Author Archives: lawbod

It’s only make believe

'Conway Twitty' by Bradford Timeline used under Creative Commons Licence.

‘Conway Twitty’ by Bradford Timeline used under Creative Commons Licence.

This somewhat melancholy and mournful tune by Conway Twitty, was the 1958 Christmas number one.  Conway Twitty, (having changed his name and chosen two seemingly random towns as names), was an American singer and this was his first big hit.  The song was actually written whilst Conway was in Ontario, apparently he had become convinced that this is where success could be found.  However despite this song reaching number 1 in 22 countries , it didn’t immediately bring forth great riches.  Indeed, subsequently Conway resurfaced as a Country & Western singer and then after a few further false starts made his money creating the theme park ‘Twitty City’ in Nashville. (A marvellous example of assonance and consonance!)

But what of the 1958 Christmas Number 1? Here’s a brief extract:

My hopes, my dreams come true, my life I’d give for you,

My heart, a wedding ring, my all, my everything.

My heart I can’t control, you rule my very soul,

My only prayer will be someday you’ll care for me

But it’s o-only make believe.

The theme  of ‘unrequited love’ dominates the lyrics – perhaps not overly ‘Christmassy’ – but a theme nonetheless!  Perhaps I can explore this theme further in the newspapers – those sources that bring a whole new meaning to ‘it’s only make believe’!

Newspapers are of course a valuable source of information and we subscribe to many newspaper databases.  [It’s worth noting here for any Westlaw aficionados, that we don’t subscribe to ‘news’ content on Westlaw, so therefore the ‘news’ tab is defunct.  However you could still search some UK newspapers via the current awareness tab, you would however largely receive just an abstract, so to read the actual article you would then need to try a specialist newspaper database.  There is a ‘UK newspapers’ searchable group on Lexis going back to 1982, however the coverage obviously varies according to the publication.]

So, perhaps the best place to start, might be to look at OxLip+ via SOLO.  Here you can narrow your search down to newspapers, by clicking on the ‘subject tab’.  By doing this, you will retrieve 67 hits, clicking on the ‘i’ will furnish you with a little more information on the holdings and currency of each database.  The big two are Nexis and Factiva, the latter with a bias towards business information.

Firstly looking at Nexis, I can narrow down my search to a group of newspapers e.g UK national newspapers, or alternatively I can just search for and pick one source.  Being that us emotionally stunted British are possibly incapable of discussing my song’s theme of ‘unrequited love’,  I think I’ll start with The New York Times.  Search in the source box and click on the ‘I’ for currency information.  By typing in my search ‘unrequited love’ and asking it to appear in the headline produces three results. nexis new york times serach strategy

Immediately the one that grabs my eye is the third hit: ‘Pain of Unrequited Love Afflicts the Rejecter, Too.’  Whilst Conway’s song is all about the emotional state of the would-be lover, he never once considers the anguish felt by the rejecter – surely a huge oversight!  

The article discusses a study by Dr Baumeister and Sara Wotman that explores the impact on the ‘pursued’ rather than the pursuer’.  The findings of this research are published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.  A quick check on Solo and immediately I am taken to the online version of this journal via a database called Ovidsp – (sometimes we are allowed to use databases that are not strictly ‘law’!) For more information on this database do have a look at our Medical Law LibGuide.  By searching on the author’s surname, in this case ‘Baumeister’, I can see the report approximately half-way down the subsequent results list: Unrequited Love: On Heartbreak, Anger, Guilt, Scriptlessness, and Humiliation.  Indeed Dr. Baumeister concludes:

To refuse love, even unwanted love, seems to violate some deeply rooted and widespread human tendencies. Although many would consider it an enviable position to be in to have others offering love, in fact it turns out to be a difficult and upsetting position. ”  Baumeister, Roy, Wotman, Sara, Stillwell, Arlene ‘Unrequited Love: On Heartbreak, Anger, Guilt, Scriptlessness, and Humiliation’ (1993) Vol 64 (3) J Pers Soc Psychol 377, 394

But how has the path of true love (or not true love) changed over time?  Perhaps I can track the theme of unrequited love across one of our databases of historical newspapers.  Two immediately spring to mind – The Times Digital Archive and ProQuest Historical Newspapers.  Looking at the latter first, I can see a list of historical newspapers databases that it holds here.  I’ve selected The Guardian and Observer and used the advanced search option, so that I can search for my terms in the title of the article.

