News Story

Cornell Law School and the Cour de cassation, France's top civil and criminal court, have agreed to establish the Cornell Center for Documentation on American Law. The new Center, which will be housed in the ancient premises of the Cour de cassation in the Palais de Justice in Paris, will include a 13,000-volume collection of law books from Cornell Law School’s Law Library as well as special training and instruction from Law School librarians.

This new partnership supplements the Law School’s already strong relationships in France, such as its fourteen year joint-venture with the University of Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) in a popular Summer Institute of International and Comparative Law in Paris, and a unique 4-year American/French law degree: the J.D./Master en Droit.

"I am delighted that Cornell Law School is in the forefront of such innovative networking,” said Stewart J. Schwab, the Law School’s Allan R. Tessler Dean. “This new partnership with the Cour de cassation shows imagination and is yet another indication of the increased role we are playing in Europe."

The venture, which has been supported by the Court's First President, Guy Canivet, (who was subsequently promoted to the Constitutional Council), will enable the French judiciary to better familiarize themselves with American law and will lead to enhanced dialogue between judges and academics of the two countries. The collaborating partners also believe that cultural initiatives like this one can have a significant and beneficial impact on the political relations between the two countries and old allies.

The Cornell Center will be dedicated and a commemorative plaque will be officially unveiled on July 17, 2007, as part of a groundbreaking judicial conference that will be taking place between the chief justices of European countries and the United States. The establishment of the Center will be featured as a concrete step toward fulfilling the justices’ aspirational goals of cross-cultural exchange and cooperation. In attendance at this ceremony will be Dean Schwab; Professor Claire Germain, the Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law at Cornell Law School; with Chief Justice Roberts and other members of the U.S. Supreme Court. The conference of justices will be chaired by Lord Phillips, the English Lord Chief Justice, and will also be attended by the chief justices of the European Union countries. Sir Basil Markesinis QC, who taught at the Cornell Law School for many years and is the Scientific Adviser to the First President, was instrumental in the arrangements for the Center’s creation.

Professor and Cornell Law Librarian Germain said: "I am proud to provide this collection and the electronic research and instruction of our expert staff, to allow such an international dialogue and exchange of ideas and interests to take shape. One cannot have a substantive conversation without having the information to go with it."

Writing to Dean Schwab, President Canivet said: "You and your school are taking a pioneering decision which is bound to have deep political and judicial and intellectual repercussions for which I not only congratulate you but also thank you profoundly."