West Academic Casebooks Archive Now Available in HeinOnline

Curious about how casebooks and study aids have treated a particular court opinion or doctrine over time? The Goodson Law Library now has access to a brand-new collection in HeinOnline: the West Academic Casebooks Archive, available to the Duke University community with NetID and password. This collection contains nearly 4,000 historical West casebooks and study aids, including the American and University Casebook series, Hornbooks, and Nutshells. Contents of this collection date from the 1830s to 2018. Hundreds of additional titles will be added in the near future.

However, don't go looking for the latest editions of casebooks and study aids here: The two most recent editions of any series are held back from the collection until a newer one arrives to push the third-oldest title into the archive. (Recent West Academic study aids series can be found in the separate database of West Academic Study Aids, while recent West casebooks assigned in Duke Law courses can be found in the Library’s Course Reserve self-checkout cabinets.)

The collection allows users to browse by series or title, or to search across the archive. Curious to see how a particular court opinion or legal doctrine was treated by various casebooks over time? The search feature provides numerous possibilities. For example, the seminal 1928 New York Court of Appeals case Palsgraf v. Long Island, read by first-year law students across America for nearly a century now, quickly landed into Torts textbooks by 1929, first appearing here in James Barr Ames's A Selection of Cases on the Law of Torts; a search for the case name in quotation marks results in close to 500 hits in the database. While the recent deadly bridge collapse in Baltimore has brought maritime law principles back into the public conversation, the database's Date filter for search results shows a clear spike for the concept of "general average" in the first half of the 20th century, as opposed to other eras. And if you thought that legislative research for your LARW appellate brief was confusing, spare a thought for the law student of the 1940s puzzling through the legislative research chapter in How to Find the Law, 3d edition.

Title-level catalog records for this collection should appear in the Duke Libraries Catalog later this spring. In the meantime, you can access the West Academic Casebooks Archive via HeinOnline or from its own entry in the Legal Databases & Links page. For help with using the new collection, or for locating historical casebooks and study aids in the library collection, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Free Access to US Case Law

Last month marked a milestone for the Caselaw Access Project (CAP), an ambitious project from the Harvard Law Library Innovation Lab to digitize centuries of U.S. federal and state case law for free public access. Launched in 2016 with the financial backing of online legal research company Ravel Law (now owned by LexisNexis), the Caselaw Access Project involved the digitization of more than 36 million pages of printed case reporters. The original agreement contained a commercial use restriction for eight years, which has now expired. The Innovation Lab commemorated the occasion with a conference on March 8, highlighting the history of the project and use cases for the future. For more information on the history of the project, see Adam Ziegler's guest post at Bob Ambrogi's Law Sites.

The Search feature on the legacy version of the CAP website links to CourtListener's Advanced Case Law Search, which has incorporated the CAP content. The beta version of the CAP website still provides direct access to individual case scans in the reporter volumes and bulk data downloads.

As the CAP About page explains, PDF scans of case law in the project date up to 2018 and are limited to precedential cases published in official case reporters. Jurisdictions that have designated a commercial reporter as the "official" publication of primary case law are included, but generally the parallel commercial/regional reporter publications will not be found here; when they are, their copyrighted material (such as West headnotes) will be omitted. Case law dating up to 2020 is also available in HTML-only format through a partnership with the legal research service Fastcase.

The public release of CAP is likely the biggest step forward for free access to case law since Google incorporated court opinions into its Google Scholar search back in 2009. CAP fills in much of the historical case law that is omitted from Google Scholar, whose help page notes that state appellate cases date back generally to 1950, and most federal court cases back to 1923 (the U.S. Supreme Court back to 1791). CAP's digitization project dates back much farther, making CourtListener's Advanced Case Law Search a great place to begin a search of the free web for American court opinions.

Only time will tell what new projects and services will grow from the release of this data from commercial use restrictions, or how existing services might be enhanced by this body of case law. Some existing projects can be found on the Gallery section of the CAP site. In the meantime, add the CourtListener Advanced Case Law search to your research toolbox for access to free court opinions. For help locating other options for case law research, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Municode Municipal Law Research Library Now Available

The Goodson Law Library has just subscribed to MuniPro MuniCode Library, a database with nearly 4,000 municipal codes. While many municipal and local ordinances are freely readable and searchable online (such as Durham, NC), MuniPro allows researchers to search across multiple codes and jurisdictions, as well as create saved searches and alerts for topics of interest. For more details, visit the vendor help page. 