Here you’ll read many cases of tragic endings from the 1920’s when love remained unrequited.  They are quite fascinating if only for the enigmatic language used; for example we have the student infatuated ‘with a lady of irreproachable character’ and the youth ‘enamoured with a  maid on the farm’.

But what of Conway himself, was he writing from personal experience?  Perhaps we can glean more information on Conway by  searching for his obituary on the The Times Digital archive. (Keep it light they said – sorry!). times digital archive

This database can be found via Oxlip+, or you could simply search for it in SOLO. By keyword searching ‘Conway Twitty’ I quickly find his obituary.  The motivation for his song is not clear, but it is perhaps fair to surmise that having being married 3 times, Conway’s love was requited sometimes!

Perhaps we can leave Conway now with the oft quoted words of Lord Tennyson from his poem “In Memoriam A.H.H.” :

‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all’

By Nicola Patrick, Research Support Librarian

Hello, Goodbye

Beatles album cover by Mark Sardella used under the Creative Commons Licence

Beatles album cover by Mark Sardella used under the Creative Commons Licence

 

Who can forget the 1967 classic ‘Hello, Goodbye’ by the Beatles? Perhaps not the most diverse set of lyrics of any Christmas number 1, indeed here is a short sample;

“You say goodbye and I say hello

Hello hello

I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello

Hello hello

I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello”

Apparently the song is largely a result of a conversation between Alistair Taylor and Paul McCartney that went something like this:

Taylor: How do you write a song?

'Piano' by Ali Moradi used under the Creative Commons Licence.

‘Piano’ by Ali Moradi used under the Creative Commons Licence.

McCartney: I’ll show you [reaches for harmonium]. Now you hit a note on the keyboard and I’ll do the same and you shout out the opposite to every word I say…’Black’

Taylor: White

McCartney: Yes

Taylor: No

McCartney: Hello

Taylor: Goodbye

Bingo! And there you have the Christmas number one. Admittedly this may be a slight over-simplification on my part, but I suspect it’s not a million miles away from the truth!

But what if I, now I’m feeling empowered by these lyrics, wish to use them in my next ‘jingle’? I need to be aware that I will probably be breaching copyright law.  In the UK, copyright works fall into at least one of 8 categories.  See the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  So in this case the lyrics are protected as a ‘literary’ work not a ‘musical work’.  The ‘music’ obviously being protected as a ‘musical work’.  But what is ‘music’ I hear you ask, is it simply the notes on the page? One possible answer can be found in the judgment of Mummery LJ in the case Sawkins v Hyperion Records Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 565, [2005] 1 W.L.R. 3281 9 [53]

53 In the absence of a special statutory definition of music, ordinary usage assists: as indicated in the dictionaries, the essence of music is combining sounds for listening to. Music is not the same as mere noise. The sound of music is intended to produce effects of some kind on the listener’s emotions and intellect. The sounds may be produced by an organised performance on instruments played from a musical score, though that is not essential for the existence of the music or of copyright in it. Music must be distinguished from the fact and form of its fixation as a record of a musical composition. The score is the traditional and convenient form of fixation of the music and conforms to the requirement that a copyright work must be recorded in some material form. But the fixation in the written score or on a record is not in itself the music in which copyright subsists. There is no reason why, for example, a recording of a person’s spontaneous singing, whistling or humming or improvisations of sounds by a group of people with or without musical instruments should not be regarded as “music” for copyright purposes.

So the lines can be a little blurred in terms of what category a work will fall into. ‘Blurred Lines’ have also been a problem for Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke and Clifford Harris, Jr. – remember this case: Williams v Bridgeport Music Inc unreported 14 July 2015 (D (US)). This concerned whether Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, songwriters of “Blurred Lines”, copied the late Marvin Gaye’s

'Marvin Gaye' by Cliff used under Creative Commons Licence

‘Marvin Gaye’ by Cliff used under Creative Commons Licence

“Got to Give It Up”, and should pay compensation. To read the case go to Westlaw International (which also has a new look, having spent a period of time looking somewhat ‘pasty’).  There are many articles discussing the IP implications of this case, perhaps a good starting point would be to look on the Legal Journals Index on Westlaw.

