Blawg Review

It's not just a blog carnival; it's the law! ~ a fool in the forest



The Carnival of Law Bloggers


Blawg Review is the blog carnival for everyone interested in law. A peer-reviewed blog carnival, the host of each Blawg Review decides which of the submissions and recommended posts are suitable for inclusion in the presentation. And the host is encouraged to source another dozen or so interesting posts to fit with any special theme of that issue of Blawg Review. The host's personal selections usually include several that reflect the character and subject interests of the host blawg, recognizing that the regular readership of the blog should find some of the usual content, and new readers of the blog via Blawg Review ought to get some sense of the unique perspective and subject specialties of the host. Thanks to all the law bloggers who collaborate to make Blawg Review one of the very best blog carnivals of any genre.

Colin Samuels, Blawg Review Sherpa Emeritus, describes it best. "Where once we were isolated legal students, practitioners, and academics who could share our thoughts only with those in proximity, blogging and social media have turned us all into a kind of "other memory" for one another. The knowledge, experience, and insight we are able to access here, within our ever-expanding networks of colleagues and friends, colleagues-of-colleagues, friends-of-friends, is nothing short of amazing. By participating, we are able to give and receive and grow beyond ourselves while allowing others to grow as well. Thanks to our tools, these memories need not fade or become inaccessible, but we should always keep in mind that tools do not create — we do."

Where's Blawg Review?


The sun hasn't set on Blawg Review, but we've been traveling these past few weeks, and not just to law conferences. If you're wondering, by the way, where's Ed?


Blawg Review will be back soon; the peripatetic editor, maybe not.

posted by the Editor on 9/05/2011  

LawLawpalooza!!!



Fitz and the Tantrums might be the name of a law blog, but no; it's the name of a hot new band that performed its brand of soul-influenced indie pop this weekend in Chicago at Lollapalooza 2011.

Sarah Randag of the ABA Journal was all over it, and brings us her report in this week's Blawg Review #314 she calls LawLawpalooza!

posted by the Editor on 8/08/2011  

Coming Soon, ABA Journal

Molly McDonough and Sarah Randag host Blawg Review #314 next in the ABA Journal during the ABA Annual Meeting 2011 in Toronto.


What's that? The American Bar Association is holding its annual meeting in Canada? Has Ontario joined the Union? Did the United States invade the Great White North and take it over without a shot being fired? Wait, wait...

THIS JUST IN:
CHICAGO, Aug. 2, 2011 – The American Bar Association and the Canadian Bar Association are preparing to sign a historic agreement that will lead to enhanced cooperation and information exchanges between the two organizations, their in-house counsel constituencies, and the U.S. and Canadian legal professions.

A signing ceremony with the associations' presidents and witnessed by other bar leaders is scheduled for 4 p.m. Aug. 6, pending approval of the agreement by the ABA Board of Governors, at the Royal Conservatory, 273 Bloor St. West, Toronto. Following the ceremony will be the ABA Annual Meeting Opening Assembly, featuring remarks by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

“We have enjoyed a long and warm relationship with the Canadian Bar Association,” said ABA President Stephen N. Zack of Miami, Fla. “The signing of the agreement, on the occasion of the ABA's Annual Meeting in Toronto, will formalize our mutually beneficial cooperation that has been in place for the past 80 years.”

BFF

posted by the Editor on 8/02/2011  

Keep It Simple



Stephen Albainy-Jenei at Patent Baristas hosts his fifth carnival of law bloggers, Blawg Review #313, riffing off Keb Mo's Keep It Simple. It's a laid-back Blawg Review; thoroughly enjoyable.

Today is also Emancipation Day. The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ended slavery in the British Empire, August 1, 1834, which is remembered in the colonies with various holidays and celebrations, like Caribana Caribbean Carnival in Toronto. From the first colony to abolish slavery, Toronto-based Omar Ha-Redeye earned Blawg Review of the Year kudos for Blawg Review #278 on the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. Worth another read.

posted by the Editor on 8/01/2011  

Blawg Review #312


Happy 93rd Birthday, Madiba. Today is Mandela Day, in honor of the birthday of Nelson Mandela, often called Madiba, an honorific, his clan name.

Mandela needs no introduction to our readers. As a lawyer he led an exemplary life, 27 years of which he spent in prison for his principled political activism for the causes of freedom and justice for all in his homeland of South Africa. Many have read his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, with its introduction by former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan. I've been reading Mandela's recent publication of Conversations With Myself, a collection of the writings of Nelson Mandela, many of which were written while imprisoned. As he says, in prison you've got time to think.


