The Osgoode Library has purchased a modest collection of twenty-eight bookplates of various Canadian legal personages. These bookplates are of interest for biographical, bibliographical and professional reasons, and are also sure to be of interest to Game of Thrones fans for their assortment of family sigils and words, or in heraldic parlance, charges and mottoes. […]
All posts by Craig Butosi
The Lawes Resolution of Women’s Rights, or The Woman’s Lawyer (1632)
The Balfour Halevy Special Collections has acquired an exciting new item, The Lawes Resolution of Women’s Rights, also known as The Woman’s Lawyer. Why is this exciting? The Woman’s Lawyer is the earliest work in English devoted to laws relating exclusively to women. Some particular topics include the age of consent, dower, hermaphrodites, polygamy, wooing, […]
A new year is here again...
After a winter that would have caused even the Abominable Snowman to consider decamping to Hawaii, it is safe to say that we were all looking forward to three or four months of warm weather. Well, it's the end of August and - apart from a few bracing blasts of heat - we're still waiting. […]
Alexander Buchanan (1798-1852) and His Books: Part 2: Early Canadian Legal Education
In my previous post, I talked about Alexander Buchanan, his place in Canadian history, and his library. In this post, I'd like to talk about one specific book from Buchanan's collection, it's special place in Osgoode's Balfour Halévy Special Collections library. Also, I'd like to discuss a singular and exceptional document from Buchanan's hand and […]
Alexander Buchanan (1798-1851) and His Books: Part 1
It may simply be an instance of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, but it seems like everywhere I turn in our rare book room I run into vestiges of Alexander Buchanan. As a reasonably important historical figure, it's not surprising to see his name pop up here and there every now and then, but this barrage of […]
Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals - Now Online!
The Osgoode Library now has access to the online version of this important series of international criminal law reports. Access is available to all members of the York University community via Passport York and no username/password is required. Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals provides you with the full text of the most important […]
A Topsy-Turvy Image of the Lawyer-Client Relationship
With its classical symmetry, coffered ceiling, modern furnishings and book-lined walls, all suffused with old book smell (“A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness”), the Canada Law Book Rare Book Room is a near perfect space and a wonderful place to work. The […]
"That's the letter U and the numeral 2"
With the recent passing of Casey Kasem, known primarily in the US as the voice of the "American Top 40" radio countdown and as the voice of Shaggy in the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons, I thought of one of Kasem's more notorious outings, and one that was an early example of current hot-button topics such as copyright, […]
Election Special - Five True Patriot Tips from 1899
Our provincial election is coming up, but I’m sure that many of us are still scratching our heads and wondering which way to send our vote. As established by Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it is our right as citizens to vote in federal and provincial elections, and it is […]
Glanvill's Tractatus: The First Treatise on English Law (ca 1188, First Print Ed 1554)
Glanvill, Ranulf de, 1130-1190. Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie. Londini : In aedibus Richardi Totteli, 1554. [1st edition]. ― Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliae. Londini : postant venales apud J. White et E. Brooke, 1780. [3rd edition]. “Here begins the treatise on the laws and customs of the realm of England, composed […]