 

Having whetted my appetite with discussions of copyright and music, perhaps I could turn to the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN) for further enlightenment.

ssrn

This in itself enables a ‘hello’ moment- as you will immediately notice that the SSRN has undergone a desperately needed facelift. This is a result of Elsevier purchasing the SSRN back in May of this year, see http://www.thebookseller.com/news/elsevier-acquires-online-community-ssrn-329824 for press comment.   The website has a new look which makes it feel less cumbersome and as a result it is easier to navigate.  Significantly it has also resulted in the availability of full text searching.  It is not at the level of sophistication of a regular law database, however we anticipate there will be more changes shortly.  The long-term plans for the SSRN are explained here: http://ssrnblog.com/2016/10/05/welcome-to-the-new-ssrn/

Now following my earlier newly acquired interest of ‘copyright in musical scores’, I can search the SSRN using either the quick search or the advanced search option.  Out of simple curiousity I could just search for the Sawkins case and see if this is discussed.  As luck would have it I receive three useful looking hits for me to peruse. ssrn-hits

Alternatively I may want a closer look at what subject matter journals there are for copyright and this I can see by drilling down through the Legal Scholarship Network, then ‘subject matter ejournals’ and finally ‘intellectual property law ejournals’.

Perhaps this is a good time to remind you that research students at the Law Faculty may subscribe to the Social Science Research Network subject matter ejournals. Essentially this is an email notification of the most recently posted papers on SSRN on a particular subject.  To subscribe please email me on Nicola.patrick@bodleian.ox.ac.uk and I will add you to our list of subscribers. You will then receive an email directly from the SSRN with further instructions.

So hopefully a positive ‘hello’ to a new look SSRN and not a ‘goodbye’ to free downloads of papers.

Before I say ‘goodbye’ to the subject of intellectual property, it is probably worth reminding you that there is a LibGuide on intellectual property found here and this will discuss the specific IP database ‘Darts-IP’ in more detail.

And what tenuous link can I make to the line:

 ‘Why why why why why why do you say goodbye goodbye, oh no?

Perhaps it was a reference to us saying goodbye to the EU?

The Law Faculty obviously has its own research site and blog, but are you aware of the information on our new database – PLC? (It was even worthy of its own blog post not so long ago.)

Entitled ‘Brexit – the legal implications’ this section of the database includes articles, blogs and a very useful ‘tracker’. Here, as a snapshot, I can see all government and parliamentary developments relating to Brexit.

So many ‘hellos and goodbyes’ in 2016…

And lets it leave with the Beatles for the last word:

‘hela heba helloa, cha cha cha’

In fact, let’s not,  Merry Xmas!

Nicola Patrick, Research Support Librarian

'Baubles' by Cam Miller used under the Creative Commons Licence

‘Baubles’ by Cam Miller used under the Creative Commons Licence

‘Practical Law’ for practically everyone…

by Nicola Patrick, Research Support Librarian

Dear readers,

We thought we’d make you aware that we now have IP access to PLC. You can access this database in the normal way via the LawBod’s legal databases page:

http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/law/popular-links/databases#p

For those of you who haven’t come across PLC before, I’ve created a short Q&A crib sheet below, which should hopefully get you up and running.

  • What is it?

PLC stands for Practical Law Company, more commonly referred to as ‘Practical Law’. It is a database commonly used in law firms and is aimed at the practising lawyer.

  • So why do we have it?

Well, we think there are parts of the database that could be very useful to our readers, regardless of their level of study. For example, the practice notes provide explanations of law and practice on various legal topics.

  • Who owns it?

Thomson Reuters, so the same people that own Westlaw UK – hence the expectation of seamless linking from PLC to Westlaw.

  • How do you envisage we use it?

Different users will utilise it in different ways. Those preparing for moots may find it a useful resource for their research.  Equally if you are new to an area of law this could be a good starting place, as it will direct you to the main legislation and case law.   Researchers may wish to subscribe to legal updates in their particular area and perhaps make use of the more detailed analysis provided in some of the notes or utilise the ‘ask a question’ feature. All users will find it useful that the journal PLC is fully searchable on this database.  Those going on law firm vacation placements, or moving into practice, may also find it useful to explore the other features closely related to practice such as ‘standard forms’.

  • Is it up to date?

The currency of the information is always clearly indicated. If the status is given as ‘maintained’ you can rest assured that the information is being continually updated. If it isn’t ‘maintained’ then a date is usually given, clearly indicating when it was last updated.

plc-date

 

  • How comprehensive is it?

