Piracy Trials

Talk Like a Pirate Day has come and gone, but accounts of historic trials of pirates still exist. And now they are easily accessible, because the Library of Congress has digitized its collection of piracy trials from before 1923.  (Why 1923? That's the cutoff for material being out of copyright and therefore fair game for digitization.)

Pirates! Arrr!

Ahoy, me mateys! Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so pepper you speech with plenty of nautical terms, as well as the all-purpose "Arrr!" Of course, piracy is serious stuff. The organizers of Talk Like a Pirate Day point out:

Let's get this straight. Real pirates were and are bad people and are in no way worthy of emulating.

We, on the other hand, are thinking of movie pirates, the pirates of books, myth and legend. Think Long John Silver in "Treasure Island." Pretend pirates.

But Talk Like a Pretend Pirate Like Long John Silver was just too long to catch on.

So when we urge you to TALK like a pirate, we don't mean you should ACT like a pirate. The Pirate Guys are solidly against pillaging, plundering and slaughtering like pirates.

The "classic" era of pirates in the Caribbean—Blackbeard, Henry Morgan (now remembered as a dashing man who advertises rum), et al.—lasted from the mid-1500s to about 1720. In recent years, the piratical action has been near the Horn of Africa and Southeast Asia. See this map (from the inside cover of D. R. Burgess, The World for Ransom: Piracy Is Terrorism, Terrorism Is Piracy (2010), G535 .B86 2010 at Classified Stacks). 

Significant Incidents of Piracy & Maritime Terrorism, 1961-2010

Our library has resources for studying either era:

• Classic era:
• The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, by Peter T. Leeson, G535 .L44 2009 at Classified Stacks. Fascinating law and economics! Check out the publisher's webpage for the book: there's a funny video trailer. 
• The Prize game: Lawful Looting on the High Seas in the Days of Fighting Sail, by Donald A. Petrie, KZ6610 .P48 1999 at Classified Stacks (this is privateering, not piracy)
• Contemporary:
• The Enemy of All: Piracy and the Law of Nations, by Daniel Heller-Roazen. HV6431 .H418 2009 at Classified Stacks; Publisher's page 
• Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea, by Robin Geiss KZ7212 .G45 2011 at Classified Stacks; publisher's page 
• Piracy in a Legal Context: Prosecution of Pirates Operating off the Somali Coast, by Annemarie Middelburg, KZ7212 .M53 2011 at Classified Stacks publisher's page 
• Terror on the High Seas: From Piracy to Strategic Challenge, by Yonah Alexander & Tyler B. Richardson, K5277 .T47 2009 v. 1 and v. 2 at Classified Stacks, publisher's page 

What's that? You're not really in the mood for serious stuff and you'd like to enjoy some unrealistic pirates from Hollywood? See Eric Mills, Collector's Guide to Pirate Movie DVDs, Naval History Magazine, April 2009. Includes two movie trailers. (Also two links to YouTube videos that have been removed. So it goes.)

All for now, mateys!

Graphics credits: map from book cited; book jackets from publishers' websites; pirate ducky from collection of C. Nyberg, scanned on one of the new scanners in the copy alcoves. (Have you tried the scanners? They're even better with books than with duckies!)

Congress.gov

The Library of Congress unveiled the initial beta release of Congress.gov, the successor to the very popular federal legislative site THOMAS.gov.

According to About Congress.gov:

The Congress.gov beta site contains legislation from the 107th Congress (2001) to the present, member of Congress profiles from the 93rd Congress (1973) to the present, and selected member profiles from the 80th through the 92nd Congresses (1947 to 1972). Over the next two years, Congress.gov will be adding information and features, eventually incorporating all of the information currently available on THOMAS.gov.

What's New in Congress.gov?

Improved Searching

•Ability to simultaneously search all content across all available years

•Ability to narrow and refine search results

•Easier identification of bill progress/status

•Links to House and Senate floor video, top searched bills and save/share features

User-Friendly Design

•Updated, easy-to-understand page designs for bills, members, and related items

•Clean search results display

•Responsive design for mobile devices

•Consistent, meaningful and permanent URLs

Legislation

Each piece of legislation has a landing page with tabs to help users find key information for the bill including Summary and Text, Major Actions, Titles, Amendments, Cosponsors, Committees and Related Bills.

What Is the Timeline for New Releases to Congress.gov?

Phase 1

This initial launch of the beta site includes bill status and summary data, as well as bill text 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).

Phase 2

Following the initial beta phase, subsequent releases will make additional data available, including the Congressional Record, Congressional reports, the Congressional Record Index, House and Senate Calendars, nominations and treaties.

