Users can subscribe to receive updates via RSS feed and information can be easily shared via number of social media platforms through ShareThis.

Last, but not least, the Library of Congress invites you to    which is linked from every page.

Tags: Congress.gov, federal legislation, legislation, Library of Congress, THOMAS, U.S. Congress

As of June 4, 2013, there are 7 States that have ratified the amendments on the crime of aggression as adopted on June 11, 2010 by Resolution RC/Res. 6 during a Review Conference of the Rome Statute held in Kampala, Uganda. Click here to view the status of the ratification of the amendments.

The first State to ratify the amendments was Lichtenstein, followed by Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago, all in 2012. In 2013, Luxembourg, followed by Estonia, and most recently Germany and Botswana ratified the amendments.

Germany’s June 3rd, 2013 ratification is of a particular significance because it was during Nuremberg and Tokyo trials that those most responsible for “crimes against peace” were prosecuted. UN Charter art. 2(4) prohibits the

threat of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purpose of the United Nations.

Relying on this language defendants were prosecuted for committing “crimes against peace” and aggression was an example of such. Since then the definition of aggression has gone through international negotiations and number of modifications. In 1974, the General Assembly adopted resolution (UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX)) in which it defined aggression and its purpose and included guidance to the Security Council in its determination of the existence of an act of aggression.

In 1998, during the Rome Conference for the adoption of the Rome Statute, delegates of States could not agree on a clear definition of the crime of aggression. Thus, the crime of aggression was included in Art. 5 of the Statute but its definition and the process of determining the Court’s jurisdiction over it were deferred to first Review Conference.

Article 5 of the Rome Statute lists the four crimes over which the International Criminal Court can exercise its jurisdiction:

• The crime of genocide;
• Crimes against humanity;
• War crimes;
• The crime of aggression.

In 2010, members of the Review Conference met and agreed on amendments defining the crime of aggression. In order for these amendments to go in effect, 30 States must ratify it in addition to one-time activation decision by States Parties. The earliest time these amendments can be activated is after January 1, 2017 when States Parties will take their one-time activation vote to allow the Court exercise jurisdiction of the crime of aggression. Such decision however can be made only after the amendments have entered into force for at least 30 States and the amendments will enter into force for any State one year after that State has deposited the instrument of ratification.

Related Readings:

• HANDBOOK: Ratification and Implementation of the Kampala amendments to the Rome Statute of the ICC 
• Definition of Aggression: General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX), December 14, 1974
• Crime of Aggression: Ratification Documents
• International Criminal Court: Crime of Aggression and Ratification Documents

Tags: crime of aggression, International Criminal Court, International law, Kampala, ratification, Review Conference, Rome Statute

For all of you mobile users, the Black’s Law dictionary app that traditionally costs about $50.00 is on sale TODAY for $26.99. It appears however, that it is only the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch app that is on sale. The Black’s for Android app remains priced at $54.99 and the Black’s 9th for Windows phone app remains at $59.99.

What do you think, is $26.99 more reasonable?

Tags: apps, Black's Law Dictionary, mobile devices

Courtesy of beSpecific, the New York City Municipal Archive Online Gallery welcomes its visitors online.

This ever-expanding gallery is your entry point into the vast visual holdings of the Archives. The Online Gallery provides free and open research access to over 800,000 items digitized from the Municipal Archives’ collections, including photographs, maps, motion-pictures and audio recordings. The holdings are arranged by collection; or you may search “All Collections” by keyword or any of the advanced search criteria. Patrons may order prints or digital files, and license images or film clips for commercial use.

Enter the online Gallery and start browsing the NYC Municipal Archives Collection of over 870,000 images.

Selected from the world-class historical collections of the Archives, most of these unique photographs, maps, motion picture and audio recordings are being made accessible for the first time. … The gallery includes many complete collections; for others, only representative samples are currently on display. Visitors are encouraged to return frequently as new content will be added on a regular basis.

Tags: images, New York City, NYC Department of Records, NYC Municipal Archives, online, pictures

Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law has launched its new visual overview of the international criminal tribunals, in which it

provid[es] an introduction to the work of the international tribunals and the conflicts which led to their establishment. …

This new 90-page report, providing analysis and information through written summaries and detailed visualizations, aims to make the work of the courts more accessible to the general public and legal professionals alike.

The report is available for download and it

provides information about each of the existing international tribunals: the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

For additional information about researching international criminal law, see the International Criminal Law Research Guide.

Tags: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, International Criminal Court, international criminal law, International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Special Tribunal for Lebanon

The Pace Law School Class of 2013 honored Pace Law Library with the Outstanding Departmental Award during commencement on May 14, 2013.  Marie Stefanini Newman (pictured), Professor of Law and Library Director, accepted the award on behalf of the Library staff.  We thank the Class of 2013 for this honor.