Well, if you mean does it cover the whole of UK Law, then the honest answer is ‘no’. This is the list of broad practice areas that PLC covers:

plc-practice-areas

 

  • What exactly do we have access to?

All the practice notes, standard forms, checklists, glossary etc. that comes under the UK practice areas that PLC covers. Also we can access ‘legal updates’ and PLC magazine.  We don’t have access to ‘books’ which you will see under ‘resources’. (You will have access via one of our other databases or in hard copy in the Lawbod so it isn’t necessary to duplicate this resource here.) Also we can access information on various legal topics for other countries through the ‘countries’ tab.

  • Is it just UK?

Yes and no! We have subscribed to UK PLC, therefore the buttons that say US/Canada at the top right of the site are largely defunct for our purposes.  You can click on them and receive limited information but when you try and drill down into anything meaningful you are met with the message ‘you don’t subscribe to this’! Please note we have vast numbers of other country specific databases – for more information see our LibGuides on ‘jurisdictions’ –

http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/c.php?g=422865&p=2887613

If you click on ‘global’ you are pretty much accessing the same information as you would through the UK site, but just with a ‘country first’ approach, rather than a ‘topic first’ approach.

There is information available on 71 countries through the countries tab on the UK PLC site. Within the limits of certain pre-set questions you can also do a country comparison. You select the questions you want to ask and choose the countries you want to compare.

q-a-plc

 

Alternatively you can access a multi-jurisdictional guide through ‘publications’ under ‘resources’.

multi-juri-comparison-plc

 

  • How do I search it?

It’s quite an intuitive database to search. So, start by putting your terms into the search box.

search-box-plc

 

Like Westlaw, it assumes ‘and’ between words so if you want something treated as a phrase then you need to put it in double quotation marks e.g. “shareholder agreement”

You can use OR for alternate terms. (Bear in mind that PLC automatically searches for synonyms and alternative forms of common words.)

  • When I do a search how do my results come back?

They are split into 3 tabs:

results-plc

 

‘Know-how’ will contain your practice notes, standard documents, legal updates etc.

‘Publications’ brings hits back from Bloomsbury Professional and PLC magazine.  The magazines are fine to access. However, although we do have access to Bloomsbury Professional to access ‘Family Court Reports’ (might be worthy of another blog post on that change), we don’t have access to the books, so those links won’t go anywhere.  However you will be able to find the book elsewhere – check SOLO or ask a Librarian.

‘What’s Market’ provides access to public company transactions and AGM materials.

On the right hand side you will see links to ‘related content’ – perhaps to an article or to the ‘legislation tracker’

  • What about accessing the full text for cases and legislations?

Well, if you remember earlier I optimistically mentioned the phrase ‘seamlessly linking’ this is the goal and for the most part this does happen for legislation.

Please note you do have to have an active Westlaw session running for PLC to link to the actual document on Westlaw.

Currently there appears to be a problem with cases linking to Westlaw, or indeed any publicly available alternative. We have advised PLC of this fault, so hopefully the ‘seamlessly linking’ ideal would come to fruition shortly!

  • Do I need my own username and password?

No, with IP access we have tried to avoid the need to create separate passwords for every user. A personal account only becomes necessary if you are doing a lot of drafting through ‘Fastdraft’ or wish to annotate resources – again more aimed at the practising lawyer. You can receive by email legal updates in your practice area to your inbox without the need for a separate account.

  • If I need help who can I contact?

There is online help:

Either ‘search help’

search-help

 

Or

In-depth legal help:

ask-a-question-plc

However, if it is a question of how to use the database or you cannot find something, please email me at nicola.patrick@bodleian.ox.ac.uk and I’ll try to resolve the issue.

Free access to OUP resources on refugee law

A reminder, from OUP…

In response to the refugee crisis in Europe, Oxford University Press has made more than 30 book chapters, journal articles, and pieces of content from online resources freely accessible to assist those working with refugees on the ground, as well as anyone who would like to know more about the framework of rights and obligations concerning refugees. The materials are structured around four key questions: who is a refugee, what rights do they have, what are transit states’ obligations, and what are the duties of the state where a refugee applies for asylum. Other useful resources are linked to at the bottom of the OUP web page.