 

Municode is available to current members of the Duke University community and is linked from the Legal Databases & Links and campus libraries Databases A-Z list. If using off-campus, connect via the Library Resources Only group of the Duke VPN. At the Municode home page, select "Sign in" in the header area and then click "Log in with site-wide subscription."

Additional resources for researching municipal codes include:

• Fastcase (University) includes city codes for Durham, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem in its North Carolina Statutes and Legislative Codes section, although these are updated only to 2021.
• Lexis (Law only): The All Municipal Codes database allows for searching across thousands of municipal codes and ordinances. Individual code databases for states are also available. Secondary sources of interest within Lexis include Antieau on Local Government Law, 2d, accessible from the main Lexis search bar.
• Nexis Uni (University): The campus-wide version of Lexis includes a US Municipal Codes database. To reach it, click Advanced Search, then select Legal > Statutes and Legislation > US Municipal Codes. State-specific municipal code databases are also accessible from the All Sources menu.
• Westlaw (Law only): The Municipal Law section focuses less on specific local codes and more on the sections of state codes that describe the powers and functions of municipal government. Available secondary sources in this section include the drafting guide Matthews Municipal Ordinances and the treatise McQuillin on The Law of Municipal Corporations.

For help using these resources or researching other municipal law issues, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Fighting Fraud

Last week, the talk of the Internet was an essay called "The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger." The Cut's financial-advice columnist Charlotte Cowles details the elaborate telephone scam that led her to withdraw five figures of savings and surrender the cash to someone she believed to be an undercover CIA agent. Social media chatter debated whether Cowles's predicament was the relatable reaction of a frazzled mom who had been targeted by experienced con artists, or the public admission of a surprising lapse in common sense.

However one may feel about Cowles's particular experience, one thing is certain: she is hardly alone in falling for a scam. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission estimated that American consumers lost more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023. While almost half of these losses came from investment fraud, imposter scams (like the one Cowles faced) represented nearly $3 billion of this figure. The FTC news release details some of the steps the Commission is taking to combat fraud, including finalizing a proposed rule on increased enforcement mechanisms for impersonation scams. But there are other actions that consumers can take to better understand common scams and avoid being victimized.

Awareness is the consumer's sharpest weapon in this battle. The most common scams can be categorized into general themes, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau provides a helpful list, alongside guidance about what to do if you encounter one. The FTC's Consumer Advice section provides news alerts and other helpful content on common scams; check out How to Avoid a Scam for a succinct guide to spotting a fraudster. (This page identifies four signs of a scam that are helpful to remember: PRETENDING to be a recognized business or other organization; claiming the target has either a serious legal PROBLEM or a PRIZE to be claimed; PRESSURING the target to act quickly; and demanding PAYMENT in a highly specific way, like cryptocurrency or gift cards. The advice given for avoiding scams – including resisting pressure to act immediately and to tell a trusted person what is happening before you withdraw any money – would most likely have averted disaster in Cowles's situation, as she notes throughout her essay.)

Other government agencies and non-government organizations often maintain info pages about common scams related to their subject areas, such as the IRS's Tax Scams page. The Better Business Bureau similarly provides helpful articles on spotting scams. Individual companies may also provide warnings on their help pages, such as Venmo's guide to common mobile payment scam techniques. Reviewing pages like these in advance, or conducting a quick web search after receiving a suspicious call or email, could help you or a loved one determine the likelihood of a scam.

If you or someone you know does encounter a scammer, reporting is an important step. The FTC maintains an easy-to-use page for Reporting Fraud. At the state level, the attorney general's office is the appropriate place to report consumer complaints. In North Carolina, the AG maintains an info page for Protecting Consumers; for other states, visit the Association of State Attorneys General to locate your local AG office. The Better Business Bureau also offers a ScamTracker reporting option.