Law Firm Blogs as a Current Awareness Tool

A useful, but often overlooked, source for legal research is blogs by law firms, such as Legal Health Information Exchange published by attorneys at Oscislawski LLC, which discusses legal issues relating to electronic health information exchanges.

Many law firms specialized in discrete areas of law and, while their blogs may be designed to serve as marketing tools for their expertise, they are also excellent as a current awareness tool.

To identify a relevant blog, you can always begin by checking the website of a law firm known for a particular area of law in which you are interested.

Another way to monitor blogs on a variety of subjects is to subscribe to another blog, such as Inter-Alia . Maintained by legal technology guru, Tom Mighell, every weekday you'll receive a “blawg of the day” that highlights a useful legal blog that you might want to monitor.

Slideshow for LL.M. & Ph.D. Orientation

Follow along with Trinie and Sherry's library orientation for new LL.M. and Ph.D. students.

Constitution Day 2012

225 years ago, on September 17, 1787, the final draft of the U.S. Constitution was signed by 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention. For an informative snapshot, see the Library of Congress American Memory’s Today in History: September 17.

See also the University of Washington’s Constitution Day 2012 site for more campus events and resources.

But don’t stop with a click or two! Mark your calendars for the annual UW Reads the Constitution. In honor of today’s anniversary – but recognizing that fall quarter is not quite underway – the entire, unabridged Constitution will be read aloud on Thursday, October 4 from noon to 1:15 pm in Suzzallo Library, just outside the 3rd floor reading room.

100 readers are needed, so please sign up! You can find information for readers and see photos of past readings here.

It’s a great experience. I have read every year since the first event in 2006 and each time, my ears (and brain) catch something new. My husband is a high school teacher and he tells his students that the Declaration of Independence is the world’s most famous break up letter and the Constitution is our country’s owner’s manual. I get what he means, but do think it’s a bit funny since I don’t read our car’s owners’ manual out loud and think “this is amazing!” and “how did they know!” But I often think both those things when I hear the United States of America’s owner’s manual. And I am always, always impressed with the combination of excitement and reverence which UW students, faculty, and staff bring to this reading.

Library Resources and Tour for FLS

For today's Library-related sessions in Foundations for Legal Study, students can follow along on their own laptops.

Library Resources, PowerPoint 2010 or PDF

Library Tour, PowerPoint 2010 or PDF

Also visit the 1L Wonderland for links to essential information on the UW Law and Law Library websites.

Northwest Detention Center

What happens when immigrants are held pending deportation proceedings? See Center of Detention, a major series in the News Tribune about the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.

The series focuses on one man, Oscar Campos Estrada, and his family. "As a Mexican, a male and a minor offender, he represents the typical detainee who passes through the facility's reinforced doors." The website includes copies of legal documents and video interview with Estrada.  (By the way, Estrada's attorney, Amy Kratz, is a UW Law graduate.)

The series also has coverage of big-picture issues about the siting and management of the facility.  And a sidebar on the series page links to stories about five other immigrants.

Review the 2011-2012 Supreme Court Term

What cases did the Supreme Court decide last year? You could sit down and read them all (they're on the Supreme Court's website here). But for a quicker overview, check out Supreme Court: The Term in Review, a 90 minute video from the Federal Judicial Center.




SCOTUSblog is a great tool for keeping up with what's going on at the Court—petitions for cert, arguments, and trends, as well as decided cases.

How to Print to Gates Hall Printers

You can print from library computers or from your own laptop. 

To print from a library computer:

1. Click on the printer icon (or click File > Print).
2. Fill in your name (e.g., "Beyonce" or "Justin Bieber").
3. Name the print job (e.g., "memo 1" or "Hadley v Baxendale").
4. Go to one of the Gates Hall printers.
5. Swipe your Husky card or a Dawg Prints card.
6. Choose your print job.
7. Print.
8. Your card will be charged 12 cents a page.

To print from your own laptop, you follow the same steps, but you first have to have the printer software installed. To get the software,

1. Go to this list of Dawg Prints locations.
2. Scroll down to GATES LAW SCHOOL.
3. Choose the software for your computer (Mac, Windows, etc.).
   (Even though each printer is listed separately, you only have to download the software once.)
4. Install.

Where are the Gates Hall printers? 

• There are two printers in the law library, one in each copy alcove on L1. 

Map of Floor L1 showing copy alcoves

• Law students may also use the printer in the law student computer lab (room 222). A law school Husky card is needed to enter that room.

Library Hours Change

The Law Library and the Reference Office will be closed from 11am - 2pm this Friday, Sept. 14.

