Word division does not play the same part in English as it does in German. German words are very long. Germans learn at school how to divide words. English (and American too, I imagine) children do not learn the rules of word division. We do not divide words in handwritten texts – it looks really odd in English.

I first encountered word division when I used a typewriter. I have given it up now. I prefer a ragged right margin. Many lawyers, English and German, like to justify both margins (Blocksatz). Then, especially in German, you get ‘rivers’ making the page look torn apart. When I overwrite a client’s file in English, I preserve the justification but turn off the automatic word division. Continue reading →

From a circular:

bq. The Jean Monnet Center has revamped its European interest links.
Our links are organized in a two tier manner:
Weiler’s Web lists Joseph Weiler’s personal Top 10 list of European
research interest links. This list, like Top of the Pops is fluid and subject
to challenge and persuasion. European Interest Links on the Jean Monnet
Home Page Tool Bar lists in a more systematic and comprehensive
fashion the links found most useful by the Jean Monnet Center community. Continue reading →

From a circular:

bq. The Jean Monnet Center has revamped its European interest links.
Our links are organized in a two tier manner:
Weiler’s Web lists Joseph Weiler’s personal Top 10 list of European
research interest links. This list, like Top of the Pops is fluid and subject
to challenge and persuasion. European Interest Links on the Jean Monnet
Home Page Tool Bar lists in a more systematic and comprehensive
fashion the links found most useful by the Jean Monnet Center community. Continue reading →

It is hard to find pictures of German legal stationery online. At Dreske & Krüger they do have a PDF file of their catalogue online (click on Reno Shop), and there you can see seals (Siegelsterne, Siegelpressen) and deed straps (Aktengurte).

Soldan also have some pictures online (are they related to the boiled sweet manufacturer in Nürnberg?). They have a lot of eyelet punches (Ösapparate). I once got a cheap eyelet punch from Manufactum, made in China, but not only was it hard to use, the last straw came when I certified several translations and sent them to a client by post, the eyelets were caught in the machinery of the German post office and ripped the whole envelope open, and they glued it together again, getting sticky tape over the documents, and wrote ‘Sorry!’ over it (I believe they used the English word, which seems to have some cachet in Germany).

It is hard to find pictures of German legal stationery online. At Dreske & Krüger they do have a PDF file of their catalogue online (click on Reno Shop), and there you can see seals (Siegelsterne, Siegelpressen) and deed straps (Aktengurte).

Soldan also have some pictures online (are they related to the boiled sweet manufacturer in Nürnberg?). They have a lot of eyelet punches (Ösapparate). I once got a cheap eyelet punch from Manufactum, made in China, but not only was it hard to use, the last straw came when I certified several translations and sent them to a client by post, the eyelets were caught in the machinery of the German post office and ripped the whole envelope open, and they glued it together again, getting sticky tape over the documents, and wrote ‘Sorry!’ over it (I believe they used the English word, which seems to have some cachet in Germany).

The most famous U.S. legal stationery item is the yellow pad. I think the traditional size is foolscap (is that what they call legal size?), but Staples had them even in mini sizes. The yellow paper with blue lines (and red margin?) is so distinctive that For Counsel sell ‘legal briefs’ in the form of yellow-lined underwear.

It was difficult to find a picture of a legal pad, but here is one.