InSITE
A Current Awareness Service of
Cornell Law Library

ISSN 1521-9046

ARCHIVE

Vol. 15, no. 19
May 17, 2010
InSITE highlights selected law-related World Wide Web sites in two ways: as an annotated publication issued electronically and in print; and as a keyword-searchable database.

The law librarians at Cornell evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them. These information can be accessed as following:

    1. Current Issue
    2. Archived Issues
    3. Searchable Database
    4. RSS Feeds RSS FEED of the Current Issue Editions [What is RSS?]
    5. E-mail subscription: send the following request to lyris@cornell.edu:
      join INSITE-L 'your name'
      where your name(include the quotation marks) is the name you want to be available to the list's administrator. You must send this message from the e-mail address where you want to receive the e-list's messages
    6. In print format for the Cornell Law School community

Conflict of Laws.net: News and Views in Private International Law
    URL: http://conflictoflaws.net/
    Conflict of laws.net provides an interactive global forum for scholars, practitioners and others to engage in an ongoing dialogue on the subject of private international law. All are invited to join the collaborative effort by contributing news items, publications, opinions, event announcements, or other items representing both theoretical and practical perspectives regarding conflict of laws. Its team of scholarly editors hails from all corners of the globe, representing most major jurisdictions. The site is officially affiliated with the Journal of Private International Law, an English-language, peer-reviewed publication devoted exclusively to private international law, where information and ideas from legal systems around the world are explored in depth. Guest editorials are periodically solicited from distinguished scholars and practitioners on a subject of their choosing. The most current editorial is featured on the site’s homepage, and earlier editorials are readily available through a tab at the top of the page and through the Archives menu located on the right side of the page. Visitors to the site are invited to share their comments on the editorials. Other tabs at the top of the page link to an online focus group and an online symposium, both organized and hosted by the Conflict of Law site. The site additionally features a bookshop where visitors can purchase nearly any title about private international law in English. Although powered by Amazon, the proceeds from sales are directed to paying the costs of running the Conflict of Laws site. A simple search feature is available throughout the site’s pages and it quickly generates current and relevant results. Subscriptions to RSS and Email updates are offered, and hidden on the right side of the page, under the heading “Resources,” one will find an extensive list of relevant and useful links.
    [Author: A. Emerson]
Free at Last? Slavery in Pittsburgh in the 18th and 19th Centuries
    URL: http://www.library.pitt.edu/freeatlast/index.html
    The University of Pittsburgh created the Web exhibit Free at Last? to complement an exhibit of the same name developed by the University’s Vice Chancellor Robert Hill, and shown at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh from October 2008 through April 2009. Although the Heinz History Center has long since taken down the physical exhibit, visitors can still experience the exhibit through the supporting website. The exhibit documents early slavery in Pennsylvania including slaves’ journeys from Africa, through the abolition movement and the aftermath of the Civil War. The website is divided into five sections: the home page describing Hill’s inspiration for the exhibit, an Introduction, the Middle Passage to Early America, The Freedom Papers, Fugitive Slave Laws and Escapes, Abolition, Civil War and Aftermath, and a Photo Gallery. Every section except the home page and the photo gallery includes a brief video filmed in the exhibit at the Heinz History Center and narrated by Laurence Glasco, Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to the videos, sections of text and accompanying images explain topics like Music in the Middle Passage, Notable Abolitionists in Pittsburgh, and the Bethel AME Church—Oldest Black Congregation in Pittsburgh. These sections can be expanded for further information, and some of the sections provide links to additional information like biographies. The Photo Gallery provides images of the Heinz History Center exhibit and artifacts like manacles, maps, books, and artwork. Unfortunately there is no zoom option for these images. The Freedom Papers section is especially valuable because it offers good digital access to documents that describe transactions pertaining to slaves: indentures for black children, sales records, requests for Certificates of Freedom, records of slaves who were freed by their owners or who purchased their freedom, and more. Valerie McDonald Roberts, a supervisor at the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds, discovered the papers in 2007. The digital document reader has a zoom function, and the site provides a summary and at least a partial transcription for each document. The descriptions of slave escapes provided in the Fugitive Slave Laws and Escapes Section are very interesting; for example, Ellen and William Craft successfully masqueraded as a gentleman traveling with his slave to gain their freedom. This site is excellent for people interested in studying slavery and abolition in the United States and is a model for curators designing other online exhibits.
    [Author: I. Haight]
Open Access Scottish Law Reports
    URL: http://www.scottishlawreports.org.uk/resources/open-access.html
    The Open Access Scottish Law Reports is made available by the Scottish Council of Law Reporting. The Council is a non-profit that was established to manage publication of Session Cases and other materials. The Council seeks to distribute Scottish legal materials widely at a minimal cost and is continuing to build a retrospective online case archive. Session Cases contain civil and criminal appellate cases from the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary in Scotland. Also included are Scottish appeals to the House of Lords and to the Privy Council. The open access database covers selected reports from Session Cases for the period 1873 to 2007. For each case the archive provides the case name, citation, court, judges, and the opinion. The archive is hosted by Justis and it may be searched or browsed. Basic Boolean and phrase searching is supported, as well as searching by party, title, and year. Use the Help page for searching assistance. Browsing is available by year. Whether browsing or searching, the results list includes the case name, assigned subject terms, and decision year. Each case is available as an HTML file and can be printed, e-mailed, or downloaded.
    [Author: M. Morrison]


InSITE contributors: A. Emerson, I. Haight, M. Morrison, J. Pajerek (editor)
© 2010 Cornell Law Library

The contents of this publication and any recommendations therein are the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of Cornell University.