There’s a form for that…

Did you know the law library collection has entire sections dedicated to time-saving forms?  Before you try to create a form from scratch or re-invent the wheel, check out our selection!  Whether you need a form for a practical-skills class or for an externship, we have a huge selection of forms for your use.

Top Forms in the Print & Electronic Collections:

• Thorp’s North Carolina Trial Practice Forms  PRINT   ELECTRONIC
• Pleadings & Motions
• Counterclaim & Crossclaim
• Parties

• North Carolina Criminal Trial Practice Forms  PRINT   ELECTRONIC
• Motions
• Checklists

• North Carolina Manual of Complaints   PRINT ONLY
• Automobile Torts
• Negligence
• Premises Liability
• Consumer Areas of Practice

• North Carolina Corporation Law and Practice Forms   PRINT   ELECTRONIC
• Incorporation
• Non-profits
• LLC, LP, LLP and PC

• Douglas’ Forms  (North Carolina)  PRINT   ELECTRONIC
• Business Transactions
• Civil Litigation
• Wills, Trusts, & Estate Administration
• Real Estate
• Domestic Relations & Guardians
• Transactions in Turbulent Times

These titles focus on North Carolina law and represent only the tiniest sliver of the available state and national resources.  One of the best ways to find the form you need is to browse an index in the print format.  There is an entire row of forms in the compact shelving area of Treatises with several indices to facilitate your search.

FREE forms are available online for Living Wills and Health Care Powers of Attorney.  See the North Carolina Secretary of State website for additional details.

FREE forms are available online at the Administrative Office of the Courts for a variety of civil and criminal matters.  See the entire list here or search for a particular form.

Best option of all?  Come visit us in the law library and we will guide you to the best forms for your needs!

~Mary Susan Lucas~

Parading through history

Did you know that the first St. Patrick’s Day parade did not take place in Ireland, but was held in New York City on March 17, 1762.  According to History.com, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through NYC proudly playing their music in order to show pride and reconnect with their Irish heritage, and other Irishman serving in the United States Army.  Then, “in 1848, several New York Irish Aid societies decided to unite their parades to form one New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Today, that parade is the world’s oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly three million people line the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than five hours. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Savannah also celebrate the day with parades involving between 10,000 and 20,000 participants.” 

With tens of thousands of people attending, participating, drinking green beer, and generally having a good time at St. Patrick’s Day celebrations world-wide, inevitably something gets broken, damaged, destroyed, or just plain ol’ creamed.  However, in some states, such as Louisiana, the state legislatures specifically limit the liability for property losses connected with St. Patrick’s Day parades. For example, § 2796.1. Limitation of liability for loss connected with St. Patrick’s Day parades or any ethnic parade of the Louisiana code states, “Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no person shall have a cause of action against any organization which presents St. Patrick’s Day parades or other street parades connected with any ethnic celebration … for any loss or damage caused by any member thereof or related to the parades presented by such organization, unless said loss or damage was caused by the deliberate and wanton act or gross negligence of the organization.”

Louisiana courts further define the scope of gross negligence in Tauzier v. St. Patrick Parade Committee of Jefferson, Inc., App. 5 Cir.2002, 807 So.2d 1106, 01-1138 (La.App. 5 Cir. 1/29/02) by summarizing that a  “sponsor of St. Patrick’s Day parade, in which float rider was injured when struck on head by speaker knocked from its mooring atop float by overhanging tree branch, was not guilty of gross negligence such as required to hold parade sponsor liable for loss or damages related to such parade, despite evidence that similar accident occurred on same float in preceding year; sponsor was aware of need for care and attempted to ensure that float complied with height restriction.” For more case law on this subject, run a search in your jurisdiction with this topic and key number: Public Amusement And Entertainment 79

Not only are there tort issues surrounding St. Patrick’s Day parades, but the Supreme Court has considered historical constitutional concerns raised in regards to the First Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech as well.  In an article for the New England Law Review, Gretchen Van Ness wrote,

On June 19, 1995, in the case of Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Group of Boston, 115 S. Ct. 2338 (1995), the United States Supreme Court handed down this unremarkable ruling: under the First Amendment, the state may not require private citizens who organize a parade to include in that parade a group imparting a message the organizers do not wish to convey. The Court’s unanimous pronouncement, presented in fewer than twelve pages of text, sidestepped the most compelling issues raised by the case and brought to an end a historic, even epic, three-year civil rights struggle that had occupied the attention of numerous courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts commission Against Discrimination (MCAD),   the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and, of course, the court of public opinion. In the course of over three years of litigation, two different stories were told about this Evacuation Day/St. Patrick’s Day Parade (Parade). The state court decisions tell one story, about an annual civic celebration, open to the public generally, that fell within the reach of the Massachusetts public accommodations law. Unwilling to give effect to the state’s anti-discrimination law, however, the United States Supreme Court decision tells a different story, about a private event and private actors fighting off gay extremists and government-imposed speech. What is the truth about this Parade? Perhaps it no longer matters, as the Supreme Court has spoken, and its words now tell the official history of this Parade. The incredible true story of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the United States Supreme Court, Gretchen Van Ness, 30 New Eng.L.Rev. 625 (1996).

Dwight G. Duncan supplements and adds to Van Ness’s sentiments with his own article, Parading the First Amendment through the streets of South Boston, 30 New Eng.L.Rev. 663 (1996).

Can you think of any other legal issues surrounding St. Patrick’s Day parades?

-Liz McCurry-

Humor from the Journal of Legal Education…

Thoughts on the U.C.C. (With Apologies to Dr. Suess) by Meredith Lauren Zinnecker with help from Tim Zinnecker.

I do not like the U.C.C.

I do not like it, no sirree.

 

Article I and all its terms?

I think I’d rather eat fried worms.

 

“Good faith,” I see. But what’s the test?

And what if I’m an atheist?

 

Don’t care for Sales, not one wit.

Is this a “good”? Don’t give a ___.

 

A holder in due course, you say?

The pain is back. Please go away!

 

Forged indorsements, stolen checks?

My dad enjoys them more than sex.

 

Wire transfers, Article 4?

I’d rather listen to Al Gore.

 

Letters of credit? Oh how boring.

Read one last night. Started snoring.

 

Bills of lading? What a drag.

The topic makes me want to gag.

 

Stocks and bonds. Article 8?

Start without me. I may be late.

 

Secured Transactions? Not for me.

The topic makes me wanna pee.

 

The Code just puts me out of sorts.

Would much prefer to study Torts.

 

I do not hold the Code in awe.

Want something sexy? Try Con Law.

 

Property sounds kinda cool.

Those future interests make me drool.

 

Grant Gilmore? Dude, you make no sense.

But Wigmore? Love your Evidence!

Civ Pro? Now that’s the class for me.

Not daddy.  He received a “D.”

 

A course that works just like Ex-Lax?

The U.C.C. (And maybe Tax).

 

The Code is not my friend or pal.

Would much prefer a root canal.

 

Commercial law? It ain’t for me.

But I still love Professor Z!

 

*Meredith Lauren Zinnecker is the two-year-old daughter of Tim Zinnecker, the Harry and Helen Hutchens Research Professor at South Texas College of Law.  Professor Zinnecker teaches commercial law courses, including Payment Systems and Secured Transactions.

See also: Journal of Legal Education, Volume 59, Number 1 (August 2009)