Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the August 25th, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• African International Courts and Tribunals
• CanLII: Canadian Legal Information Institute
• CIMIP: Center for Identity Management & Information Protection
• CRISE: Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity
• PolicyArchive

African International Courts and Tribunals
The website for African International Courts and Tribunals was created by the Project on International Courts and Tribunals (PICT, annotated in v. 4, no. 20 of InSITE). PICT’s mission is to "address the legal, political, financial and organizational challenges arising out of the multiplication of international courts and tribunals that took place as of the end of the Cold War." The site subdivides the African international courts into the following categories: Continental Courts, Subregional Courts, International Criminal Courts for African Conflicts, and Other Courts Handling African Cases. There is extensive information on each court including when it was established, when it became operational, where the seat is, who is subject to their jurisdiction and the number of cases it has received. In addition to this quick summary, there is also a thorough explanation of its establishment, what the court looks like and what it does. Additionally there are links to news stories regarding the court, basic documents, cases, related jurisprudence from member states, judges' biographies and a bibliography for each court. While there is no search engine, a site map facilitates navigation of the site.  [Author: S. Allen]

CanLII: Canadian Legal Information Institute
The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) is a free website launched in 2000 by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada that admirably fulfills its stated mission of making Canadian law accessible to the public in both English and French. CanLII covers all 14 jurisdictions (federal, provincial, and territorial) and offers legislation, regulations, court opinions, and selected board and tribunal decisions as well as court rules, news, and RSS feeds. The Basic (default) search from the home page covers all CanLII databases. The search box template allows searching using full text, statute name, case name, citation, or docket number. Basic Searches can be date restricted or limited in scope to one or more sources: legislation, courts, or boards and tribunals. The Advanced Search template is similar but allows refinement by combination of jurisdictions and specific types of material (e.g., decisions from specific boards, or regulations but not statutes.) There is also a Database Search option which allows researchers to choose a jurisdiction, see the number of available sources, and search all or some sources. The easiest way to approach CanLII is to select a jurisdiction to find links to all available resources under the headings Legislation, Courts, Boards and Tribunals, Frequently consulted documents, and External links. The scope of each resource varies widely. Some have coverage from 1994, others begin in 2008. Efforts are underway to expand the scopes; Supreme Court of Canada cases dating back to 1967 were recently added. Legislative resources can be accessed alphabetically and by year. A selected statute brings up the title only with an arrow labeled TOC that leads the table of contents and one labeled “next” which brings up the full text. Court resources allow access by year and post links to recent decisions and court rules. External links are to government-related pages, such as gazettes, bills, and debates. Finally, the plethora of information is rounded out by a list of14 Legal Information Institutes around the world. CanLII is easy to navigate and will continue to be an outstanding resource as it adds to the scope of its databases.  [Author: J.M. Callihan]

CIMIP: Center for Identity Management & Information Protection
The Center for Identity Management and Information Protection (CIMIP) is a project of the department of Economic Crime Management at Utica (NY) College and receives sponsorship from several federal law enforcement agencies. Established in 2006, CIMIP seeks to foster "a national research agenda on identity management, information sharing, and data protection." The Center's research and reports are available in the "Publications" section of their website -- though access requires submission of an email address -- with executive summaries in the form of press releases in the "Media" section. The CIMIP website's content is somewhat sparse and is the product of a limited number of scholars, but is nevertheless interesting and includes surveys like "Identity Fraud Trends and Patterns" which offers extensive statistical information on both identity theft victims and perpetrators. Overall, CIMIP's website offers unique information (though still a limited amount of it) on an emerging form of economic crime and would be of value to legal and social scholars and to law enforcement officials.
[Author: J. P. Cusker]

CRISE: Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity
CRISE, the Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, strives to "investigate relationships between ethnicity, inequality and conflict, with the aim of identifying economic, political, social and cultural policies which promote stable and inclusive multiethnic societies." Through a collaborative research program, staff and associated partners develop publications that examine the role of ethnicity in conflict, impoverishment, security, and sustainable development. CRISE’s working papers, policy briefings, and policy work and policy context papers are freely searchable and available on the website. Working papers, along with other online resources, can also be browsed through the CRISE Networks such as Latin America and West Africa. The newsletter, Research News, provides updates on current research, events, and developments at CRISE. A development research center within Oxford University, supported by the UK Department for International Development, CRISE should serve as a strong source for policy-based analysis of global ethnic issues for interested researchers. [Author: J. Jones]

PolicyArchive
PolicyArchive is a project of the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS), in conjunction with the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Library. CGS is a non-profit "that creates innovative political and media solutions to help individuals participate more effectively in their communities and governments." PolicyArchive is intended to be an innovative solution to the problem of accessing policy research. The site provides a digital archive for public interest organizations that is free, open, and easy to use. The collection of documents may be browsed or searched. Users may browse by topic, author, funder, or publisher. Topics range from agriculture to transportation and include government, law and ethics, and politics. Each topic is then divided into specific sub-topics. For each item there is a detailed record that provides author, funder, publisher, publication type, and an abstract. Each publication is provided in full-text PDF. The advanced search feature supports keyword searching that can be limited by topic or publication type. For users that register, the site offers an e-mail notification of newly-added research.  [Author: M. Morrison]

InSITE contributors:  S. Allen, J. Callihan, J.P. Cusker, J. Jones, M. Morrison, J. Pajerek (editor)

InSITE highlights selected law-related Web sites in two ways: as an annotated publication issued electronically and in print; and, as a keyword-searchable database. The law librarians at Cornell evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them. This information can be accessed via the channels below, in addition to this mailing list:

1. Searchable database or by browsing current and archived issues on the web: InSITE home page    
2. RSS feed
3. Print format for the Cornell Law School community.