Other steps that you can take to cut down on scam attempts include adding your phone number to the Do Not Call Registry and regularly checking your three free annual credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com. Duke University's Information Technology Security Office also offers security guides designed to help you stay safe online, including Safe Browsing and Phishing.

Scams will continue to evolve with technology, and it's important to stay educated and vigilant. By becoming familiar with these consumer protection resources, and sharing them with friends and family (especially senior citizens, who are frequent targets of scammers), you too can help fight fraud. For help with locating other consumer protection resources, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Researching U.S. State Commitments with Foreign Governments

Most legal researchers are familiar with the federal government's treaty powers (for an overview, check out the Constitution Annotated discussion of Article II, section 2, clause 2 or the three-part 2023 Congressional Research Service report series on International Agreements). Likely less familiar to many are state-level commitments with foreign governments. After all, the Constitution expressly prohibits states from entering into their own treaties, and requires congressional consent for states to enter into agreements or compacts with foreign governments. However, individual U.S. states can and do enter into memoranda of understanding and other commitments with foreign entities. Due to their more ad hoc nature as compared to the highly formal federal process, locating the text or information about these state-level commitments can be difficult. 

A new library within the HeinOnline research database called U.S. State Commitments with Foreign Governments, now available to the Duke University community, sheds some light on this practice. The collection was curated by Marquette Law professor Ryan Scoville and his former research assistant Mitchell Knief, now a trademark attorney. Using state Freedom of Information laws, the authors requested "all operative commitments … currently in force between the State…and any foreign government" in all fifty states. The effort generated copies of more than 750 individual state-level documents on a variety of topics, although the authors' introduction cautions that the collection is likely far from comprehensive, and most likely also includes documents that are no longer in force. 

The Hein library permits users to search or browse these documents by country, state, or topic area under the "Commitment Index" section. Some results are largely ceremonial pledges to strengthen relations and understanding between a state and a foreign government. Others are more substantial, such as the agreements between states along the Canadian border and the government of Quebec to share law enforcement information, or climate-related agreements between various states and countries. 

Access the new HeinOnline library via the library catalog or Legal Databases & Links page; from the main HeinOnline database list, select "U.S. State Commitments with Foreign Governments." For help with using the new module or in locating other materials, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Jus Mundi Arbitration Database Now Available

The Goodson Law Library has recently subscribed to Jus Mundi, a research platform containing the full text of treaties, case law, rules, and publications related to international law and arbitration. This database is available to current Duke University students, faculty and staff with NetID and password, and links are available through the Duke Libraries Catalog and Legal Databases & Links page.

Jus Mundi includes thousands of documents on the topics of investment arbitration, commercial arbitration, public international law, law of the sea, and international trade. Decisions from more than 100 commissions and organizations are included. Duke's subscription also includes access to the ICC Dispute Resolution Library and Juris Arbitration Library.

Additional international arbitration databases include Kluwer Arbitration and the Oxford Legal Research Library's International Commercial Arbitration module. For more information about researching international arbitration and the resources available at Duke, consult the research guide to Arbitration or Ask a Librarian.

Winter Break Reading Recommendations

The end of the semester is almost here! Amid the flurry of final exams and the holiday rush, it might be hard to find time for your perfect winter break book. But a good read can help pass the time on long flights or airport delays, as well as give you a great way to wind down for the night at the end of busy holiday festivities. To help you find something appealing to read before you go, here are seven recommended titles that the Goodson Law Library staff have enjoyed recently.

Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall, by Zeke Faux (Request a print copy  or put a hold on the e-book!) "In this up-close-and-personal account, Faux reveals the highly entertaining and, frankly, horrifying (for human beings and the environment) worlds behind the current crypto scandals. An investigative reporter for Bloomberg, Faux also manages to make abstruse cryptocurrency concepts digestible here. For my fellow legal news junkies looking for a deep dive beyond the FTX/Binance headlines, this book is a nice complement to the better-known Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis (also available in print or e-book).” – Laura Scott, Assistant Director for Reference, Clinics, and Outreach and Senior Lecturing Fellow

