The state of Canadian liquor laws and regulations is something that occasionally crops up in op-eds across the country, but then quietly fades away only to flare up again periodically. Although Prohibition in the popular consciousness has a distinctly American flavour, evoking images of Al Capone, speakeasies, and bathtub gin (as an era, it certainly […]
Legal Research
Online training sessions
Brush up on your online searching skills! The library is pleased to offer the following online training sessions: Wednesday January 22, 12:30 to 2:00 - Quicklaw/LexisNexis Academic Wednesday January 29, 12:30 to 1:30 - Westlaw Wednesday, Feb. 5, 12:30 to 1:30 - CCH Online All sessions will take place in Room 2011. Sessions are open […]
SCC strikes down prostitution laws
This morning, the Supreme Court of Canada released a landmark ruling that struck down a series of laws surrounding prostitution. The long-term implications remain to be seen, as the unanimous judgement has been suspended for a year in order to give parliament time to respond and (presumably) enact new legislation. Incidentally, there is a strong […]
Journal of Open Access to Law
An exciting new initiative in open access to law debuted today with the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Open Access to Law. A peer-reviewed academic journal, the journal is pretty much as advertised in the title, as its ambit "is to promote international research on the topic of open access to law" […]
Senate Reform Déjà Vu
While much of the world's attention on Canadian politics has been focused on the bizarre scenes that have been unfolding in Toronto, the Senate scandal that dominated headlines prior to the Mayor's crack admission has continued apace. Much as in Toronto, the scandal has elicited popular hue and cry for something - anything! - by […]
Louis Riel Day - November 16 in Ontario
Louis Riel Day is a day to celebrate the life of the controversial Métis leader and the efforts he made for Métis rights and also to acknowledge Métis contributions to Canada. No doubt you will remember my blog about Louis Riel last year. This year I wanted to focus more on the Métis than Louis […]
Shooting fish in a barrel, pt. 2
Lo, those many months ago, before newspapers were reduced to printing articles about explaining crack to their children, Rob Ford, the Mayor of Toronto, was embroiled in what now seems to be a quaint conflict of interest issue. An Off the Shelf post, entitled "Shooting Fish in a Barrel" was written, and that was seemingly […]
Recent International Law Acquisitions
The library has been busy lately augmenting its International Law collection. The London Review of International Law is a brand new journal from Oxford (Volume 1 Issue 1 was published September 2013) to which we now have access. It is not available through the catalogue or eResources yet, but it will be. We have also […]
Sports injuries in the spotlight
Every first-year law student is taught the thin-skull principle, wherein the tortfeasor finds the victim as they find them, even if they have a pre-existing condition. I've been thinking about this over the past few weeks as I've been laid up at home recovering from a concussion and making the slow return to "normal" day-to-day […]
Open Access & Legal Scholarship
Open access is an important thing to think about whenever you are creating or consuming scholarship. And it’s not important just because it happens to be Open Access Week. Richard A. Danner talks about the importance of legal scholarship in his article, “Open Access to Legal Scholarship: Dropping the Barriers to Discourse and Dialogue.” “Legal […]