The European Convention on Human Rights turns 60
The European Convention on Human rights turned 60 this month.
In celebration of this event, the European Court of Human Rights has devoted a page to demonstrating the Convention in video and pictures. The page even has illustrations of the specific articles of the convention, such as the right to a fair trial:
Today the Court released ten judgments, and will release ten more on November 23rd, and then 17 more on the 25th.
Today's judgments included a ruling in Boutagni v. France, about a Moroccan national who argued that his expulsion from France would subject him to degrading treatment and torture. Recent judgments have included Alexseyev v. Russia (violation of peaceable right to assembly by a gay rights activist).
A subject heading search in Morris for the European Convention On Human Rights will redirect you towards Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) where you will find hundreds of books in our collection.
----- Ryan Harrington
New Foreign Law E-Resources
The Law Library has subscriptions to four new e-resources from LexisNexis:
EU Tracker
EU Tracker tracks the implementation of key EU Directives across 20 Member States in 10 practice areas. There are links to consultation papers, draft legislation and the eventual national implementing legislation of member States. It is a unique monitoring and analysis tool for lawyers, PSLs and information managers.
JurisClasseur
This database contains French-language legal information: legislation, regulations and case law. It also gives access to a great volume of secondary legal sources and expert analysis.
LexisNexis China Law Database
The LexisNexis China Law Database (LNCHNL) is an authoritative collection of Chinese laws, regulations, tax information, judicial decisions, and other legal documents, collected from government sources, and translated by LexisNexis China Online (COL) in Beijing.
Quicklaw
Quicklaw is a Canadian electronic legal research database that provides court decisions from all levels, news reports, provincial and federal statutes, journals, and other legal commentary. It also offers a case citator and case digests.
They are accessible on the Yale network and username/password are not required to log in. For a list of legal databases subscribed by the law library see here.
Treaty of Lisbon enters into force Dec. 1, 2009
HeinOnline's Blog this week has a nice entry on the Treaty of Lisbon with links to finding scholarly articles about the "Road to Lisbon" and other EU treaties.
Briefly, Czech President Vaclav Klaus ratified the Treaty of Lisbon on November 3, 2009. The Czech Republic was the final Member State to ratify the Treaty. The instrument of ratification was deposited in Rome on
November 13, 2009 and will enter into force on December 1, 2009. The new EU presidency and other top jobs have now been filled. The EU's Europa database has indepth treatment of the Treaty of Lisbon.
The EU's "Your Guide to the Lisbon Treaty" highlights several prinipal provisions of the treaty:
1. More democracy, more openness: The Treaty gives you a stronger voice in decision-making.
2. Faster, more efficient decision-making: The Lisbon Treaty streamlines the EU’s decision-making procedures.
3. Modernising the EU’s institutions: A key aim of the Lisbon Treaty is to modernise the institutions that run the EU’s business and makes them more democratic.
4. Economic policy: The Lisbon Treaty confi rms the commitment to achieving economic and monetary union with the euro as the EU’s currency.
5. Th e European Union in the world: The EU pledges to promote the values of the EU in the world by contributing to:
• peace and security;
• sustainable development of the Earth;
• solidarity and mutual respect among peoples;
• free and fair trade;
• eradication of poverty;
• protection of human rights;
• respect for and enhancement of international law as defi ned, in particular, in the United Nations Charter.
6. Security and defence: The Lisbon Treaty spells out more clearly the EU’s role in the area of common foreign and security policy. Decisions on defence issues will continue to need unanimous approval of the 27 EU Member States.
7. Justice and crime: The Lisbon Treaty contains important new provisions strengthening the EU’s ability to fi ght international cross-border crime, illegal immigration, traffi cking of people, arms and drugs.
8. Social policy: The Lisbon Treaty steps up the EU’s social objectives. It provides that, in all its policies and actions, the EU will take into account the promotion of a high level of employment.
9. New areas of cooperation: The Lisbon Treaty has important provisions in a number of new policy areas reinforcing the EU’s ability to fi ght international cross-border crime, illegal immigration, traffi cking of women and children, drugs and arms.
10. Human rights: The Lisbon Treaty recognises the rights, freedoms and principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and makes the charter legally binding.
The law library also has a fine selection of material related to the Lisbon Treaty and the EU. See, for example:
- The Lisbon Treaty: EU Constitutionalism without a Constitutional Treaty? KJE4443.32007 .L57 2008
- Dividing Lines between the European Union and its Member States: The Impact of the Treaty of Lisbon. KJE4443.32007 .S54 2008
- Comprendre le Traité de Lisbonne: Texte Consolidé Intégral de Traités: Explications et Commentaires. KJE970 .S28 2008
