Legal Research

Three From the World

By Simon Chester

Since I’m in rural Spain, I’ve no facilities for lengthy posts, so three pointers to interesting items from elsewhere in the world.

Let’s start with the best legal research sites you’ve never heard of. In an interview with LegallyIndia today, the ILS Pune Mooting Team – on their way to DC for the Jessup moot – were asked what research databases they used. Here is the answer:

MPL: How many online databases did you use for mooting research? Which, according to you, is the best online legal database?

Madhupreetha: Westlaw, Lexisnexis, Maxplanck, Oxford reports and Oxford Scholarship online were some of the databases. To brand one database as best will be a difficult call. Each is unique in its own way. We felt that Westlaw is the abode for all articles, while Maxplanck is panacea for the entire law in a nutshell. And for the cases, nothing beats Oxford reports.

Can anyone tell us about “Maxplanck, Oxford reports and Oxford Scholarship online”.

Next to England where an enthusiastic press release writer is channeling Richard Susskind in claiming that his client’s forms collection will spell the end of lawyers:

The disruptive nature of the service comes from offering these documents for free, bundled with all the help and guidance anyone would need. Of course there is a place for solicitors, but we see no reason that a small business should pay a vast sum to have employment contracts and workplace policies drawn up, or that a single mother should need to hire someone to create a nanny agreement. This sort of thing should be freely accessible to the public.

Back to South India for the only Bill I’ve ever heard of that names Coca Cola: the Plachimada Coca-Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill 2011 passed by the Congress controlled (UDF) state legislature in Kerala.

The Bill is an Act of Attainder for one corporate multinational. According to one local account:

Cases arising from ecological damage caused by the company and applications for compensation or restitution of damaged property would be taken up by the tribunal, which would decide on the compensation after hearing both the appellants and the company. The tribunal shall, while passing any award or order, apply the principles of sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle.

Even the normally objective The Hindu gets into the Coke bashing game.

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited is a subsidiary of its Atlanta-based parent company. In a statement the company said: ?We are disappointed in the Plachimada Tribunal Bill and the flawed process on which it is based. This Bill is devoid of facts, scientific data or any input from or consideration given to the Company.?

Nothing on the official website yet>

And since it’s almost midnight in Europe, I can legitimately be the first to wish all our readers a productive and thoughtful International Women’s Day. One hundred years old to be exact. Enjoy.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on March 07, 2011 (boomark / email).