Nelson Mandela's prison cell, Robben Island, South Africa

This year on 18 July - Nelson Mandela’s 93rd birthday - the UN is joining a call by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to devote 67 minutes of our time to helping others, as a way to mark Nelson Mandela International Day.

Here on Blawg Review, we've covered topics and issues that were of great interest to Nelson Mandela, the lawyer, and the man. Notably, Omar Ha-Redeye hosted Blawg Review #278, which was recognized at the Blawg Review of the Year 2010, to mark the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. Earlier in 2010, on Slaw.ca, Omar Ha-Redeye hosted Blawg Review #249 on National Freedom Day.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation seeks to contribute to a just society by promoting the vision and work of its Founder and convening dialogue around critical social issues with The Dialogue Programme. Mandela would have been a heck of a law blogger!

Today, on Nelson Mandela's 93rd birthday, this Blawg Review #312 honors him with a collection of links to law blog posts that draw attention to issues close to Madiba's heart. Throughout the day, we will add links to additional law blog posts that our readers find appropriate for inclusion in this week's Blawg Review, had they known it was to be Mandela Day or that there would be a Blawg Review this week at all. Help us out here...

The Innocence Project Blog reports that New York exoneree Dewey Bozella received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY Awards. Bozella served 26 years in New York prisons for a murder he didn’t commit before he was exonerated in 2009. Nelson Mandela, was a previous recipient of this award.

On the Human Trafficking Law Blog Wendi Adelson, Kathleen Kim, and Bridgette Carr report that:
South Africa has been identified as a major human-trafficking destination for victims from within the country, the region and beyond, yet there is no legislation that specifically criminalises human trafficking and protects victims.

The country is a signatory to the 2000 UN protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons. In signing this document, also known as the Palermo Protocol, the government committed to adopting legislation to make human trafficking a criminal offence and began the process of drafting a law in 2003. However, the Prevention and Combating in Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Bill only reached parliament in March 2010 and there is no indication of when it will be passed.
Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger on Jonathan Turley's blog, hopes that this somehow works out well for establishing an Egyptian Democracy, rule of law and freedom.

Glenn Greenwald reports how the U.S. government uses its media servants to attack real journalism.

Mandela might have thoughts on this study, blogged by Doug Berman on Sentencing Law and Policy, that finds "black men live longer in prison than out".

Scott Greenfield asks, "How many millions of fliers, of citizens, of people, must have their personal privacy and physical integrity sacrificed in the off-chance that the TSA might, eventually, stop a terrorist?"

Mark Bennett, on Defending People, tweaks the TSA.

Dan Hull at "What About Paris?" on Bastille Day.

Zamantungwa Khumalo is studying a Bachelor of Arts with a triple major in International Relations, Political Studies and Law at the University of the Witwatersrand. She anchors the current affairs talk show The Edge on Voice of Wits FM and is sponsored by the University of the Witwatersrand to attend the One Young World Summit in Zurich, Switzerland. She writes that it is on this day, that her generation needs to ask, “Who will be the Mandela of our generation?”

In an interview with Elisabeth Braw for Huffington Post, Desmond Tutu says young South Africans don't know what Mandela did for us.



We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference. - Nelson Mandela

posted by the Editor on 7/18/2011  

Remembering Joel Rosenberg

We remember Joel Rosenberg as a champion for justice in an intolerant world, the host of Blawg Review #238, which is this week's Blawg Review in his memory. It was an honor to have known the man, whom I had the pleasure to meet in real life. He will be missed.


Photo credit © Oleg Volk, reproduced with permission

posted by the Editor on 6/06/2011  

Blawg Review #309

O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. ~Psalm 119:97



On May 2, 1611, four hundred years to the day, the King James Bible was published for the first time in London, England.

The original printing of the Authorized Version was published by Robert Barker, the King's Printer, in 1611 as a complete folio Bible. It was sold looseleaf for ten shillings, or bound for twelve. Robert Barker's father, Christopher, had, in 1589, been granted by Elizabeth I the title of royal Printer, with the perpetual Royal Privilege to print Bibles in England. Robert Barker invested very large sums in printing the new edition, and consequently ran into serious debt, such that he was compelled to sub-lease the privilege to two rival London printers, Bonham Norton and John Bill. It appears that it was initially intended that each printer would print a portion of the text, share printed sheets with the others, and split the proceeds. Bitter financial disputes broke out, as Barker accused Norton and Bill of concealing their profits, while Norton and Bill accused Barker of selling sheets properly due to them as partial Bibles for ready money. There followed decades of continual litigation, and consequent imprisonment for debt for members of the Barker and Norton printing dynasties, while each issued rival editions of the whole Bible. In 1629 the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge successfully managed to assert separate and prior royal licences for Bible printing, for their own university presses – and Cambridge University took the opportunity to print revised editions of the Authorized Version in 1629, and 1638. The editors of these editions included John Bois and John Ward from the original translators. This did not, however, impede the commercial rivalries of the London printers, especially as the Barker family refused to allow any other printers access to the authoritative manuscript of the Authorized Version.
We had hoped to get a legal scribe from England to host this week's Blawg Review but, alas, the usual suspects were apparently preoccupied with the Royal Wedding. So, here we are on this historic occasion with no host to speak of but an interesting theme, nevertheless.

