Anti-Violence

Article: BBC News 29/05/08 (Click Here)

Environmental Justice

This is rather a nice image being applied to a sewerage system concerning an environmental justice venture in Tikkun Ha-Ir of Milwaukee - speaks volumes.

Executions

This image relates to an article which has been deleted concerning a "restart of executions": unfortunately in the 21st Century there are countries out there who still execute the guilty.

Gavel

Bring down the Gavel (Click here)

Skeleton Arguments

I used Metallica's 'Justice for All' poster as the image I perceived portrayed what was occurring to the English Judicial System back in 1996/1997 (crumbling): I am therefore pleased to locate this additional poster while surfing google this evening. I reckon Metallica just may have been ahead of their time on this issue ... gives a new meaning to "Skeleton Arguments" under the Woolf Reforms and somewhere in the depths of my research papers there was an interesting attack for not having them put in the Times around the press releases by David Pannick QC specifically concerning Skeleton Arguments. Having used them myself they in no way assist Justice, nor Access to Justice and are a worthless piece of paper and procedural nonsense.



I tend to favour Iron Maiden and "Eddie" on the subject of decaying corpses, perhaps Metallica and Iron Maiden could get together for a Justice Rocks Concert - that would be heaven to me.

Justice Statement - Singapore

Very Interesting!

International Justice

Council of Europe : Building a Europe for and with Children (2006-2008)

International law and children's rights, children's access to international justice and child-friendly justice procedures.

Campus de la Justicia, Madrid - Contemporary or Futuristic?

MADRID CIVIL COURTS OF JUSTICE, Spain 2007
PROGRAM: Courts of Law.
CLIENT: Campus de la Justicia de Madrid
ARCHITECT: Zaha Hadid Architects
Design Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher
Project Architect Juan Ignacio Aranguren
Competition Team: Andrés Arias Madrid, Jimena Araiza Olivera Toro, Brian Dale, Amit
Gupta, Ho-ping Hsia, Sara Sheikh Akbari, Tomas Rabl, Paulo E.
Flores.
SIZE: 74,448 sqm: 49,033 overground / 25,415 underground

"ARCHITECTURAL PROPOSAL
The formal language and architectural articulation of the design aims to break the static configuration of the surrounding buildings. The design’s soft and dynamic tectonic turns it into an immediate reference for the masterplan, without the need to exhaust maximum building heights.

By way of horizontal shifts of its mass, a sense of elasticity is introduced into the design allowing the building to be grounded at its elevation to the masterplan campus. This elasticity draws visitors into its interior, and permits the building to ‘float ‘above the ground plain."

Very nice building!

Freedom

Lawyer Jokes

Medical Experimentation

The National Institutes of Health have announced that they will no longer be using rats for medical experimentation. In their place, they will use attorneys. They have given three reasons for this decision:

1. There are now more attorneys than there are rats.

2. The medical researchers don't become as emotionally attached to the attorneys as they did to the rats.

3. No matter how hard you try, there are some things that rats won't do.

Lawyers Accident

In the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, two cars both veer over the white line in the center of the road. They collide and a fair amount of damage is done, although neither occupant is hurt. It is impossible to assess blame for the accident.

Both the drivers get out of their car. One is a doctor and the other is a lawyer. The lawyer calls the police on his car phone and goes over to talk to the doctor.

It's cold and damp, and both men are quite shaken up at the accident. The lawyer offers the doctor a drink of brandy from his hip flask.

"Why, thankyou," the doctor accepts. He takes a few drinks and hands it back to the lawyer, who puts it away. "Aren't you also going to have a drink?" the doctor asks.

"Yes. After the police get here." replies the lawyer.

Bottle with a Genie

A man walking along the beach one day finds a bottle. He rubs it and, sure enough, out popped a genie. "I will grant you three wishes," said the genie. "But there is a catch."

"What catch?" the man asked.

The genie replied, "Every time you make a wish, every lawyer in the world will receive double the wish you were granted."

"Well, I suppose I can live with that," replied the elated man.

"What is your first wish?" asked the genie.

"Well, I've always wanted a Ferrari!"

Wham! A Ferrari appeared in front of the man. "Now every lawyer in the world has two new Ferraris," said the genie. "Next wish?"

"I'd love a million dollars," replied the man.

Wham! One million dollars appeared at his feet. "Now every lawyer in the world has two million dollars," said the genie.

"Well, that's okay, as long as I've got my million," replied the man.

"What is your third and final wish?"

The man thought long and hard, and finally said, "Well, you know, I've always wanted to donate a kidney."

Last Wish

An elderly gentleman, quite well to do, realized that his life was turning down the final stretch, so he summoned the three friends that he trusted the most for some advice. One was a doctor, one a priest, and the other an attorney.

"I've been thinking lately," he said to them, "that perhaps there is something to the ancient Egyptian belief that when we die, we take some things with us to the next world. So, I'm giving each of you an envelope with $1 million cash in it. At my funeral, I ask each of you to slip it into my casket so that I can use it on my journey to the next world." The three agreed.

A few weeks later, he was dead. At the funeral, each of the three went up to the casket, and each placed an envelope into the casket.