Otherwise the Library will be on its regular interim schedule: open at 8am and closed at 5pm.

Keeping up with Washington Law Blogs

Dozens of Washington lawyers write blogs, covering topics as diverse as veterans' law (Lawyers for Warriors), construction law (e.g., Groundbreaking Law), and women's rights (Speaking of Women's Rights). There's even a blog about beer law (Brewery Law Blog).

To sample these blogs, take a look at our newly updated guide, Law Related Blogs in Washington State.

Paid Sick and Safe Time

Starting Saturday, Sept. 1, Seattle employees will beging earning paid sick and safe time, when the Paid Sick and Safe Time ordinance takes effect. The Seattle Office for Civil Rights provides a summary of the ordinance. The ordinance (#123698, signed by the mayor Sept. 23, 2011) is here.

For more, see the website and blog of the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce.

Globalization of America's Pastime

Baseball is not just a game: it's big business. And like much business, these days, it operates globally. One way is in its search for talent.

Twenty percent of professional baseball players come from the Dominican Republic, a country that ranks 132 in area and 85th in population. How could such a small country produce so many expert ballplayers? It's because thousands of boys train full time in baseball facilities for a chance to sign a major league contract. Critics of the system are concerned about the targeting and possible exploitation of poor children. For an excellent overview of the issues, as well as a few reforms in the last couple of years, see Arturo J. Marcano & David P. Fidler, Ballplayer: Pelotero—Major League Baseball, Human Rights, and the Globalization of Baseball, ASIL Insights, Aug. 22, 2012.

The authors discuss a documentary, Ballplayer: Pelotero, that was released last month. The film follows two sixteen-year-old ballplayers trying to sign on with teams in 2009. The film's website has a trailer. The film is available on iTunes and Amazon; a DVD will be released in September.

Several years ago, the authors wrote a book on this topic: Stealing Lives: The Globalization of Baseball and the Tragic Story of Alexis Quiroz (2002), publisher's page. It's available through Summit; here's the catalog record.

The Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies devoted an issue to Baseball in the Global Era: Economic, Legal, and Cultural Perspectives (volume 8, number 1, Fall 2000). It's available on HeinOnline (UW restricted). You can start with David P. Fidler's Introduction.

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Graphic adapted from Western hemisphere map from U.S. Dep't of State.
Source for rank by area and population: CIA World Factbook.

Bluebook Technologies

The Bluebook is the standard citation guide for legal materials. (See our guide, Bluebook 101. It links to PowerPoint presentations that cover the basics.)

There are now three format choices for the Bluebook: paper, online subscription (since 2008), and—as of August 10—iPad app.

This post talks about the features and pricing of each.

Interim Library Hours Beginning Aug. 25

With School of Law summer classes ending today, the Law Library begins operating on its interim schedule tomorrow, August. 25.

The Law Library will be closed Saturday - Monday, Aug. 25 - 27 and Friday - Monday, Aug. 31 - Sept. 3.

The Law Library will be open from 8am - 5pm, Tuesday - Thursday, Aug. 28-30 and Tuesday - Friday, Sept. 4 - 7.

During the interim period, the Library is generally open Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm and closed on Saturday and Sunday. The Reference Office is open from 9am - 12pm and from 1 - 5pm, Monday - Friday.

Interim hours will continue until the first day of autumn quarter classes, Monday, Sept. 24.

Court Puts the Brakes on Armstrong Lawsuit

For cycling fans following Lance Armstrong’s legal challenges in connection with doping allegations, in a 30 page opinion [Armstrong v. United States Anti-Doping Agency, No. 12-0606 (W.D. Tex. Aug. 20, 2012), posted by the Wall Street Journal at the article link below] U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks granted the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) motion to dismiss Armstrong’s federal lawsuit. 

Part I of the opinion is helpful for researchers wanting to learn more about the various international and U.S. entities tasked with regulating sport, such as the Olympic Movement (the International Olympic Committee), Union Cycliste Internationale/InternationalCycling Union (UCI), the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), and USA Cycling. 

Also mentioned in the opinion is the World Anti-Doping Program (WADA), whose web site includes comprehensive information on international anti-doping standards, a Digital Library with links to free educational information, and a Legal Library with links to articles on the World Anti-Doping Code, advisory and legal opinions, case law, and national legislation.

Armstrong’s legal counsel and the USADA have posted official statements.

For news coverage, see Reed Albergotti, Armstrong Lawsuit Dismissed, Wall St. J. (Aug. 20, 2012, 6:10 PM) (with a link to the full text of the opinion), and Juliet Macur, Armstrong’s Suit Against Anti-Doping Agency is Dismissed, N.Y. Times (Aug. 20, 2012).

