News and views from the Manitoba Law Library Inc., Law Society of Manitoba
Criminal lawyers take note. The founder behind Rangefindr.ca has developed a freely accessible site monitoring the status of various mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.
The website it created, called MMS.watch, gives legal professionals a chance to check which mandatory minimum sentences have been challenged or struck down as unconstitutional.
For more information check out this article published in The Lawyer’s Daily
Just published – Volume 39, Issues 1 and 2 of the Manitoba Law Journal. The theme of this volume is “The Great Transition in Legal Education”. It’s filled with interviews with notable Manitoba legal luminaries, such as former Court of Appeal Justice Charles Huband, former dean of the Manitoba Law School Jack London, Justice Freda Steel and retired University of Manitoba law school librarian John Eaton.
With the high cost of subscription caselaw databases, we’re always looking for authoritative free sources. The Free Law Project is a California non-profit public benefit corporation whose mission is to “provide free, public, and permanent access to primary legal materials on the Internet”. Working with PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) they have collected every free order and opinion available on PACER and published them on an easy-to-use site called CourtListener.
PACER is similar to our Court Registry. It hosts case file documents and docket information for all district, bankruptcy and appellate courts. While it’s not free, it is very reasonably priced. If you’re looking for document information for a U.S. decision, we have an account with PACER and can help you find it.
CourtListener and Google Scholar should be of benefit to those firms who can’t justify subscribing to a U.S. database.
(Hat tip to The Washington Post’s The Volokh Conspiracy column.)
The British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld a lower court decision concerning the consideration of Indigenous heritage with all other factors for adoption of a First Nations, Métis or Inuit child. While Indigenous heritage is important, it is just one factor to be weighed in determining the best interests of the child.
Commentary from Globe and Mail; CBC
Decision: M.M. v. T.B. , 2017 BCCA 296
We recently ordered a number of new books to add to our collection. All titles are linked to the publisher’s record which includes a summary of the content. You can search the Great Library Catalogue to see if the book is available.
Wills and Estates
Macdonell, Sheard and Hull on Probate Practice, 5th ed.
The Executor’s Handbook, 5th ed.
Although new items are placed in our reserve collection, they are still available for borrowing for a 48 hour period.
