The Margaret A. Banks Room: Law School Publications, Memorabilia, and Legal Humour

The Margaret A. Banks Room, named in honour of Dr. Margaret A. Banks, Professor of Law and Head of the Law Library from 1961-1989, was officially opened in September 2005.  The "Banks Room", with its beautiful glass-fronted wooden bookcases, is used as a meeting room but also houses various collections such as Law Faculty publications, Law Theses, Law School calendars, scrapbooks from 1959 to 1988, and yearbooks, as well as a Legal Humour collection.

The legal humour books were rescued from the library stacks and others have since been acquired specially for the Banks Room.  There are also some favourite mysteries included such as a few of John Mortimer's Rumpole stories and Sarah Caudwell's Lincoln's Inn mystery series, narrated by legal historian Hilary Tamar.  Some other titles in the humour collection include:

• Chickens May Not Cross the Road and Other Crazy (But True) Laws by Kathi Linz
• Habeas Circus: Illegal Humor by Alan Gerson
• Habeas Codfish: Reflections on Food and the Law by Barry M. Levenson
• More Legal Fictions: A Series of Cases from Shakespeare by Alfred Laurence Polak
• Bogus Law Reports by Bryan Gibson

A number of the legal humour books in the collection are available to be checked out of the library.  Click here to explore humorous and anecdotal law books available at the Law Library.  If you have questions regarding the Margaret A. Banks room, please contact the Law Library.