The King James Version of the Ten Commandments

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

Ron Coleman brings forward this Divine Trademark on Likelihood of Confusion, and points to more about Church symbol trademarks by this tradmark guy, Owen Smigelski.

9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,

10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Eugene Volokh has a post about Sex-Based Inheritance Rules, Islamic Law, and the Old Testament. (Editor's Note: the professor probably means "gender-based" but one can't not appreciate the lovely Muslim girls served by Google Adsense with his post.)

11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Which reminds me, where the hell is Geeklawyer when you need him?

12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

Hard to believe it's the 8th anniversary of this blog.

14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

By happenstance, John Hochfelder was assigned April 27th to publish this piece. It so happens that April 27th - in 1922 - was when an American hero was born.

17 Thou shalt not kill.

"From an international law perspective, it’s worth noting that the operation against Bin Laden is an example of targeted killing," writes Ilya Somin on the death of Bin Laden and the morality of targeted killings. At the Volokh Conspiracy, too, Kenneth Anderson adds links to his own thoughts on Targeted Killing and Drone Warfare.

18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
The Wicked Bible, sometimes called The Adulterous Bible or The Sinners' Bible, is a term referring to the Bible published in 1631 by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London, which was meant to be a reprint of the King James Bible. The name is derived from the compositors' mistake: in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14) the word not in the sentence "Thou shalt not commit adultery" was omitted. This blunder was spread in a number of copies. About a year later, the publishers of the Wicked Bible were fined £300 (roughly equivalent to 33,800 pounds today) and were deprived of their printer's license.[citation needed] The fact that this edition of the Bible contained such a flagrant mistake outraged Charles I of England and George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said then:
I knew the tyme when great care was had about printing, the Bibles especially, good compositors and the best correctors were gotten being grave and learned men, the paper and the letter rare, and faire every way of the beste, but now the paper is nought, the composers boyes, and the correctors unlearned.
Talk about Slackoisie!

19 Neither shalt thou steal.

If copying an entire newspaper story is fair use, is it a sin to steal large segments of copy from Wikipedia? I didn't think so.
In most of the world the Authorized Version has passed out of copyright and is freely reproduced. This is not the case in the United Kingdom where the rights to the Authorized Version are held by the British Crown under perpetual Crown copyright. Publishers are licensed to reproduce the Authorized Version under letters patent. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the letters patent are held by the Queen's Printer, and in Scotland by the Scottish Bible Board. The office of Queen's Printer has been associated with the right to reproduce the Bible for centuries, the earliest known reference coming in 1577. In the 18th century all surviving interests in the monopoly were bought out by John Baskett. The Baskett rights descended through a number of printers and, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Queen's Printer is now Cambridge University Press, who inherited the right when they took over the firm of Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1990.
20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

"You might think that this notion, the whole tell the truth to the judge thing, was pretty well settled. Obviously not," says Scott Greenfield.

21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.

While it's generally believed that one will burn in Hell for transgressions of the flesh, only recently did we learn from Randazza that you might burst into flames right here on earth.

Speaking of flames, "the Koran is not being burned in Dearborn Michigan but the 1st Amendment has gone up in flames," according to Brian Cuban, in a guest post on Antonin Pribetic's Trial Warrior Blog.



It is commonly believed that the writing of the Old and New Testament was inspired by God. No one will think that of this Blawg Review. Inkster penned an inspired UK Blawg Roundup at The Time Blawg, I know.

Please let me know if we've missed a law blog post that you would have included in a Blawg Review with a biblical theme, and we'll add a link.

Blawg Review has information about how to host one of the upcoming issues, yourself, if you'd like to have a go at it.

posted by the Editor on 5/02/2011  

This Too Shall Pass



This too shall pass for a Blawg Review, an eclectic collection of bits and pieces of the blawgosphere linked together as if by Rube Goldberg.

posted by the Editor on 4/25/2011  

Lone Star Blawg Review



Houston attorney Paul Kennedy hosts Blawg Review #307 at The Defense Rests to commemorate Sam Houston's defeat of Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, which was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. This edition of Blawg Review is as big as Texas and, not unexpectedly, focused on all things Texan. We'll play along.