Tags: 2013 graduation, Commencement, Pace Law Library

Internet for Lawyers, an online CLE hub providing continuing education for lawyers, has made available their 2012 comparison of citators that compares the citator service capability of Google Scholar, Fastcase, Casemaker, LexisNexis, WestlawNext, and Bloomberg Law. The report is accompanied by screenshots and description of each service, and it concludes

[s]o, what’s a legal researcher to do if they don’t have access to LexisNexis, WestlawNext, or Bloomberg’s citator services? While we recommend NOT relying entirely on any of the citator services provided by Google Scholar, Fastcase, or Casemaker, legal researchers can still use these databases to learn if their cases are still good law by taking the extra step to run a search using the party names as keywords…. This will find all opinions with those same party names. You’ll need to read the resulting cases (but only those decided after your case was decided) and then discern for yourself how the subsequent cases treated your case.

One should keep in mind that although Google Scholar, Fastcase, and Casemaker are improving and continuously providing better “citator-like” service, they are not comprehensive citators (yet?).

Related Readings and Instructional Videos

• Fastcase’s ‘Authority Check’ Now Flags Bad Law by Robert Ambrogi (Apr. 25, 2013).
• Finding Significant Citations for Legal Opinions by Google Scholar Blog (Mar. 8, 2012).
• A First Look at the Newest Casemaker by Robert Ambrogi (Mr. 4, 2012).
• CaseCheck+: Casemaker’s Negative Treatment Citator by Casemaker Legal Videos (Sept. 20, 2012).
• Module 6: Precedential Analysis Using the Legal Citator on My LexisNexis by LexisNexis South Africa (Oct. 2, 2012).
• WestlawNext: Using KeyCite to Verify and Expand Your Research by WestlawInsider (Nov. 14, 2011).
• BCite in Bloomberg Law by GSU Law Library (Jun 29, 2012).
• Introducing Bad Law Bot from Fastcase by Vastcase Video (Apr. 24, 2013).

Tags: Bloomberg, case law, casemaker, citators, fastcase, Google Scholar, Google Scholar Citations, LexisNexis, negative treatment, Shepardize, WestlawNext

Pace Law Library has acquired new titles into its Law in Film Collection. Any patron with borrowing privileges can check any of the movies out at no charge. The following are our recent acquisitions:

Arbitrage (Lionsgate presents; Green Room Films and TreeHouse Pictures present; a co-production of Parlay Films, LB Productions, Artina Films; a film by Nicholas Jarecki; written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki; produced by Laura Bickford … [et. al.]) [PN1997.2 .A73 2012 DVD] – “Robert Miller is a New York hedge-fund magnate who appears to have it all: money, power, a loving wife, and a devoted daughter working by his side. But behind the gilded walls of his mansion, Miller is running on borrowed time, trying to unload his crippled trading company before his frauds are revealed. A deadly error throws Miller’s life into a tailspin, raising the suspicions of a detective and threatening the future of his financial empire.”

A lawyer walks into a bar (Camel’s Back Films presents; directed and produced by Eric Chaiken; producer, Tasha Oldham) [KF300 .L35 2008 DVD] – “Documentary explores the influence of the law and its practitioners on American culture, while following six characters as they do whatever it takes to become lawyers. This film features cameos by legal luminaries, politicians, well-known comedians, celebrity lawyers and other notables.”

The bungalows of Rockaway: small houses and big dreams on Gotham’s shore (a film by Jennifer Callahan) [F129.R8 B86 2010 DVD] – “New York City is known for its skyscrapers, tenements, brownstones, apartment buildings and … bungalows? Thousands of bungalows once lined the city’s Atlantic shore, providing summers by the sea for working-class families. Today, present-day residents fight to save the remaining few. This is the story of the popular resort that flourished for much of the 20th century along the southeastern edge of the city.”

One more dead fish (Interpositive Media presents; a Lonach Films production; produced by Peripheral Visions, Inc.; directed by Allan Forbes, Stefan Forbes) [HD8039.F66 C36 2006 DVD] – “Six Nova Scotia fisherman barricade themselves inside a Federal building to protest government policies towards the fishing industry.”

Silent choices (New Day Films; produced and directed by Faith Pennick; an Organized Chaos Mediaworks production) [HQ767.5.U5 S48 2007 DVD] – “Illustrates the abortion issue through the lives of African American women, with both interviews and dramatic content. Features the personal experiences of several such women, some of whom chose to have abortions, and some who are staunchly pro-life. The film also brings in others active in the African American community on abortion issues, as well as juxtaposing African American viewpoints to those of white Americans, all combined and contrasted with the larger economic, political, and social pressures that are faced by the African-American community in general.”