Competitive Intelligence Resource Guide

An updated guide to Competitive Intelligence research is now available on LLRX.com, the Law Library Resource XChange. 

Compiled and published by LLRX.com founder and editor Sabrina I. Pacifici, the guide includes a selected list of useful web sites where researchers can locate news sources and news transcripts, blogs, data sources, country profiles, directories, and other information.

Web site descriptions and search tips are provided.

The Law and the Links

For golf enthusiasts everywhere, this past weekend proved to be a very exciting Masters tournament, from Bo Van Pelt and Adam Scott's holes-in-one, to Tiger's club-kicking frustration to the final sudden-death match up between Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen --after the latter had already delivered with an incredible double eagle (or albatross, if you prefer).

Of course, the law is everywhere, and golf is no exception. Just as we have the Little White Book of Baseball Law, so we also have the The Little Green Book of Golf Law. Check it out in the Good Reads section.


The Supreme Court itself has weighed in on golf, in the 2001 case of PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin (532 U.S. 661). The case concerned the Americans with Disabilities Act, and whether a professional golf player, Casey Martin, could ride a golf cart because his disability precluded him from walking. One of the more memorable quotes from Justice Scalia's dissent:

"If one assumes, however, that the PGA TOUR has some legal obligation to play classic, Platonic golf–and if one assumes the correctness of all the other wrong turns the Court has made to get to this point–then we Justices must confront what is indeed an awesome responsibility. It has been rendered the solemn duty of the Supreme Court of the United States, laid upon it by Congress in pursuance of the Federal Government’s power “[t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States,” U.S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 3, to decide What Is Golf. I am sure that the Framers of the Constitution, aware of the 1457 edict of King James II of Scotland prohibiting golf because it interfered with the practice of archery, fully expected that sooner or later the paths of golf and government, the law and the links, would once again cross, and that the judges of this august Court would some day have to wrestle with that age-old jurisprudential question, for which their years of study in the law have so well prepared them: Is someone riding around a golf course from shot to shot really a golfer? The answer, we learn, is yes. The Court ultimately concludes, and it will henceforth be the Law of the Land, that walking is not a “fundamental” aspect of golf."

And finally, one issue that has been in the news recently has been Augusta's lack of female membership. Both President Obama and Mitt Romney have stated that they are against the club's policy. Check out the Tarnished Twenty for a brief discussion of the legal issues.

[Image from www.augusta.com, with minor tweaking by a Gallagher Library Intern] Update (Aug. 21, 2012): Augusta National Adds First Two Female Members, N.Y. Times, Aug. 20, 2012.

Proposed Federal Court Rules Available for Comment

The Judicial Conference Advisory Committees on Appellate, Bankruptcy, Criminal, and Evidence Rules is accepting comments on proposed rules changes.

The Proposed Amendments Published for Public Comment contains a preliminary draft of all of the proposed changes.

Interested parties may submit comments via email to rules_comments@ao.uscourts.gov. Comments become part of the official record and may be viewed by others at this same website. The public comment period ends on Feb. 15, 2013.

Proposed changes affect certain rules dealing with appellate, bankruptcy, civil, criminal, and evidence procedures.

New Faculty Publication: Toshiko Takenaka on the German Employee Invention Act

Toshiko Takenaka, Serious Flaw of Employee Invention Ownership under the Bayh-Dole Act in Stanford v. Roche: Finding the Missing Piece of the Puzzle in the German Employee Invention Act, 20 Tex. Intell. Prop. L.J. 281-326 (2012).

In Stanford v. Roche, the Supreme Court highlighted a serious flaw of employee invention ownership under the Bayh-Dole Act (BDA). This article argues that the current BDA is incomplete without a mechanism for contractors to secure the ownership of all federally funded inventions and proposes a revision to introduce such a mechanism. Universities' failure to execute an express assignment will subject federally funded inventions to the common law ownership rules, which would not give the ownership to universities. Even with a written assignment, the different state laws and state legislation prevent contractors from securing the ownership of all federally funded inventions, thereby preventing the federal government from implementing a uniform policy. Therefore, this article proposes to adopt a mechanism for contractors to secure the ownership of federally funded inventions from the German Employee Invention Act (EIA). Because the EIA influenced the drafting of the BDA, the EIA and BDA share key features, which make it easy for the BDA to adopt an ownership transfer mechanism from the EIA. It also proposes to adopt a mechanism to protect inventors‟ rights for compensation from the EIA so that contractors can secure the ownership of federally funded inventions not only from their employees but also non-employees with just compensation through royalty sharing without a violation of the Fifth Amendment. --Abstract from the SSRN posting

Law Man: Memoir of a Jailhouse Lawyer Now Law Student

Law Man is second-year law student Shon Hopwood's memoir of his unusual path to law school, written with Dennis Burke.

