Free and public lecture offers CLE credit

The Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University will celebrate Constitution Day on Monday, Sept. 13h with a lecture on Comparing Constitutions by Professor Brian Ray. Constitution Day was created by Congress in 2004 to establish a formal federal observance of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

In Comparing Constitutions, Ray will discuss the controversial practice of using international and foreign legal sources in constitutional interpretation. In the United States, the idea has provoked Congressional hearings and attempts to limit federal courts' ability to refer to these sources in their decisions. In many other constitutional systems around the world, however, it is becoming increasingly commonplace to refer to international law, and the laws of other countries, in interpreting constitutions. For example, the post-apartheid South African constitution mandates reference to relevant international law, and specifically allows references to foreign laws in its interpretation.

The lecture will be held in the Moot Court Room at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, 1801 Euclid Ave. at 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 13. The lecture is free and open to the public and one hour of free CLE credit is available for lawyers.

About Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, founded in 1897 as the Cleveland Law School, was the first law school in Ohio to admit women and one of the first to admit minorities. In 1946, the Cleveland Law School merged with the John Marshall School of Law, founded in 1916, to become the Cleveland-Marshall Law School. In 1969, the Law School joined Cleveland's new public university as its sixth college and was renamed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law of Cleveland State University. Early graduates of the College of Law laid the foundation for the legal profession in Northeast Ohio. Now in its 113th year, Cleveland-Marshall prepares promising students to be America's leaders in the 21st century in law, business, non-profit agencies and government.

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