Afterwards, the three were talking, and the doctor couldn't keep it in any longer. "I have a confession," he said. "This year has been quite bad for the clinic. My CAT scanner broke, and I had to scrape to replace it. I took $80,000 out of the envelope to pay for it."

As the other two cringed, the priest then added, "I must confess, too. The poor have been especially unfortunate this year, and to provide them with food, I took $120,000 out and used it to feed and clothe them."

The attorney was beside himself. "I am disgusted. Our friend asked but one thing of each of us, and trusted us with his last request. How could you two break that trust and go against his wishes?"

The doctor replies, "You expect us to believe that you, an attorney, didn't take anything out of your envelope?"

"I would never!" replied the attorney. "In that envelope was a personal cheque for the full amount!"

Lawyer in the Carribean

A lawyer and an engineer were fishing in the Caribbean.

The lawyer said, "I'm here because my house burned down, and everything I owned was destroyed by the fire. The insurance company paid for everything."

"That's quite a coincidence," said the engineer. "I'm here because my house and all my belongings were destroyed by a flood, and my insurance company also paid for everything."

The lawyer looked somewhat confused. "How do you start a flood?" he asked.

The Deaf Underling

A Mafia Godfather finds out that one of his underlings has screwed him out of ten million bucks. This underling happens to be deaf, so the Godfather brings along his attorney, who knows sign language.

The Godfather asks the underling, "Where is the 10 million bucks you embezzled from me?"

The attorney, using sign language, asks the underling where the 10 million dollars is hidden.

The underling signs back, "I don't know what you are talking about."

The attorney tells the Godfather, "He says he doesn't know what you're talking about."

That's when the Godfather pulls out a 9 mm pistol, puts it to the underling's temple, cocks it and says, "Ask him again!"

The attorney signs to the underling, "He'll kill you for sure if you don't tell him!"

The underling signs back: "OK! You win! The money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed in my cousin Enzo's backyard in Queens!"

The Godfather asks the attorney, "Well, what'd he say?" The attorney replies, "He says you don't have the guts to pull the trigger."

Democracy or Banana Republic or Something Unfortunate else

I fundamentally believe that democracy is the highest form of social order but unfortunately we have had some disastrous headlines this week.

Scotsman 11/05/08 Eddie Barnes article : Brown humiliates Alexander

Scotsman 11/05/08 Gordon Brown: Losing his Grip on Scotland

New Labour "devolved" the United Kingdom under Blair - England, N. Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Unfortunately under a line management strata it has yet to properly devolve England which currently experiences political inequality:

1. The English MPs use Westminster as well as all UK MPs. There needs to be either an English issues only parliament and a UK parliament split between Westminster and the North of England - something needs to be built.

2. Scots, N.Irish and Welsh politicians currently participate in what should be English only politics, yet English MPs cannot participate in Scottish politics, that is fundamentally unfair and political inequality for the English people.

3. The West Lothian issue has been raised, debated and not as far as I aware resolved. The Scots enjoy a greater benefit than say north/middle England, ie the North of Watford Gap issue as the South tends to be relatively affluent in camparison to the north/middle.

4. Then there is the issue of the UK in Europe, as opposed to a devolved Scots, English, N. Irish and Wales in Europe. We need to make our minds up is this devolved or not.

Now Brown claims to be supportive of the UK as a whole (yet there is a devolution issue that remains unbalanced on an apparent line management exercise) but he has a very serious conflict of interest as Wendy Alexander is a "Party in Opposition" in Scotland. The Scots need her to debate the real issues of the day which is her reason for being. It is therefore not sensible for Brown or Wendy Alexander to be in open conflict, nor for Brown to be unsupportive of democracy in Scotland through her - her credibility and integrity must not be denegrated to a political puppet/pawn of Brown (she is a leader in her own right and terms) - if she has done something wrong, then clarify it and sort it out and apologise - but in this case, she is doing her job, so why is she being "humilitated". She does have to challenge the SNP whether Brown likes it or not. As someone living in Scotland, I expect all political parties in Scotland to challenge the SNP on behalf of their electorate because that is DEMOCRACY, not because I like any political party more than another.

We had enough bad headlines under Blair and the cartoonists were never going to be unemployed, but perhaps Brown can stop the nonsense and remember the image in our newspapers is that which we substantively do/give to ourselves around the world, if Brown is truly on the UK ticket, then focus on what is necessary concerning devolution - it was your party's idea - it needs to be completed properly; and have the grace to support a leader who is a party in opposition who must do opposition politics. It is not your personal ambitions/personalities that matter it is what you are elected by the people to do for the people: yes there is a conflict of interest within your party but there are better ways to deal with issues than humilitating members of your own team. Try fairness and equality and a good dose of common sense if not intelligence. It is a long time since I heard any politician use the word "Justice" and Brown recently referred to "Liberty and Security". I know "Justice" is missing from democracy and appreciate some judges are making an effort. But is fairness and equality also currently missing from politics: ie Democracy. We do not need the Blair/Brown smiling knives charade in the form of Brown/Alexander. Also remember Brown/Prescott are not in power so step out from the shadows and start doing politics. Wendy Alexander is doing nothing different than David Cameron: which is there job.

