the law is for the protection of the people

my sweetie went down to the courthouse to get her name changed the other day and discovered that there's a law library in the tarrant county courthouse (the big impressive one at 100 w. weatherford with the stairs in front) that's open to the public. in these days of steadily-eroding individuals rights, perhaps it's time for yr average joes 'n' jills to start developing a more, um, how you say, _personal relationship_ with la ley, and how better to do that than to actually _read_ the stuff? for folks of limited means who think that legal documents read, well, like they were written by lawyers, the tarrant bar association offers free legal clinics (gotta scroll down a ways if you use the link), and there's also an online clearinghouse for legal information (civil, texas type).