Gravesend, by Cole Swensen (Request a print copy or read the e-book!) "In this poetry collection, Swensen uses her mastery of the paced prose poem form to explore ghosts, the ghostly, and liminal grief. I adore Swensen's lyrical descriptions, but what made me unable to put this book down is the way in which she uses white space to weave the descriptions together, to allow the descriptions to work through juxtaposition and gesture: precise language but then, too, precise absence." – Emilie Menzel, Collections Management & Strategies Librarian

Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer (Request a print copy!) "This book is a cannot-put-it-down level of good. It is a dystopian novel about a team that enters Area X on a scientific mission. Area X is an environment threatening both physically and psychologically. The characters and environment shift as you read, and the plot twists and additions seem natural as they continue to enthrall the reader. This book is the first of the Area X trilogy, and it was made into a movie starring Natalie Portman in 2018 (available for streaming at Duke, although the book is better and quite different from the movie adaptation). I especially liked the complexity of the characters within the novel and the authenticity of the interwoven story of the narrator's relationship with her husband that adds to the development of the characters." – Chelsey McKimmy, Research Services Librarian and Lecturing Fellow

The Fraud, by Zadie Smith (Request a print copy or access the e-book!) "A tale spanning decades of 19th-century British history, it's not hard to see why this sprawling novel appears on almost every best-of-2023 book list. The Fraud follows a fictionalized version of Eliza Touchet, the widowed housekeeper to her cousin William Harrison Ainsworth, a now-obscure novelist who in his day hobnobbed with the likes of Dickens and Thackeray. Mrs. Touchet and the second Mrs. Ainsworth both develop a fascination with the Tichborne Affair, a sensational legal case in which an Australian butcher claimed to be an English nobleman who had been presumed lost at sea a decade prior. Smith pays meticulous attention to detail, using these real-life historical figures and events to create a vivid novel about justice, freedom, and legacies." – Jennifer Behrens, Associate Director for Administration & Scholarship and Senior Lecturing Fellow

Song for the Unraveling of the World: Stories, by Brian Evenson (Request an interlibrary loan!) "Currently reading this book of short stories by Brian Evenson. While this book has been on my list to read for some time, it felt particularly relevant considering its title. Evenson masterfully weaves disturbing narratives that delve deep into the darker aspects of human nature. Each story is beautifully crafted, with haunting imagery that lingers long after you've finished." – Julie Wooldridge, Research Services Librarian and Senior Lecturing Fellow

Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War, by Evan Wright (Request an interlibrary loan!) "The author, then a reporter with Rolling Stone, wrote about his time embedded with First Recon Battalion during the invasion of Iraq. I enjoy the fly-on-the-wall perspective that Wright brings to his writing. He does a remarkable job of placing the reader in the near-death situations that the Marines, and occasionally he himself, were often in. He does an equally great job at capturing the boredom, frustration, and nagging sense of aimlessness felt by many of the young men he was embedded with. I was not expecting this book to be as funny as it is, but it makes sense, as humor was often the only weapon that the Marines had to fight against everything they were coping with." – Elisa Pfau, Acquisitions Assistant Senior

Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, by Isabella Mary Beeton (Request a 2000 print copy or read an e-book of the 1880 edition!) "Initially published as a serial, Beeton started working on this book at the age of 21. In 1861, it was consolidated and published as a complete volume. Shortly after her death in 1865, an expanded version of over 2,000 pages was released, and has been further expanded on since. Because of the time of its publication, many of the 'household' and even some of the 'cookery' (the term used for cooking at that point) suggestions will read as, to be kind, outdated. However, the cultural significance of the book cannot be ignored. The food supervisor on Downton Abbey referred to it as a most important guide, and the later volume of the book was featured on Good Omens held by none other than Jon Hamm playing the angel Gabriel. Isabella Beeton has been described as 'the grandmother of modern domestic goddesses' by some of the most famous women chefs of our time. Personally, I look forward to testing some of the recipes soon." – Wickliffe Shreve, Head of Scholarly Services and Senior Lecturing Fellow

Don’t see your next read on this list? For even more recommendations, check out NPR's 2023 Books We Love and the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2023. The library database NoveList Plus includes "Recommended Reads Lists" such as "Best of 2023," "Book Club Best Bets," or options to curate your own recommendations based on keywords and filters. For more help with identifying and locating your perfect winter break read, be sure to Ask a Librarian.