On July 14, 1832, the 22nd Congress passed Chapter 221, An Act to Increase and Improve the Law Department of the Library of Congress, bringing the Law Library of Congress into existence.  To celebrate its 180th anniversary, the Law Library staff saluted the three pillars of the  organization – the collections, the expertise, and the staff – in a series of events on July 11. Professor Emily Kadens of the University of Texas School of Law, a Kluge Scholar at the Law Library, is using the Law Library’s collections to trace custom as law in the writings of medieval jurists, focusing on how Roman law supplanted customary law in some areas of Europe from the 14th through the 16th centuries.  Using fifteen items from the Law Library’s rare books collections and one from the Rare Books and Special Collections Division, Professor Kadens discussed the rediscovery and reimplementation of Roman law during Medieval times: “Lawyers and books go together, and therefore the history of law can be told through the history of law books.”

The highlight of the party, however, was a chocolate replica of the U.S. Capitol – much too luscious to preserve for the Law Library’s collection: