Copyright and Disclaimer


Copyright Fair Use Clause


Material on this site has mostly been created by the site author, Paul Hyams, but some has been assembled from elsewhere on the Internet or Web and placed here for ease and rapidity of local access, meaning mainly for my own Cornell students.

A good faith effort has been made to comply with US copyright law. This does not imply any claim that all of the material is outside copyright, but does mean that I have adhered to the best of my knowledgeand ability to the "fair use" clause of US Copyright. This "fair use" clause is quoted below from the University of Pennsylvania website (http://www.upenn.edu/).

In particular, no copyright material here is used for commercial gain;all is exclusively for educational purposes; and I limit any quotationof previously published material to a small proportion of the published source.

I should appreciate the opportunity to hear directly any objections that material placed here does not conform to these "fair use"provisions. If you have comments or suggestions, pleas email me, PAUL HYAMS, at prh3@cornell.edu, so that I can remove any offending material pending resolution of the issue.

You are very welcome to use freely any translations or other materials prepared by me, in electronic form or even in hard copy at all educational institutions, as long as source and author are indicated.You should be aware that these are materials prepared for teaching use only; they tend to be "quick and nasty" by nature.The ancient maxim "Caveat Reticulator" therefore applies. I should be particularly grateful if you could point out to me any errors which I can correct or improve.

Ironically, I myself owe thanks to Paul Halsall, the Net-benefactor who has done so much for users seeking information on the Middle Ages. I have based this page on his Disclaimer message at his site, the Medieval Sourcebook, (to which there are links on other pages) and have "borrowed" his quotation of the "fair use" clause below.


107: Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phone records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use, the factors to be considered shall include:


My own understanding of this clause starts from WilliamW. Fisher III, "Reconstructing the Fair Use Doctrine", 101 HarvardLaw Review (1988), 1661-1795, esp. Part II at 1667 et sq., and takes account of a hilarious, cautionary tale from Robert C. Ellickson, Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes (Cambridge,Mass: Harvard U.P., 1991), 254-68 but not of the most recent litigation.


I am always extremely grateful to hear of non-functioning links etc. , so I can repair them. 

This Term's Courses

History 2590 - "The Crusades"
History 7090 - "Introduction to the Graduate Study of History" (with Professor Barry Strauss)

Fall 2008 Office Hours

Wed  11:15 am - 12:15 pm; Thurs 3:30 - 4:15 pm, and by arrangement

Courses Taught in the Past

History 151 - "Western Civilization I" (with Professor Karen Graubart)
History 214: "Crusade, Heresy and the Inquisition in the Western Mediterranean"
History 247 - "The Age of Charlemagne"
History 257 - "English History from Anglo-Saxon Times to c. 1400"
History 2590 - "The Crusades"
History 262 - "The Middle Ages: A Sampler"
History 310 - Power, Life, and Literature in Medieval England (x-listed with English 314)
History 368 - "Marriage and Sexuality in Medieval Europe"
History 408 - Feudalism and Chivalry: Secular Culture in Medieval France, 1000 - c. 1300
History 427 - "Power and Society in Medieval Japan and Europe
History 436 - "Conflict Resolution in Medieval Europe"
History 447 - "Crusaders and Chroniclers"
History 651 - "Anglo-Saxon History in its Literary Context (x-listed with English 710)
History 653 - "England - Britain - Europe in the Middle Ages"
History 7090 - "Introduction to the Graduate Study of History" (with Professor Barry Strauss)
  Some Items for Graduate Students

To Paul Hyams' Departmental Page.