On June 26 the Landgericht Köln (Cologne Regional Court) ruled that a medically unnecessary circumcision violated a 4 year old boy's "best interests." The circumcision was competently performed and there was parental consent. The circumcision was performed because of the parents' religious beliefs. The case is a criminal prosecution of the performing physician.

 

In the opinion the court stated:

 

Nor was the defendant's act justified by consent. There was no consent by the child, who was four years old at the time, and since the child was not old enough to understand the situation, there was no question of such consent being given. There was consent by the parents, but this was not capable of justifying the commission of the elements of bodily harm.

 

The opinion is available in German. There is also a partial and unofficial English translation. Additional background information as well as some coverage of related developments in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden is available from Library of Congress’ blog Global Legal Monitor.

The proposed Treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union was finalized on Monday, January 30, 2012. All member states signed on except the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic. After the informal summit the European Council set out the plan for its becoming law as follows:

"The treaty will be signed in March and will enter into force once it has been ratified by at least 12 euro area member states. It will be legally binding as an international agreement and will be open to the EU countries which do not sign it at the outset.
The aim is to incorporate it into EU law within five years of its entry into force."

Controversy surrounding the agreement and various related proposals has the Greek debt crisis as its focus. The EUtopia Blog is one free source (major UK papers and the Financial Times of course provide extensive analysis) with good discussion of the issues.

The Law Library of Congress Guide to Law Online has added the Republic of South Sudan to the countries covered in its excellent research tool for locating links to legally significant official documents and websites of countries around the world. Of particular interest is the Transitional Constitution of 22 April 2011.  You may also find this text and more in our subscription databases, such as Hein Online's World Constitutions Illustrated under Sudan (GULC login required).

In March, The Egyptian Supreme Council of Armed Forces issued a Constitutional Decree which functions as the provisional constitutional law for the interim administration.  The expectation is that a new constitution will be created when a new parliament is elected.  An English translation of the decree is available on HeinOnline in the World Constitutions Illustrated library. 

We now have access to over 1400 foreign laws in English (mostly tax, but also oil, commercial, etc) from the IBFD Tax Research Platform!  IBFD stands for the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation and it is headquartered in Amsterdam.  More importantly, this organization is known as THE leading provider of cross border taxation research and other information.  Look for the link to National Legislation when accessing the IBFD Research Platform.  This content is provided by and also available on RIA Checkpoint. Now you know where to find the Cambodian law on taxation!

Prince William asked Queen Elizabeth II for her consent when he wanted to marry Kate Middleton.  While this seems quaint, it is required by the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.  According to the official website of the British Monarchy, King George III insisted on this law because he was disappointed in the marriages of his brothers.  Interesting side note, this was the same king that "lost" the colonies in the American Revolution.

The Act of Settlement (passed in 1700 and enacted in 1701) states that Roman Catholics, or anyone married to a Roman Catholic, cannot hold the Crown.  This law was meant to secure Protestant succession and maintain the Church of England.  These and other interesting materials are part of a mini display in the Wolff Library.  Look for the high table near the computers on the lower level of Wolff.

FAOLex with its  legislation for water law (WaterLex) and water treaties as well as fishery regulation (yes, FishLex ! ), including coastal and maritime limitations on fishing, are all great United Nations agency sites for finding texts related to our world of resources and how international law is seeking to manage these for the good of all.
Peace on Earth! And enough to drink and eat for everyone.

As the latest entry in the extraordinary list of legal research resources of the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII), the soft launch of the Legal Information Institute of India (LIIofIndia) is worth a look. The official launch will take place in March, 2011. Primary legal material from the federal level as well as 28 states and 7 union territories are made available for free. The Indian Supreme Court case law and the federal statutory Indian Code are notable, but the Indian Treaty Series is available from the beginning of the independent Indian state (1947) through 2009, as well as selected journals.

According to founder and Professor of Law Graham Greenleaf, "LII of India at present has 50 databases, including over 300,000 decisions from 37 Courts and Tribunals, Indian national legislation from 1836, over 800 bilateral treaties, law reform reports and about 500 law journal articles. The LawCite citator tracks case and journal article citations. Further case law, and State and Territory legislation, will be added by the time of the formal launch."

Unfortunately, like the WorldLII itself, the entire site runs and loads very slowly (as do most of these links and thanks for your patience); it is hoped that this problem can be resolved. However, the Legal Information Institutes and Free Access to Law Movement is mostly a partnership between non-governmental academic institutions and government support in varying proportions, and so while free to use, these sites are obviously not free to build. As winter brings festivals of light (like the Indian Diwali of the western autumn season), we might reflect on the light that the rule of law shines on our globe while the LIIs ponder combining free with some local subscription support in its many regions. 

Are you interested in researching either foreign firms operating in the U.S. or American firms operating in foreign countries, either as part of a job search or for some other purpose?  The law library recently acquired a new electronic database subcription to UniWorld Online, which includes current, searchable information from two multinational business contact directories (Foreign Firms Operating in the United States and American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries). 

Upon choosing one of the two directory options in UniWorld Online, users can then search using a variety of parameters, including country, state or region, keyword, industry code, revenue and number of employees. 

The directories in UniWorld Online cover over 200 countries, and the corporate contact information they provide includes headquarters, branches, subsidiaries and affiliates of multinational firms. 

For additional resources we have available to assist you in your job search, see our Job Searching Research Guide.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled yesterday that member states parties to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the Council of Europe treaty sometimes called the European Convention on Human Rights) have no obligation to provide for same-gender marriage as such. The judgment came in the CASE OF SCHALK AND KOPF v. AUSTRIA (Application no. 30141/04).  Austria has only a Registered Partnership Act as of January 1, 2010. For a good presentation of the court's recent history on same-sex partnerships in the context of equality and discrimination rulings and comparative analysis with U.S. constitutional rulings, see the blog post at EJIL Talk! (blog of the European Journal of International Law).