Law Times

PAGE 10 Museum attracts visitors worldwide FOCUS BY GRETCHEN DRUMMIE Law Times Ephemeron: Something of a fleet- ing nature, important at the mo- ment that it's produced, but less so as time goes on. Victoria criminal lawyer Jona- than Arnold's collection of legal memorabilia has turned into an online "museum" with 125 items and visitors viewing it from at last 26 countries. The Museum of Legal Ephem- era, or M.O.L.E., got its start thanks to a contract professor who "spoke highly" of the carbol- ic smoke ball, Arnold tells Law Times during a recent interview. "I thought it would be fun to go and find the original ad for it. "The carbolic smoke ball was a contracts case in 1893 and it's responsible today for all the small print that you see in advertis- ing and business contract agree- ments," he says. It involved a car- bon inhaler that was supposed to fight influenza and the company put it out that anyone who used it for two weeks and still contracted the illness would get 100 pounds. A woman bought the ball, used it, and ended up getting sick, but when she demanded her money she was told the ad was just meant as puffery. She said, "We'll see about that," took them to court, and the rest is history. I t started as a hobby during law school. A mere three years later, Arnold acquired a copy of the ad behind Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. And with that a museum was born. Since then Arnold has been trolling eBay for items to add to his unique collection. In fact, he has 25 "spiders" or automatic search engines set up that e-mail him with new postings, and "I sim- ply pick out of them." Says Arnold: "There's re- ally nothing like it out there. I thought when I was going to law school it would be interest- ing when they taught me about [Donoghue v. Stevenson] to see the ginger beer bottle; you'd be able to have that physical con- nection with the history of law." M.O.L.E. currently re- sides online on Facebook at www.facebook.com/group.php? gid=2465756660, and has 274 members. Arnold says the col- lection is physically housed at his Victoria, B.C., office but he has been exploring the possibil- ity of moving it to one of the universities' law libraries. "The whole point of the collection is to get it out there and get it displayed," says Arnold, the col- lection curator. For the time be- ing Facebook was a way to "get it out there. It's been good from that aspect; people can go there, they can look at it, they can use it. I've had professors from as far away as Ireland use some of the pictures and presentations for law students." He says it "shows that people kind of neat." Arnold says he keeps his spend- ing limit low — "I typically won't spend over $20 for an item." The most he spent was $175 on an "interesting law book from 1684, which is Notable Questions of Law from France and the Parliament of Provence." He adds that "a lot of it is just luck. It's simply at the time it's being bought, there's not a lot of interest in it." He says that other lawyers Two items from the Museum of Legal Ephemera include a copy of the carbolic smoke bomb ad, and a 1952 comic inspired by New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. have, from a broad diversity and broad background, an interest in these type of things. A lot of what I collect is more common law related as opposed to civil law related, which sets us apart from 80 per cent of the world, but people from those jurisdic- tions still have a great deal of interest in the items, so that's Q. Why does the legal profession trust Martin's? A. Analysis and commentary from renowned authors you won't find anywhere else 2009 Edition This is the most current and authoritative resource available accessing decisions from all court levels, including more reported and unreported cases than any other Code. It includes supplements (including statutory updates and recent amendments), Forms of Charges and an Offence Grid. Martin's Annual Criminal Code, be more like a pop culture col- lection of legal memorabilia. You can go to places like Os- goode Hall or the Law Society of Upper Canada has a collec- tion, but it's mostly of case law and that type of thing. I've never found a place that actually has a lot of pieces that would have been involved at trial or pop culture-type pieces that relate to law," says Arnold. "It's be- come lately, because of what I do, more criminal law focused, without a doubt." Just a random browse through the collection shows Arnold has an original ad from the London Illustrated News of 1892; crime who know about the collection drop by his office and "we go through some of the pieces." His latest acquisition, what he calls a "weird one," is a vin- tage 1960s black glass tray de- picting a newspaper story of Lady Bird Johnson dedicating a courthouse in Peoria, Ill. "The collection is meant to December 15, 2008 • Law Times comic books; things like ticket stubs from the Texas Huntsville prison rodeo; famous auto- graphs including one from Lord Denning; postcards; a Scottish Semper Vigilo Constabulary police cap; many court docu- ments including a summons is- sued by Benjamin Harris against Peraz Tracy; photographs of varied people from Judge Wo- pner to Robert Shapiro (auto- graphed). Each item has a write- up explaining the history and significance behind it. vellum manuscripts that are too large to scan. Created prior to 1800, on calf or lambskin, typi- cally they are things like inden- tures, wills, estates, and the like. "People either really, really Arnold also has pieces like love it or they just think I'm nuts. It tends to be one or an- other," says Arnold when asked about the reaction. He explains that it's a nice outlet from the pressure of practising criminal law. "My mentor principal once said you can spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year obsessed with whatever it is you do, but you've got to find some- thing to stay sane. This is, apart from my family, probably it for me. You're never really away from the office [with criminal law], people call you at all hours and days, but I do this for fun and again, if it gets displayed somewhere then that's when I'll consider it a success." LT Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C. and Martin's Related Criminal Statutes, 2008-2009 Edition This important, fully annotated resource includes all relevant, up-to-date related criminal statutes and case law, and the most significant federal criminal statutes. Includes decisions from every level of the courts, and cross-references to related provisions. Martin's Ontario Criminal Practice, 2009 Edition Martin's Ontario Criminal Practice offers the most current and authoritative explanation for the rules of practice in Ontario's criminal justice system. In this latest edition benefit from a comprehensive review of: of Justice Provincial Offences Act the Provincial Offences Act ) Martin's Criminal Code: Counsel Edition you'll find: the ) 1955 to Present MARTINS ONLINE Criminal Code CA019 martins.indd 1 www.lawtimesnews.com IN'S' Martin's Online Criminal Code Martin's Online Criminal Code includes the current Code and all Codes offers you easy access to all provisions of the Prices starting from $175 Contact your Account Manager today for more information. www.canadalawbook.ca LT1215 12/11/08 9:55:20 AM at any specific point in time. Just enter the relevant date.

• Cover
• Remembering Irwin
• Benchers Diary
• Focus On Criminal Law