A new book display is on view in Main Reading Room on L3, prepared by Steven A Mitchell, Research Librarian for Legal History and Foreign & Comparative Law. The display highlights two dozen legal dictionaries from the Lillian Goldman Law Library’s collection. They are largely Anglo-American in origin or purpose, but a few foreign and comparative dictionaries are also included.
From before the framing of the United States Constitution, dictionaries have played a role in the American legal system, aiding judges and attorneys in that effort to interpret existing legal texts; in order to apply them to present situations; and to create legal texts which will subsequently be applied in the future. See, e.g., Respublica v. Steele, 2 U.S. 92 (1785), the first reported judicial opinion to reference a dictionary. The volume containing this opinion is also included in the exhibit.
The dictionaries in the display case are opened to the same entry, or headword, allowing patrons to compare and contrast definitions: how they are similar or different, how they vary in length and precision, and what tools of language and organization they use to aid the reader to better understand, interpret, and apply legal terms. The dictionaries in the display case currently feature the entry for ‘murder’ — which some dictionaries place under the entry for ‘homicide’. The featured term will be changed periodically, so if you come back several days after visiting, you can compare a different legal term! Patrons are also invited to browse the dictionaries on the shelves to either side of the case and compare entries of their own choosing.
The PDF attached below contains more information about legal dictionaries and the exhibit.
