On March 18, 1963, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v . Wainwright that the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of counsel in criminal cases is a fundamental right, essential to a fair trial, as provided by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court battle leading up to this ruling was truly a case of David v. Goliath. In recent years, there has been a push to advocate for a “Civil Gideon” – the right to legal counsel in civil cases. If Civil Gideon should ever come to pass as a universal Constitutional right, the legacy of Clarence Earl Gideon, whose own case was decided on this day 59 years ago, would be fulfilled for all so that “justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status” and irrespective of the type of offense.
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Ex Libris Juris - HCLL Blog
What’s behind the name? “Ex Libris Juris” is Latin for “from the books of law” and much of the information here will relate to the legal information collected and curated by the Law Library. Additionally, “Ex Libris” has long appeared on bookplates – labels appearing inside the front cover of books – and has acquired the connoted meaning “from the library of” to show ownership of the book. Using this connotation, the phrase becomes “from the library of law” and better describes the posts about digital resources, event announcements, and research tips that will regularly appear here.