  1. Who is a refugee?
  2. What rights do refugees have?
  3. What are the obligations imposed on states which refugees pass through en route to their destination of choice (transit states)?
  4. What are the obligations imposed on states in which refugees apply for asylum?
  5. Helpful Links

A new look for i-law, ICLR and Jordans

By Katie Carter

A number of our subscription databases have been busy sprucing themselves up over the Easter vac, so we’re taking a quick look at their new looks.

i-law

Log in to i-law

Log in to i-law

First up, i-law.  This carries the Lloyds Law Reports and the Lloyds Maritime and Commercial Quarterly.  We added in some new content earlier in the year, so it also carries the Lloyds Insurance and Reinsurance Law Reports, as well as the Building Law Reports and the Professional Negligence reports.  You still need to login, and can find the details on weblearn via links in Oxlip+ or on the LawBod databases page.  This is NOT your single sign on.

Once in, you’ll see a new ‘law reports’ search form.  You can also find this through the ‘Law Reports’ link next to the search box at the top of the screen.

Searching on i-law

Searching on i-law

Above it, you’ll find a link to the ‘Advanced’ search form, which allows you to, for example, search across the LLR and the LMCLQ at the same time.  (So not actually a link to ‘Advanced Law Reports’ – sorry!)

Finding our titles in i-law

Finding our titles in i-law

 

To see which titles we subscribe to, click on the ‘My Tools’ link at the top of the page, then choose ‘Subscription Library’. Handily, if you use one of the Publications options from the left menu it will split the titles by those to which we have a subscription and those to which we don’t, so you shouldn’t end up browsing for something you can’t read.

 

ICLR

The biggest changes here are the dashboard home screen and the results list.  The dashboard includes a nice compact search form, and all the recent case law updates you might want.

ICLR home dashboard

ICLR home dashboard

ICLR results list

ICLR results list

 

The results screen consolidates case reports, and presents Citator+ and case report links in the same list.  You might as well choose a case report link, the citator information is all available there too!

All pretty good, and you should have no trouble figuring it out if you’ve used the previous interface.

 

 

Jordans Family Law Online (and Elder Law Journal)

There are two options to find what you’re looking for in Jordans: browse and search.  Browsing is still the obvious option – click on the title you’re interested in from the left menu, and just keep drilling down until you get where you’re going!  Most titles to which we don’t have a subscription are greyed out, so it should be fairly obvious.  (One or two unfortunately appear available when they aren’t – notably International Children Law Focus and Books Online – but it should become obvious pretty quickly where this is the case.)

Search in Jordans

Search in Jordans

Your alternative is the two new search options in the upper right corner, which are both fairly self-explanatory.  The search covers all the Family Law Online material, but as with the browse options, titles we don’t have are greyed out.  Navigating the results list does therefore require a bit of attention, but it should otherwise be pretty straightforward!

 

Jordans save optionsOnce you’ve found your document, you’ll notice the download/print options have moved.  Click on the cog on the far right below the search links to find them again.  The cog above the left menu is less helpful, if you click on that one by mistake.  It offers the option of viewing the left menu as either a Table of Contents (default view) OR as an Index.  The Index looks promising, but it isn’t there yet – the terms are not consolidated and most of them appear to link to content we don’t have, without the handy ‘greyed out’ warning sign.  Best to leave that option as it is on Table of Contents for now!

Flowers for Mothers’ Day

By Katie Carter

With Mothering Sunday this weekend, I thought it would be nice to take a quick walk through some of the traditional gifts for the day. Sadly I couldn’t find any legal references to Simnel Cake, though I’d had hopes for IP-related possibilities . Still, as Sping is allegedly here, we’ll take a look instead at wild flowers, a traditional gift for mothers on this day.

So, what would the position be if you were out walking and decided to pick a bunch of flowers as a present? A quick look at the ‘Wild Plants’ section of the Open Spaces and Countryside volume of Halsbury’s Laws (Volume 78, 5th ed., also available on LexisLibrary) points us in the right direction: the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. According to Section 13, Protection of Wild Plants:

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person—
(a) intentionally picks, uproots or destroys any wild plant included in Schedule 8; or
(b) not being an authorised person, intentionally uproots any wild plant not included in that Schedule,
he shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person—
(a) sells, offers or exposes for sale, or has in his possession or transports for the purpose of sale, any live or dead wild plant included in Schedule 8, or any part of, or anything derived from, such a plant; or
(b) publishes or causes to be published any advertisement likely to be understood as conveying that he buys or sells, or intends to buy or sell, any of those things,
he shall be guilty of an offence.
(3) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), a person shall not be guilty of an offence by reason of any act made unlawful by that subsection if he shows that the act was an incidental result of a lawful operation and could not reasonably have been avoided.
(4) In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (2)(a), the plant in question shall be presumed to have been a wild plant unless the contrary is shown.

