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December 4, 2009
Google Dictionary Has Legal Definitions
Google has invaded the legal world in yet one more way. It now offers a dictionary which includes legal terms. It's not exactly going to challenge Black's for authority or definitions, but it seems to have some value. Search for res ipsa loquitur and there will be a set of results that define and link to further information. Random comparisons with Black's entries show nothing for fettering of property, and feorme, but definitions for terms such as feoffment, food safety and inspection service, and Hatch Act certainly appear.
As for the Anglo-Saxon term feorme, which is a portion of the land's produce owed by the grantee to the terms according to the terms of the charter (Do I owe West any money for reproducing that?), a general Google search will bring up some results in context. The site also features and English to 28 language term translator, and language to English service. The page is not linked from any of the Google Menus, but can be found here or by searching Google dictionary in the main search page. Hat tip to an alert reader who brought this to my attention. I never asked if I can identify the person by name. Thanks, you know who you are. [MG]
Addendum to Mark's Comments: A hat tip to Josh Blackman for calling Google Dictionary to our attention. See his post, Google Adds a Dictionary, Black’s Law Dictionary Should Look Out, for the common legal terms he located. Of course, I pulled out Black's to look up a few terms myself: but-for test, executory interest, removal action found (do note the sources), handful of others not found. Not a Black's Law Dictionary killer yet. Getting slow at the reference desk this Friday afternoon? Go pull REF KF157 .B53 from the shelf. [JH]
December 4, 2009 in Digital Collections, Products & Services | Permalink
Comments
Be aware, all of the examples in the addendum are not actually from Google's new dictionary. Instead, they are a different view of the same information you would see if you put the phrase [define: removal action] in the regular google search box. They are just "web definitions" available from reputable or obscure websites alike. To see what Google's new dictionary looks like, try a non-law word, like ennui . Compare that with removal action. With ennui, we see the parts of speech, definition, etc., with web definitions below and removal action is only web definitions.
Posted by: Jennifer Duperon | Dec 5, 2009 8:55:28 AM