Every year, thousands of Rhode Island students, teachers, judges and lawyers share important law related education lessons on Law Day. The 2013 Rhode Island Law Day is scheduled for Friday, May 3, 2013.

The 2013 Rhode Island Law Day Classroom Program topics enhance curriculum and help meet educational goals. Rhode Island Law Day classroom program lessons are open to Rhode Island middle and upper school, 7th to 12th grade classes, and feature the in-school participation of a Rhode Island judge and lawyer team. To promote active student participation and the best possible educational experience, the 2013 Rhode Island Law Day programs include supporting information to prepare students for the lesson and program. The Rhode Island Law Day Committee (RILDC) is offering five lesson choices as part of this year’s theme, Equality Under the Law: Civil Rights in the United States, and related information aimed at soliciting student opinions, surfacing the legal issues relating to the topic, and reviewing the role of judges and lawyers in addressing these issues:

1) Police Questioning/Right to Arrest: Does a police officer or other individual ever have the right to stop a person and ask for their identification without any clear indication of the individual’s wrongdoing?
2) Income Equality in the Workplace: Should people receive the same pay for doing the same job?
3) False Imprisonment: Are there reasons why an innocent person would be found guilty of a crime they didn’t commit?
4) School Redistricting: Should the national or state government be able to move students from a school that is close to their home to another school? What reasons would be given for doing this?
5) Mortgage/Bank Loan Discrimination: Should banks or other lending institutions offering house or business loans have to offer the same terms to all people on the same terms? Is there ever a reason why a house or business loan would provide different terms to different individuals?

2013 Hon. Francis J. Darigan, Jr. Rhode Island Law Day Essay Contest
The Rhode Island Judiciary, the Rhode Island Bar Association, and the Rhode Island Police Chief’s Association are pleased to announce the tenth annual 2013 Hon. Francis J. Darigan, Jr. Rhode Island Law Day Essay Contest.  The Contest is open to all Rhode Island 10^th and 11^th grade students attending school in Rhode Island, but only to those grades.  Through the generosity of the Rhode Island Bar Association and the Rhode Island Police Chief’s Association, the winning essay author will receive a Scholastic Award and an engraved trophy cup.  The winner’s school receives a permanent plaque and the annual Law Day Essay Award Trophy to display until the next Contest.  We encourage all 10^th and 11^th grade Rhode Island students to participate.

Celebrating the 350 Anniversary of Rhode Island’s Royal Charter: 2013 marks the anniversary of Rhode Island’s Royal Charter, a historic document that recognized and established certain freedoms for Rhode Islanders long before these were officially acknowledged in the American Colonies. On July 5, 1663, King Charles II of England granted a unique charter to the residents of what was then known as the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. This document was the foundation for the Colony’s, and later the State’s, government, defining the executive and legislative branches, and providing exceptional religious and civil rights to Rhode Islanders. While some of the matters in the Charter were specific to the time of its writing, a number of Charter elements resonate with us today. These include, but are not limited to religious freedom; representative government, the creation of courts to settle disputes, and free trade and fisheries.  The Royal Charter guided Rhode Island’s government for 180 years until the 1842 ratification and 1843 adoption of the Rhode Island Constitution which borrowed heavily from the Charter’s original language. For the 2013 Rhode Island Law Day Essay Contest, using specific examples from the present and recent past, students must discuss how the Royal Charter’s language, and its subsequent incorporation in the Rhode Island Constitution, directly affects Rhode Islanders today.  The Royal Charter and the Rhode Island Constitution are located on the Rhode Island Bar Association’s website www.ribar.com under: For The Public – Law Related Education – 2013 Rhode Island Law Day Information -2013 Law Day Essay Contest Guidelines and Rules, Student Entry Form & Resources. Students are also encouraged to draw on additional resources, but all outside information must be properly credited. A completed Student Entry form, signed by the sponsoring teacher, must accompany each essay entry.  Essays must not exceed 800 words.  The essays are reviewed and the winner is selected by members of the faculty at Roger Williams University School of Law.  All entries must be received at the Rhode Island Bar Association no later than Friday, May 10, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. 

Frederick D. Massie
Director of Communications
Rhode Island Bar Association
Telephone: 401-421-5740 x. 108
Fax: 401-421-2703
Email: fmassie@ribar.com www.ribar.com