If you take a quick look at the section on legislation.gov.uk (or your preferred subscription database showing amended legislation) you will notice that there are two different versions of the legislation available, applying to different geographic extents. The situation has arisen with devolution as the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament amend, repeal or keep legislation originally passed as UK legislation in Westminster.

Geographic extent of legislation

Geographic extent of legislation

In this instance, the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 has added some amendments to the section. Different databases indicate this differently. Both legislation.gov.uk and Westlaw have multiple texts showing the different versions; in Westlaw you can also switch to a ‘previous’ version before the texts diverged. Lexis marks up a single version of the text, which in this case makes it clear that the Scottish amendments have simply added some words to the continuing England & Wales version – but it’s fair to say this display method can get very confusing for a more complex set of amendments, and you’ll need to read the notes at the end of the section for clarity! And after that short detour, entirely suitable for a walk…

…back to our wild flowers. Having looked at Section 13, you’ll see that not all wild flowers are included in the ban on picking, only those in Schedule 8. If you’re not clear on the difference between picking and uprooting it might be worth checking section 27 (the section also clarifies

angry_flowers_by_CARPE_DIEM_ABAETERNO

angry flowers by CARPE-DIEM-ABAETERNO (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license)

that a ‘wild plant’ is one which is growing wild, rather than one which has lost its temper). So, on to Schedule 8, which gives the scientific names of the protected species. The modern system of scientific naming which allows this confident identification began in the seventeenth century, and you can see a Bodleian library’s introduction to the history of the scheme here. Just to help most of us out, the common name of the flowers is also given in the Schedule, but as the note makes clear “The common name or names given in the first column of this Schedule are included by way of guidance only; in the event of any dispute or proceedings, the common name or names shall not be taken into account.” Although if, like me, you’re still not sure you would recognise Whorled Solomon’s-Seal, Martin’s Ramping Fumitory or any of the other plants listed here a quick look on SOLO will find you several reference guides in the Radcliffe Science Library, Sherardian Library and Bodleian Stacks which can be consulted. The good news is that since these are rare and protected plants, most wild flowers you come across should be fine to pick (though not uproot – 13 1(b)). Do be careful on your walk though; case law suggests that if you should fall over a cliff because you get too near the edge while picking your flowers your insurance provider won’t have to pay out (Walker v Railway Passengers Assurance Co (1910) 129 LT Jo 64, CA.)!

Book: The magnificent Flora Graeca

Bod Publishing: Flora Graeca

And finally, something of a stretch, but too good to leave out – if looking at all those reference books to identify your flowers has given you a taste for botanic illustrations, you might enjoy ‘flicking through’ Oxford’s copy of the gorgeous Flora Graeca . Sadly, this volume of Greek flowers won’t help you on your walk through the British countryside, but the Bodleian shop does sell a much-illustrated story of the Flora Graeca – perhaps an alternative gift for Mother’s Day?

Salam, nowruz mubarak!

<<!سلام ,نوروز مبارک>>

By Ben Politowski

Today, 20th March, is the Hormoz (the first day of a Persian month) of Farvardin, and marks the first day of the Iranian new year or ‘nowruz’. Said to have been founded by the prophet Zoroaster himself, this celebration of the ‘new day’ is one of the holiest days in the Zoroastrian calendar, and is still celebrated worldwide today.

This year the LawBod Blog seeks to mark Nowruz in its own particular way – by examining some of our resources available on the legal jurisdiction of Iran (and using this as a handy excuse to remind you that we collect material for a wide range of subjects!).Iranian law books on shelf.