Norah Jones performs "Lonestar" with fellow-Texan Willie Nelson at Farm Aid 25. Farm Aid's performances are donated by the artists in order to raise funds and raise awareness for family farmers. They've raised their voices to help — what can you do?

posted by the Editor on 4/21/2011  

Blawg Review #306

Blawg Review turns six, today. What did you expect? Fireworks?



On April 11, 2005, the first issue of Blawg Review was hosted by Evan Schaeffer on the Legal Underground. Six years later, a growing number of lawyers new to blogging are asking, "What is Blawg Review?
Blawg Review is the blog carnival for everyone interested in law. A peer-reviewed blog carnival, the host of each Blawg Review decides which of the submissions and recommended posts are suitable for inclusion in the presentation. And the host is encouraged to source another dozen or so interesting posts to fit with any special theme of that issue of Blawg Review. The host's personal selections usually include several that reflect the character and subject interests of the host blawg, recognizing that the regular readership of the blog should find some of the usual content, and new readers of the blog via Blawg Review ought to get some sense of the unique perspective and subject specialties of the host. Thanks to all the law bloggers who collaborate to make Blawg Review one of the very best blog carnivals of any genre.

Colin Samuels, Blawg Review Sherpa Emeritus, describes it best. "Where once we were isolated legal students, practitioners, and academics who could share our thoughts only with those in proximity, blogging and social media have turned us all into a kind of "other memory" for one another. The knowledge, experience, and insight we are able to access here, within our ever-expanding networks of colleagues and friends, colleagues-of-colleagues, friends-of-friends, is nothing short of amazing. By participating, we are able to give and receive and grow beyond ourselves while allowing others to grow as well. Thanks to our tools, these memories need not fade or become inaccessible, but we should always keep in mind that tools do not create — we do."
On this sixth anniversary of Blawg Review, we revisited some of the most creative presentations of this carnival of law blogs. Each year for the past six years we've recognized the best of the best with the honor of Blawg Review of the Year.
Blawg Review of the Year 2005
Blawg Review of the Year 2006
Blawg Review of the Year 2007
Blawg Review of the Year 2008
Blawg Review of the Year 2009
Blawg Review of the Year 2010
These award-winning presentations show an appreciation of literature and art, a strong sense of community, passion for a cause, and a good sense of humor. These are common themes in the best of Blawg Review and, while only one presentation each year receives the award for Blawg Review of the Year, there are many more that deserve another look.

Whether you're new to Blawg Review and looking to get a better sense of the state of the art of law blogging, or a regular reader of this carnival of law blogs, you might like to look back at some of the past issues on this sixth anniversary--especially if you're thinking of hosting Blawg Review this year.


George Wallace pulled off an April 1st Blawg Review at a fool in the forest, leaving open the question whether his might be the last, and leading Colin Samuels at Infamy or Praise to ask, "Was there a fat lady in The Mikado?"

Perennial prankster Eric Turkewitz at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog posted an April Fool’s Day Deconstruction (A 23-Blog Conspiracy).

In what could have been an April Fool's joke on Jonathan Turley's blog, Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger, reported on Monkey Trial II: Tenn. House Passes Bill Permitting Teachers To Teach The “Controversy” Over Evolution.

What, for me, is the point of law blogging etc?" asked Charon QC and answered, "I have come to the conclusion that the ‘point’ is to provoke thought, comment and interest."

"Thinking runs in ruts and it takes a whole lot of effort to get it back on the tarmac again," wrote Simon Fodden in a thought-provoking post on Slaw.ca.

Antonin Pribetic on The Trial Warrior Blog asked, "Are You A Legal Expert? Really?"

Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice looked into cavity searches.

At the IP Kat blog, we read a Letter from AmeriKat about Google's $900 million bid for Nortel's patents, and were pleased to see the US and UK unite for some more sweet patent harmony.

Gene Quinn at IP Watchdog wrote an insightful blog post about what could be learned from Apple's patent for a newsreader for mobile devices.

Venkat Balasubramani on Spam Notes asked, "What is the "iPad for Lawyers" Crowd Smoking?"

iWant an office like C. Hank Peters at Big Legal Brain!

Brian Inkster launched The Time Blawg on the past, present and future practice of law, with the numerically significant UK Blawg Roundup #6, the time travel edition. If ever there was any doubt that the legal blog carnival genre is alive and well, the Brits are sending US as clear message. They're here to stay.



Blawg Review has information about how to host one of the upcoming issues, yourself.

posted by the Editor on 4/11/2011