Tag Archive for Boyer

Blackstone’s Oxford.

As we are coming ever closer to our 35th Course during which the Common and Civil Law traditions will be contrasted, the episodes below taken from the life of Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) illustrate the evolution of those traditions. Like…

Bridge of Spies

Those of us fortunate enough to have attended the Berlin course (our 34th) this past September might remember crossing the Glienicke Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Spies, on our return from our visit to Potsdam.  Many notable Cold…

Pure Theory of Legal Festschrifts

The following is not about “basic norms”; rather it focuses on ease of access of formerly deeply buried legal theory contained in various Festschrift volumes. Festschrifts contain original work by scholars honouring a milestone in the life of a brilliant…

Beyond Basic Black

The accepted norm for dictionaries (juridical or not) has not changed the mission of their creators much since the eighteenth century. Then Dr Johnson thus defined a lexicographer: “a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing…

A MOOC Point

Universities in North America are currently infatuated with MOOCs. Law Schools are no different. “MOOC” stands for Massive Open Online Course and MOOCs are just that: open-enrollment online courses which can reach tens of thousands and even sometimes over one…

Developments in Comparative law research

Possibilities for cost (and time) efficient Comparative law research are now much broader thanks to the Hathi Trust. The Hathi Trust is a partnership of over sixty Libraries and research institutions worldwide and currently contains 11 million digitized volumes. Access…