Nestled amongst our ‘rest of the world’ collection on Floor 1 of the law library, you could be forgiven for overlooking the fairly small number of books which deal specifically with Iranian law as this is not an area which has received a lot of serious academic attention in the legal sphere. Whilst simple guides to the Iranian legal system, the constitutional structure of the executive, and the varying role of the judiciary can be found online, the researching scholar could do far worse than to consult two detailed books by Mohammadi: Judicial Reform and Reorganization in 20th Century Iran (2008) [Iran 510 M697a] and Constitutional Law in Iran (2012) [Iran 510 M697b].

Searching for primary sources on the law of Iran, it helps to have some background knowledge to the country’s constitutional history. The Constitutional Revolution of 1906-7 paved the way for the creation of a new Iranian constitution and formation of the Majlis (parliament). With the rise of the Pahlavi kings, Iran became a constitutional monarchy de jure, but with a powerful head of state who controlled the executive. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 led to the writing of a new constitution; one which would transform the judiciary, government and executive with the hope of creating a new culturally, economically and politically independent Iran.

The Bodleian Libraries do hold copies of this constitution – both in farsi and english – but sadly none are held within the law library. Translated versions are also available online, for example from the Iran Chamber Society.

The attempt since the revolution of 1979 to amalgamate shari’a law – a law which is predominantly a jurist’s law rather than a judge’s law – has led to the creation of law codes. Both a Civil Code (translated edition available within the law library) and a Penal Code (available online from here, or here) form the legislative basis for many judicial proceedings in Iran.

This blog post ends with a word of warning: Iran has undergone a lot of political change in the past fifty years, and much of what is written – especially on the internet – cannot be considered without betraying a form of political bias. For the legal scholar researching on Iran, a familiarity with the political history is still a necessity.

Some other resources:

Nowruz entry in Encyclopaedia Iranica

Islamic Republic’s Penal Code from 1982 (revised in 1989)

Iran Heritage Foundation

Haleem, M., A. Sherif & K. Daniels (eds), Criminal Justice in Islam: Judicial Procedure in the Shari’a, (London, 2003)

Jany, J., Judging in the Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian Legal Traditions, (Farnham, 2012)

Mallat, C., Introduction to Middle Eastern Law, (Oxford, 2007)

Peters, R., Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law, (Cambridge, 2005)

Happy vacation! and how to take the Law Bod on holiday with you

coloured eggs

Enjoy…
Image via Pixabay

By Katie Carter

Happy holidays! If you’ve left Oxford for the vacation, you can still access many of our resources, including databases, e-journals, e-books and past exam papers through SOLO and/or Oxlip+.  If you get stuck during the day you can ask SOLO Live Help for, well, help.  Otherwise, email us at any time on law.library@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (though if you email at 3am we may not get back to you for several hours…).


Databases

All our databases – Westlaw, LexisLibrary, HeinOnline, Justcite, [your favourite database here] – are accessible wherever you have an internet connection.  To access them, log in to Oxlip+ or SOLO, and search for the database of your choice.  A few databases do have slightly different requirements; if you’re not sure what they are take a look at our Legal databases page.

Login to SOLO

Login to SOLO

Login to OxLIP+

Login to OxLIP+

e-Journals
A number of databases have really good journal collections, including HeinOnline, Westlaw and LexisLibrary.  It’s easier to search in OU e-journals for your articles than try to remember which journal is where though!  Just remember to search for the journal title, rather than the article title.  If your preferred search method is Google, you may find that there are some things you can’t access outside Oxford which you could while you were here.  To fix this in your settings, check our handy guide to Google Scholar, here.  And finally, don’t forget LawBod4Students, for articles not online anywhere else.

e-books on SOLO

e-books on SOLO

e-books
“Articles are all very well but I need more!”  And handily, we have a growing collection of books online for you. Sadly, not all of these are visible on SOLO, and you really need to know that Benjamin’s Sale of Goods, Chitty on Contract, Dicey & Morris Conflict of Laws, Goff & Jones Unjust Enrichment, the White Book and many more are on Westlaw under the Books tab.  You’ll also find some titles in HeinOnline and LexisLibrary, but anywhere you see ‘Find Online’ in SOLO you should be able to access the e-book.  As above, you’ll need to log in to SOLO with your Single Sign On details if you’re not in Oxford.

Exam papers
Okay, so exam papers are actually a bit of an exception, since you’ll find these through Weblearn at https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/portal/hierarchy/oxam, but you’ll still need your SSO.