Unlike the students who come to law school after 17 years of playing by the rules, kindergarten through college, Shon Hopwood made some significant mistakes. He dropped out of college after less than a year, drank so much while he was in the Navy that he landed in the hospital, had some low-level jobs, and had to get his father to help him with his debts.

And then he made some really big mistakes: he robbed five banks.

In federal prison, Hopwood was assigned to work in the kitchen but was lucky to be reassigned to the prison law library, where he started reading and studying law. Over time, his diligence paid off. He became the go-to guy for inmates who wanted help with a motion or an appeal.

And he was remarkably successful. The great majority of petitions for certiorari are denied, but Hopwood's first cert petition, on behalf of a fellow inmate, was granted. Seth Waxman, the prominent Supreme Court advocate appointed to represent the inmate, kept Hopwood involved with the case. Hopwood's fellow inmate eventually had his sentence shortened. Through his relationship with Waxman and another lawyer, Hopwood got encouragement and more opportunities to learn.

During Hopwood's ten years in prison, he not only took college correspondence courses and taught himself law: he also grew emotionally by forming a strong relationship with a young woman he had known in high school—a woman who is now his wife.

After he was released and was working, Hopwood was profiled in the New York Times: Adam Liptak, A Mediocre Criminal, But an Unmatched Jailhouse Lawyer, Feb. 8, 2010. And last fall, he began studying law the more typical way: in a classroom.

Law Man: My Story of Robbing Banks, Winning Supreme Court Cases, and Finding Redemption, catalog record. (The Law Library's copy hasn't arrived yet; we'll update this post when it gets here.) Publisher's page. Shon and Ann Marie Hopwood's website.

New Faculty Publication: Dongsheng Zong on China's "Attitude toward Human Rights

Dongsheng Zang, China's "Attitude" Toward Human Rights: Reading Hungdah Chiu in the Era of the Iraq War, 27 Md. J. Int'l L 263-303 (2012).

This article aims to challenge the way these questions [of China's rising economic power and its human rights records] are framed. By examining human rights as an example in the area of international law, this article argues that while China continues to be defensive on human rights, either by overstretching the notion of sovereignty, or by limiting human rights to a developmentalist point of view, a major shift emerged in its basic legal and political strategy in its relations with the United States on human rights after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It shifted from a defensive discourse to an offensive discourse by embracing the legal norms and standards established by existing international law and demanded that the United States comply with them. The popular view about China in the United States still insists on an old-fashioned conceptual framework. It creates new fears and yet offers little new insights. The so-called "realism"—characteristic of the Bush Administration‘s political philosophy within neocon policy circles—is simply out of touch with reality. [Id. at 265.]

Library and Building Early Closure, Wednesday, August 8

The Law Library will close at 4pm on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday; August 9, 10, and 12, 2012. Gates Hall will close at 5pm and everyone must leave the building at that time.

Purple Heart Recipient Recognition Day

The legislature has declared August 7 to be purple heart recipient recognition day (RCW 1.16.050).

General George Washington began honoring soldiers with a Badge of Military Merit on Aug. 7, 1782. The badge was "the figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk edged with narrow lace or binding." After the Revolutionary War, the Badge was no longer used. In 1932, in honor of the bicentennial of Washington's birth, the Purple Heart was created.

 At first, the Purple Heart was for meritorious service, which might include being wounded. Now it "is awarded in the name of the President of the United States to any member of the Armed Forces of the United States who, while serving under competent authority in any capacity with one of the U.S. Armed Services after April 5, 1917 has been wounded, killed, or has died after being wounded."

Source: National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, History page. See also Military Order of the Purple Heart, History of the Medal (longer article).

To research veterans' benefits law, see our guide.

To track some of the policy issues related to veterans, see the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs (the chairman is Senator Patty Murray, from Washington State). You can find information about proposed legislation (e.g., S. 3340, the Mental Health Access Act of 2012, introduced in June) and get information about hearings and more.

A few more links:

• United States Department of Veterans Affairs
• Irag and Afghanistan Veterans of America
• Disabled American Veterans
• Veterans of Foreign Wars
• Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)

Looking for something to do on a Friday or Saturday downtown? Stop by the Seattle Veterans Museum (near Benaroya Hall).

Graphic: Purple Heart stamp from USPS.com.