Month: February 2024

Leap Year and the Law

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2024 is a Leap Year, where an additional day (the 29th!) is added to February every four years.  

For leapers, born on February 29th, there are annoyances and medical challenges in their lives. On the legal front, complications caused by that extra day affect areas such as age determination disputes, statutes of limitation, and criminal sentencing.  

In the Nutmeg state, a quick search resulted in several cases that reflect the myriad of logistical and legal problems associated with this extra day. In Lorusso v. McClain the plaintiff argued that she commenced her action in a timely manner due to the definition of the word “year” which is not limited to 365 calendar days during a leap year (2016), thus permitting the plaintiff to deliver the writ, summons and complaint to the marshal on the 366th calendar day. The court determined that in the context of computing the statute of limitations and unless expressed otherwise, the 29th day in the month of February during a leap year is to be counted with the 28th day of February of the same leap year. 

To learn more about the leap year and the law, check out this blog post from Thomson-Reuters: 

Take Your Child to Library Day! Saturday 2/24!

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Join us on Saturday, February 24th, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. for a morning of fun at the library!

The UConn Law Library is joining a nationwide initiative that encourages families to take their children to the library and raises awareness of the importance of libraries for children and families.  We will have coloring, story time, create your own bookmarks and a self-directed scavenger hunt. We hope kids and the young at heart will join us and enjoy the library space.

Graphic of Rabbits walking to library

Database Spotlight! NAACP Papers

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This February, in honor of Black History Month , UConn Law Library is featuring 3 important digital resources: the NAACP Papers as produced by ProQuest.  The collection is organized into the following groups:

NAACP Papers: The NAACP’s Major Campaigns – Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces

Major campaigns for equal access to education, voting, employment, housing and the military are covered in this module. The education files in this second module document the NAACP’s systematic assault on segregated education that culminated in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Files from 1955 –1965 focus on the NAACP’s efforts to implement the Brown decision as well as to combat de facto segregation outside of the South.  Click here to go to the LibGuide page for this module

This NAACP module consists of the working case files of the NAACP’s general counsel and his Legal Department staff for the period from 1956 to 1972. The files document the NAACP’s aggressive campaign to bring about desegregation throughout the United States, particularly in the South.  In total, this module contains over 600 cases from 34 states and the District of Columbia. The cases in this module pertain to school desegregation, abuses of police procedure, employment discrimination, freedom of speech, privacy, freedom of association, and housing discrimination.  Click here to go to the LibGuide page for this module

One of the highlights of this NAACP module are the records on the Scottsboro case, one of the most celebrated criminal trials of the 20th century. This module also contains the key NAACP national office files on the campaign against lynching and mob violence, and NAACP efforts to fight against discrimination in the criminal justice system. Click here to go to the LibGuide page for this module

The NAACP Papers contains excellent material to support the law school community’s research projects on social justice and civil rights topics. If you have any questions about this content, contact our reference team!