Anything else?
Lots!  Take a look at our libguides to find details of more specific resources.
Finally, if you are in Oxford over the vacation, we’re still here!  Vacation opening hours start from Monday 17th March: Mon-Fri 9.00-19.00, Sat 10.00-16.00, Sun closed.  See you soon!

The changing world of copyright

By Katie Carter

It became apparent some years ago that in the brave new world of digital media, existing intellectual property rules weren’t quite keeping up.  A plethora of new case law, legislation and regulation (both UK and EU) continues to emerge to address this situation, but how on earth are you supposed to know what’s going on?

In the UK, the Hargreaves Review published in 2011 included a number of recommendations on What Should Be Done, most of which the UK government accepted.  A handy page of the Intellectual Property Office website provides a timeline of actions taken in response to the Hargreaves Review, and provides an excellent starting point for your awareness of ‘what’s going on’.  The IPO also provides news, which you can follow for further updates on official developments, but I have to admit it’s not my preferred reading.  There are a number of excellent blogs covering wide-ranging IP issues – you’ll find some of them listed by the IPO itself at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/news-net.htm.  A couple of personal favourites, frequently updated, with alerts, wide-ranging comment, and numerous links to supporting documents are The IPKat blog and The 1709 Copyright Blog.  For those wanting to follow the legal journals, subscription services such as Lawtel can provide a subject-based alerting service, emailing you on a daily or weekly basis with a list of new IP articles published, as well as new cases and legislation if you wish.  Oxford students and academics wanting to make use of this option should contact the Legal Research Librarian (katie.carter@bodleian.ox.ac.uk) for a username and password.

Returning to our Hargreaves review timeline, a quick glance reveals the range of material with which we might want to keep up.  First on the list is Bills, specifically the Intellectual Property Bill currently making its way through Parliament.  The best way to follow the progress of a bill is in fact through the Parliament website, where each Bill before either house has its own page.  You can find the IP Bill at http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2013-14/intellectualproperty.html with links to related documents such as explanatory notes and research papers, clear indication of which stage the bill has reached, and an option on the right to set up an alert for its progress.

IP Bill alerts

Alerts available from the Parliament website

But what about once the Bill has received Royal Assent?  Our observant law students will know that Royal Assent is not necessarily the same as commencement, but how can you check whether the legislation sections in which you are interested have come into force?

Is it in force feature from Westlaw

Is it in Force? (Westlaw)

Lexis and Westlaw can both provide a handy visual check for this in their Status Snapshot and Arrangement of Act respectively.  If we take a quick look at the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, for example, we can see that most sections relating to copyright are in force, except s.74 which has a little way to go.  A subject-based alert including legislation from a service such as Lawtel, LexisLibrary or Westlaw should also alert you to changes in the status of the law.  These services should alert you not only to new Acts, but also to new Statutory Instruments.  A quick glance at the Hargreaves Review timeline from the IPO should tell you how important SIs are to the changing landscape of IP law!

A closer look will show that the government is also consulting on numerous changes.  You can see government consultations through the gov.uk portal, but bear in mind that consultations are hosted by individual departments, so you may find them more accessible via the department.  In this instance we might want to look at the consultations page on the IPO website – the closing date for consultation on Copyright works: seeking the lost, about the licensing of orphan works, is today (details at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/pro-policy/consult/consult-live/consult-2014-lost.htm).

And then are we up-to-date with it all?  Well, not quite…  the EU has also been active in this area, and on the subject of orphan works, the UK government is implementing EU Directive 2012/28 ‘on certain permitted uses of orphan works’.  Last week the Council of Europe formally adopted a new directive ‘on collective management of copyright related rights and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online users in the internal market’, which will have to be incorporated into domestic law within the next two years.  Cases and consultations feature here too, with a decision in Case C-466/12 Svensson two weeks ago which clarified the law on hyperlinks (essentially, linking to a work already publicly available online is not an infringement of copyright as there is no ‘new public’… *author looks at the number of links in this post and gives a sigh of relief*).  And for those interested in changes to EU copyright rules, the public consultation on the review of EU copyright rules has been extended to 5th March (it was due to close on 5th February), with details available at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2013/copyright-rules/index_en.htm.  If all this EU legal information leaves you a little confused,  the Law Bod offers a ‘Book a Librarian’ service.

And finally: for general notes on keeping up and current awareness don’t forget you can find information and ‘how to’ notes in our Research Skills libguide under ‘Keeping up to date’.