LEGAL RESEARCH USING ELECTRONIC DATABASES - EXERCISES
1.
Locate and pull up the full text of the following law journal article:
Game Over: The “Region Lock” in Video Games by Angus MacCulloch in
European Intellectual Property Review
How did you find the full text of the article?
First, I went to the SMU Libraries Catalog to determine which sources have
European Intellectual Property Review. The SMU Libraries Catalog indicates
that this journal can be found in Westlaw. Next, I went to Westlaw and
typed in the name of the journal in the “search for a database” box. This
journal was the first result in the list, which I then clicked on. It brought up
a search box. I used the search terms: au(macculloch) & ti(video). This
search brought up a link to the full text of the desired article.
2.
Does either Lexis or Westlaw have a database of court decisions from the
following jurisdictions (indicate which one, neither, or both, for each country)? If
so, are the court decisions available in English?
Hong Kong – Both Westlaw and Lexis provide databases of Hong Kong
court decisions in English.
Italy – Neither Westlaw nor Lexis provides any database with Italian court
decisions.
Malaysia – Lexis provides a database with Malaysian court decisions in
English. Westlaw does not provide any database with Malaysian court
decisions.
Mexico – Lexis provides a database with Mexican Supreme Court decisions,
but they are available only in Spanish. Westlaw does not provide any
database (to which SMU Law Library subscribes) with Mexican court
decisions.
3.
In the Hein database “Foreign Relations of the United States”, locate a
Memorandum dated February 7, 1969 with the title “Covert Support of the Thai
Government Party in the Thai Parliamentary Elections”. Does the Memorandum
state any amount (or an estimate of an amount) of funds provided? – if so, what is
the amount?; if not, why not (as stated in the Memorandum itself)?
No amount is specified, as this information has not been “declassified”.
Path to find it: From the “Foreign Relations of the United States” database
in Hein, click on “1969-1976, Richard M. Nixon/Gerald R. Ford”. Next, click
on “vol. XX, Southeast Asia, 1964-1972”. Next, from the menu on the lefthand side of the screen, click on “Thailand Southeast Asia” (page 1). Scroll
down to page 6 which has the document titled: “Memorandum Prepared for
the 303 Committee. Subject: Covert Support of the Thai Government Party
in the Thai National Parliamentary Elections”. The relevant information
(“dollar amount not declassified”) is on the bottom of the page.
4.
A court decision contained in the database “International Law in Domestic
Courts”, states: “during a civil war that lasted for more than 30 years, over
200,000 indigenous people disappeared or were assassinated in Guatemala by the
Army and by civil servants acting under its orders”. Locate this decision in the
ILDC database. The court that issued this decision is located in what country?
Spain (Constitutional Court)
Path to find it: From the “International Law in Domestic Courts” database,
click on the “advanced search” tab at the top. In the “search terms” box,
type in “Guatemala”. From the “other search terms” list, select either
“human rights” or “international criminal law” (both work equally well in
this search). From the “keywords” list, select “genocide”. Then, click on the
“back to advanced search” link. Finally, click on the “search” button, and
the first result is the relevant case: Menchu and others v. Two Guatemalan
Government Officials and others, Constitutional appeal (recurso de amparo)
Judgment of the Constitutional Court, ILDC 137 (ES 2005) 26 September
2005. Click on the link to the full text of the case and find the relevant
language at the top of the “analysis” section.
5.
With regard to any of the countries mentioned in question 2 above, can you find
better sources (subscription or free) for court decisions of those countries other
than Westlaw or Lexis? If so, please name the sources below.
Start with a legal research guide for each of the four jurisdictions (such as
the research guide on Mexican law published by Tarlton Law Library, Univ.
of Texas http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/vlibrary/outlines/mexico.html).
Research guides for each of them will describe print and/or electronic
sources other than Lexis and Westlaw where you can find court decisions.
Also, the website http://worldlii.org provides a database of cases, or links to
websites that have cases, for Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Italy (but in Italian
only). Worldlii.org provides links to court websites in Mexico, but these do
not appear to provide actual court decisions.