Unusual Law School Celebrations

A very classy list of the hijinks happening on law campuses around the country...

The best post by far is post 5:

• Each year the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University honors the memory of Rascal, the only recipient of the Doctor of Canine Jurisprudence degree at the annual Rascal Memorial Procession. According to Cumberland tradition, Rascal was a mongrel pup who faithfully attended classes at the law school’s former home in Lebanon, Tennessee, beginning in 1933, and in 1937 he was presented the rare degree of Doctor of Canine Jurisprudence. Rascal passed away in 1940, and was buried with much ceremony beneath the window where he attended classes. When Cumberland moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1961, Rascal’s tombstone and a few spadefuls of dirt were brought to the Samford Campus, and again interred at Blackacre, on the west side of Robinson Hall. This year, on, Thursday, March 6, students, faculty, and friends of the law school--and their pets processed from the foot of Samford’s Centennial Walk to the Blackacre patio area. After a eulogy by Professor Howard Walthall, mourners and pets enjoyed a hotdog lunch served by Cumberland faculty, plus awards and party favors were given.

Ben Stein

An excellent article by Ben Stein calling for government regulation of CEO compensations.

Classy -- Magic Cards make a comeback

http://ifoughtthelaw.cementhorizon.com/archives/005861.html

New copyright developments

Big things going on in NY Fed Courts. Until I read the update at the bottom, I was blown away, since the decision in Hotaling v. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (4th Cir) has been pretty good law since 1997 standing for the proposition that a library, once it's made the materials available, is liable for any improper copying regardless of whether any copying actually took place.

But after reading the update, it looks like the judge hasn't forgotten all his copyright law, and is just adding onto the Hotaling doctrine by requiring that the plaintiffs prove "offer to distribute," an element that wasn't particularly important in the Hotaling case (libraries, by existing, imply an offer to distribute), but has become ever more important in the Internet age.