 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2017) |
| Law Day, U.S.A. | |
|---|---|
| Observed by | United States |
| Date | May 1 |
| Next time | 1 May 2023 |
| Frequency | annual |
On May 1 the United States officially recognizes Law Day. It is meant to reflect on the role of law in the foundation of the country and to recognize its importance for society.
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared May 1 to be Law Day in the United States. The first day of May has been celebrated since before that time in parts of the world as May Day or International Workers' Day: a day to remember the struggles of workers for better wages and working conditions, including the eight-hour workday movement.
Law Day was conceived by the late Hicks Epton, an attorney from Wewoka, Oklahoma, who served as Oklahoma Bar Association president in 1953. Before he became president, Mr. Epton served as head of the public relations committee, and in 1951, he launched one of the most important public relations programs ever undertaken by the OBA: Know Your Liberties – Know Your Courts Week. This was one of the last weeks of April dedicated to educating the public about the legal system and celebrating the liberties we have as Americans. [1] The Know Your Liberties – Know Your Courts Week spread across the nation and earned for the association two Freedom Foundation awards. Law Day, as a national celebration of the law, was originally the idea of Charles S. Rhyne, Eisenhower's legal counsel for a time, who was serving in 1957–1958 as president of the American Bar Association. [2] Eisenhower proclaimed May 1 to be Law Day, U.S.A. in 1958. [3] Its observance was later codified by Public Law 87-20 on April 7, 1961. [4]
Some countries celebrate May Day on the same date, as it is designated Labour Day or International Workers' Day. But on February 5, 1958, President Eisenhower recognized the first Law Day when he proclaimed that henceforth May 1 of each year would be Law Day in the United States. He stated: "In a very real sense, the world no longer has a choice between force and law. If civilization is to survive it must choose the rule of law." [5] Today, many local bars and legal education associations, such as the Florida Law Related Education Association and the New York State Bar Association, use Law Day as a legal education tool, especially for students.[ citation needed ]
Like Earth Day, Law Day is not a government holiday. To celebrate Law Day, some local bar associations hold a luncheon, featuring speakers who discuss topics such as justice or the liberties provided for by the United States Constitution. Also, attorneys might visit schools and talk to students about the American legal system.[ citation needed ]
The American Bar Association designates a theme to highlight an important issue relating to the law or legal system. The 2014 theme was American Democracy and the Rule of Law: Why Every Vote Matters. The theme reflects the importance of voting rights, ballot box accessibility and voter engagement. The ABA provides resources on its Law Day website, www.lawday.org, to mark the occasion, and also holds several national Law Day programs in Washington, D.C., on April 30 and May 1.
The day has been criticized as being intended to reduce the influence of May Day (or International Workers' Day), a holiday that originated with a general strike on 1 May 1886 in the campaign for the eight-hour day in the United States, which culminated in the Haymarket affair in Chicago. [6] became an international day in support of American workers who were being subjected to brutal violence and judicial punishment.
"May Day started here [in the USA], but then became an international day in support of American workers who were being subjected to brutal violence and judicial punishment." [7]
36 U.S.C. § 113 states, in part: [8]
Veterans Day is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day which are celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I. Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. At the urging of major U.S. veteran organizations, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.
A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separate the area in which court business is done from the viewing area for the general public.
Loyalty Day is observed on May 1 in the United States. It is a day set aside "for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom". The date, May 1, was set in order to counter International Worker's Day, and was conceived in the height of the Second Red Scare.
The University of Georgia School of Law is the law school of the University of Georgia, a public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it among the oldest American university law schools in continuous operation. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks the school among the Top Tier Law Schools in the nation.
Patricia Ann McGowan Wald was an American judge who served as the Chief United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and as a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. She was the first woman to be appointed to the D.C. Circuit and the first to serve as Chief Judge of that court. She served as a member of the American Bar Association's International Criminal Court Project and on the Council of the American Law Institute.
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. As of fiscal year 2017, the ABA had 194,000 dues-paying members, constituting approximately 14.4% of American attorneys. In 1979, half of all lawyers in the U.S. were members of the ABA. The organization's national headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois, and it also maintains a significant branch office in Washington, D.C.
Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920.
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association (ABA) in protest of that organization's exclusionary membership practices and conservative political orientation. They were the first US bar association to allow the admission of minorities to their ranks. The group sought to bring more lawyers closer to the labor movement and progressive political activities, to support and encourage lawyers otherwise "isolated and discouraged," and to help create a "united front" against Fascism.
The Antonin Scalia Law School is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Washington, D.C., and 15 miles (24 km) east-northeast of George Mason University's main campus in Fairfax, Virginia.
The Bricker Amendment is the collective name of a number of slightly different proposed amendments to the United States Constitution considered by the United States Senate in the 1950s. None of these amendments ever passed Congress. Each of them would require explicit congressional approval, especially for executive agreements that did not require the Senate's two-thirds approval for treaty. They are named for their sponsor, conservative Republican Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio, who distrusted the exclusive powers of the president to involve America beyond the wishes of Congress.
Continuing legal education (CLE), also known as mandatory or minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) or, in some jurisdictions outside the United States, as continuing professional development, consists of professional education for attorneys that takes place after their initial admission to the bar. Within the United States, U.S. attorneys in many states and territories must complete certain required CLE in order to maintain their U.S. licenses to practice law. Outside the United States, lawyers in various jurisdictions, such as British Columbia in Canada, must also complete certain required CLE. However, some jurisdictions, such as the District of Columbia and Israel, recommend, but do not require, that attorneys complete CLE.
Golden Gate University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of Golden Gate University. Located in downtown San Francisco, California, GGU is a California non-profit corporation and is fully accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA).
St. Mary's University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of St. Mary's University, a private Catholic university located in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. The three-day weekend it falls on is called Labor Day Weekend.
The Annual Bulletin of the Comparative Law Bureau of the American Bar Association (ABA) was a U.S. specialty law journal. The first comparative law journal in the United States, it surveyed foreign legislation and legal literature. Circulated to all ABA members, it was absorbed in 1915 by the newly formed American Bar Association Journal.
Jerome Joseph "Jerry" Shestack was a Philadelphia lawyer and human rights advocate active in Democratic Party politics who served as president of the American Bar Association (ABA) from 1997 to 1998. He chaired the International League for Human Rights for twenty years, and was appointed the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1979 to 1980 by President Jimmy Carter. Shestack was regularly listed on the National Law Journal's list of the 100 most influential U.S. lawyers.
Presidents' Day, or Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor all persons who served as presidents of the United States and refers also to the federal holiday specifically honoring George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War, presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and was the first U.S. president.
International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on May Day.
Adeola Austin Oyinlade is a Nigerian human rights lawyer.
Jean Dubofsky is the first woman to become a Colorado Supreme Court Justice and a former Deputy Attorney General for Colorado. She was the lead attorney in Romer v. Evans, the case that overturned Colorado Amendment 2 at the US Supreme Court, resulting in a landmark ruling for LGBT rights in the United States.
