If your answer is yes, you might want to read this case from the Oregon Court of Appeals, filed 10/29/08.
You can also see a judicial exercise of statutory interpretation at work. What does it mean that a registration plate be displayed “on the front * * * of the vehicle”?
And, the next time you complain when the law librarian says, in response to your legal question (ahem, your legal problem), “IT DEPENDS,” you might understand why.
From the media release:
“David V. Brewer, Chief Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals, recently received the 2008 Distinguished Service Award, one of the highest awards presented by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). The Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to a person who has made longstanding contributions to the improvement of the justice system and who has supported the mission of the National Center….” (read full release)
I enjoyed this timely story in today’s Portland Tribune: OOPS! Portland’s good intentions often have unexpected results, by Peter Korn, the Portland Tribune, Oct 30, 2008
Excerpt: “…Economists call it the Law of Unintended Consequences, otherwise known as the Law of You Never Know. Portland State University urban studies professor Carl Abbott says, just maybe, there’s more of it here than other places, far beyond Jamison Square.
“Portland is a city that likes to experiment with things,” Abbott says. “Not every innovation is going to work out quite like you like it to. Maybe we do more things here that might have unintended consequences.”
You might think this is an easy question to answer. But it’s not!
Oregon Vital Records needs to know in which county the license was issued. So, in Oregon, if you want to know if someone is married, you might need to check county by county.
It’s no better in Washington State. You would need to know the approximate date of marriage and the county in which it occurred. Otherwise, you have to search county by county.
Speaking of Washington State, visit the King County Law Library website if you want a good starting place for learning about Section 1983 litigation (i.e. 42 U.S.C. §1983), take a look at their Section 1983 Civil Right Litigation Research Guide.
Today’s print Oregonian story, The definition of service animals grows to include animals that provide companionship to their owners, by Andy Dworkin (The Oregonian, Tuesday October 28, 2008) reminded me that I hadn’t yet posted this blog-post I’ve been working on.
(Most blog-posts don’t appear out of the blue on a whim; most are the result of, sometimes, a lengthy thinking and writing deliberative process – how dull that sounds. But it’s not!)
In any event, we’ve had a rash (a litter?) of dog-law questions lately (except not too many shaggy dog ones), not just in my county but from around the state. So, let’s try a little educational blogging for those of you who want to research the law:
We love all the hoopla about Public Resource dot com and their commitment to making the law accessible to all, without cost (or too many bells and whistles we don’t always need).
However, there is another legal research database that does almost the same thing, but seems quite happy to stay quietly under the radar:
The PLoL is a portion of the Fastcase database, and is offered freely by their owners.
Findlaw has a nifty State-by-State Time Off to Vote Law chart.
(Thanks to Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips blog for the lead!)
Add the following to my previous post on Foreclosure research.
A USA Today story on Oct. 24, 2008, Programs are available to help struggling homeowners, by Anna Bahney and Barbara Hagenbaugh, tells of these national programs: Hope for Homeowners, Hope Now Alliance, Bank of America, and Indymac Federal Bank, and has web links to all.
Also, more foreclosure information can be found at the National Consumer Law Center, and, especially for non-lawyers, see their Consumer Education brochures.
Look at this list of state court and related associations. It takes a lot of expertise and networking to manage our courts. And this list doesn’t even include them all (e.g. Center for Legal and Court Technology), nor the state bar associations or the state, court, and county law librarian organizations that partner with them.
This list is from the National Center for State Courts, where you’ll find links for all of these, and many more:
1) Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ)
2) The Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA)
3) Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeal (CCJSCA)
4) National Association for Court Management (NACM)
5) American Judges Association (AJA)
6) National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks (NCACC)
7) National Conference of Metropolitan Courts (NCMC)
8) National College of Probate Judges (NCPJ)
9) National Association of State Judicial Educators (NASJE)
10) National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ)
11) Conference of Court Public Information Officers (CCPIO)
12) Judicial Family Institute (JFI)
13) National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts (NCREFC)
14) Court Information Technology Officers Consortium (CITOC)
15) Consortium for State Court Interpretation Certification (CSCIC)
Oregon Legal Research Blog