Until January 6, the Latvian National Library's Economics and Law Reading Room is hosting a thematic exhibition entitled "Legal Press in the Latvian Legal Space," which retrospectively traces the development of the legal press over three centuries and 145 years’ time.

The exhibition begins with the publication of "Tiesu Vēstnesis" (Court Gazette) by publisher Juris Māters, which is the first legal newspaper in the Latvian language, the publishing of which commenced in 1880. Moreover, the exhibition includes such rare items as "Court Calendar for 1894: A Handbook for Officials and Private Persons" and "Baltic Court Calendar."

During the first period of independence of the Republic of Latvia, the legal press field was extensive – there were both professional and academic publications, such as “Jurists” (Lawyer), “Tieslietu Ministrijas Vēstnesis” (Gazette of the Ministry of Justice of Latvia), “Rigasche Zeitschrift fūr Rechtswissenschaft”, and publications on legal issues for a wide readership, such as Cilvēka tiesības (Human Rights), Darba tiesības (Labor Rights), Tautas tiesības (People's Rights), etc.

The exhibition also includes legal publications issued during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, as well as publications from the exile period, such as “Latviešu Juristu Raksti” (Writings of Latvian Lawyers).

There are also available diverse publications that appeared after the restoration of independence but are no longer being published: "Temīda" (Themis), "Likums un Tiesības" (Law and Rights), "Juristu Žurnāls" (Lawyers Journal), "Cilvēktiesību Žurnāls" (Human Rights Journal), "Juridiskā Zinātne" (Legal Science), etc.

The legal press exhibition also features the Supreme Court Bulletin, which was relaunched by the Supreme Court in 2010 and is still being published twice a year.

The exhibition "Legal Press in the Latvian Legal Space" was opened at the National Library of Latvia on December 2 during the celebration of the launch of the new format of the legal journal “Jurista Vārds”, which is also the reason why the exhibition focuses on this publication.

Introductory remarks were given by Dagnija Baltiņa, Director of the National Library of Latvia, Dina Gailīte, Editor-in-Chief of Jurista Vārds, and Sanita Osipova, Professor at the University of Latvia and Senator of the Supreme Court.

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211