The greatest good (U.S. Forest Service centennial film; producer/director, David Steinke and Steven Dunsky; writers, Steven Dunsky and Stephen Most) [SD565 .G73 2006 DVD] – The narrator, Charles Osgood, tells the story of the U.S. Forest Service ‘s struggle to use and maintain the nation’s resources in the face of natural disasters, economic demands, and political controversy. Looks at the service’s effort’s to balance delivering the most benefits to the most people while remaining a good steward of the land. Explores the legacy of conservation visionaries Gifford Pinchot, Bob Marshall, and Aldo Leopold and their ideas for the “wise use” of resources, the preservation of wilderness, and a “land ethic.” Examines conflicts relating to public lands and the use of natural resources, covering topics such as grazing, fire, wilderness, wildlife, watershed protection, recreation, and timber. Features archival footage and photographs, as well as scenes of American forests from the Adirondack Mountains to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.

Grow! (Christine Anthony and Owen Masterson) [S605.5 .G76 2011 DVD] - Documentary filmed on 12 farms throughout Georgia demonstrating organic and sustainable farming.

Tags: abortion, bar exam, docudrama, environment, farming, film, finance, fisheries, forests, free, hedge funds, legal, movie, natural resources

Punctuation – the commas, periods, apostrophes, hyphens, columns and semi-columns are all often the source of a headache. The topic of punctuation is certain to be part of the 1L writing instruction. It is not only the writing instructors emphasizing the need to pay attention to detail and use punctuation correctly, but it is also the courts reinforcing the same idea.

Courtesy of the (new) legal writer blog, Raymond Ward highlights two recent cases in which the courts took a closer look at the rules of punctuation.

The first post titled Ambiguous punctuation leads to loss of attorney’s fees (or is it attorneys’ fees?) brings brings the readers’ attention to the case Bradshaw v. Boynton-JCP Assocs., Ltd., No. 4D11-4242 (Fla. App. 4th Dist. Apr. 10, 2013), in which the Florida Appellate Court reversed “the award of attorney’s fees pursuant to an offer of judgement because ambiguities in the offer prevent its enforceability.”

The offer was apostrophe-challenged, creating ambiguities as to whether the drafter intended references to singular or plural defendants or plaintiffs. The offer, entitled “Defendant’s Joint Proposal for Settlement,” also appears to have been adopted from a form without sufficient editing; it requires “Plaintiff’(s)” to “execute a stipulation,” and “Plaintiff(s)” to “execute a general release of “Defendant(s).”

The second blog post titled For punctuation geeks, an interesting decision by the U.S. 2nd Circuit highlights AIG v. Bank of America, No. 12-1640-cv (2d Cir. Apr. 19, 2013), in which the Second Circuit Court addressed the use of modifying phrase following a list of nouns or phrases.

Defendants, in their effort to support removal jurisdiction, argue for an interpretation of § 632 which not only violates grammatical rules, but also would result in an arbitrary and illogical meaning. Citing a principle of construction which favors reading a “limiting clause or phrase . . . as modifying only the noun or phrase that it immediately follows,” Barnhart v. Thomas, 540 U.S. 20, 26 (2003), Defendants argue that the phrase “either directly or through the agency, ownership, or control of branches or local institutions in dependencies or insular possessions of the United States or in foreign countries” should be read to modify only the immediately preceding clause, “arising . . . out of other international or foreign financial operations,” and not as modifying the other preceding clauses specifying suits that arise out of “transactions involving international or foreign banking, or banking in a dependency or insular possession of the United States.” We can see no merit, grammatical or otherwise, to the argument.

The Court analyzes that

[o]ne of the methods by which a writer indicates whether a modifier that follows a list of nouns or phrases is intended to modify the entire list, or only the immediate antecedent, is by punctuation—specifically by whether the list is separated from the subsequent modifier by a comma. When there is no comma, as in the statute considered in Barnhart, the subsequent modifier is ordinarily understood to apply only to its last antecedent. When a comma is included, as in the Edge Act provision, the modifier is generally understood to apply to the entire series.

The Court continues by applying the rule to an example

[T]he statement, “This basketball team has a seven-foot center, a huge power forward, and two large guards, who do spectacular dunks,” differs from the statement, “This basketball team has a seven-foot center, a huge power forward, and two large guards who do spectacular dunks.” The first statement conveys that all four players do spectacular dunks. The latter statement conveys that only the guards do so.

And the lesson learned? Punctuation Matters!

Tags: comma, editing, legal fees, legal writing, modifying phrase, punctuation