Bad /Unjust Law v Morality

This is an interesting article as it flies in the face of accepted wisdom:

Paedophile escapes jail for abusing girl, 11, after judge says 'she welcomed sex'- Daily Mail article by Andy Dolan 09/05/08

My own thoughts are that yes Paedophiles do have rights too, but that "ignorance of the law" is a time immemorial adage and every reasonable man in the UK knows that the age of consent is 16 for a boy and a girl. Therefore this man "knew" that what he was doing was wrong, the moment he became aware the girl was aged 12. However, this girl knew when she claimed to be 20 that she was also up to no good. Bear in mind the rule of equity "first in time prevails". Did she intend to have sex with any male/boy or was she specifically after a paedophile - was there a material difference concerning "intentionality" as the lines of "victim" appear to be blurred concerning the facts. It is not a nice thought that a 11 year old girl could intentionally want to and set out on a more than merely preparatory course of action to have sex with a paedophile.

However, if the judge informs that this girl is not innocent on these matters and was also aware that she had been "groomed" and that she also should not be conducting herself in this manner, ie enticement; that she cannot also escape fault/cause and my thoughts on the matter are that she should also go on the Sex Offenders Register for her conduct as she needs to learn lessons too. Her being on the Sex Offenders Register would also enable paedophiles some degree of latitude concerning contributory fault based on "knowledge", which is a higher bar to get over as opposed to belief or understanding. Would the girl have gone as far if he had informed her he was a "paedophile" as she had informed him that she was "12".

I do think this decision is bad/unjust law, albeit the Judge may be trying to show that UK society is degenerated to a degree whereby 11 year old girls do not have any innocence concerning sex. The judge is right to estabish what the morality of society is at any period in time in a judgment and our newspapers are on the same level concerning underage binge drinking. Therefore this judgment is a true reflection of societal standards - the issue is what should then be done about it.

Codification

The Ministry of Justice have been busy of late - in a good way : at last, some progress in the law "Ministers are to replace more than 100 pieces of legislation many obscure and outdated - with a clear list of legal protections for consumers". Brilliant news.


Bill will give new rights to shoppers - Daily Mail article 08/05/08

I have to admit I sat down and read this article "Reconstructing the English Codification Debate : The Criminal Law Commission 1833-45" written by Professor Lindsay Farmer who miraculously got to teach me Legal Systems and Legal Methods whilst at Birbeck College, University of London as well as second marking my dissertation in Jurisprudence tutored by Professor Nicola Lacey. Perhaps Professor Farmer now needs to do 1846 to the current day! I reckon on the article being worth 50% which is what I got for my 1993 essay for 100% accuracy and a 2:1 for dissertation in 1997, utilising substantively the same issues litigation v compromise!


Professor Lindsay Farmer - Reconstructing the English Codification Debate : The Criminal Law Commission 1833-45

Obiter Dicta - persuasive argument to signpost the future direction of the application of the rule of law

Well done Sir Anthony Clarke, current Master of the Rolls, and J K Rowling (aka Joanne Murray)

I have not read the Decision yet and consider the ratio decidendi is likely to be very good reading material. When I was in my first year at University I remember being told about the mischief rule, the literal rule and the golden rule - is this one of the "golden" rule decisions.

Rowling wins child privacy case 08/05/08 Daily Mail article by Stephen Howard

Anyway, as this is showing every sign of being a "virtual court blog", in my opinion!!! a virtual obita dicta might look like this:

Use the Joanna Murray case precedent and signpost it to be used within future case precedent relating to child pornography, ie

Computer Misuse Act 1990
Human Rights Act 1998
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
and possibly Lord Donaldson's two "Nuclear weapons" of the law - maraeva injunction and anton pillar order - if they still exist!

and shut down child pornography sites.

I am also mindful that the UK legal systems uniquely tap into Privy Council decisions as well as having access to the European Court of Justice and the ability to use the national/domestic legal system via article 234 preliminary references via the Treaty of Amsterdam to raise significant questions of law at European level to thereafter feature in the national/domestic legal decisions. Therefore the ability for the potential for the Joanna Murray ratio decidendi to have maximum impact for the protection of children is huge, even if at this stage it is hypothetical.

But then I have no doubt all those right thinking Lord Justices / Mr Justices are already minded in this direction and are away ahead of me!

Common Sense as opposed to Non sense!!

Well done Lord Justice Richards

Alzheimer's Drug Victory - Daily Mail article 02/05/08 by Jenny Hope

To the social policy makers - why are you spending up to £45,000 per annum keeping a person in prison and the cost of Alzheimer's drugs cost £2.50 a day! enabling a right to life. Get your priorities right.

In that regard, if global warming is a reality and the sea levels do indeed rise as per the Al Gore movie [and I would add that I attended the Edinburgh Lecture featuring the Cosmonauts/Astronaut last year which showed evidentially that what is occurring on earth can be seen from outer space and IS being monitored by the Russians and Americans thereby verifying the evidence Al Gore is also affirming] why are our prisoners not engaged in flood defence!! Food for thought on the issue of common sense over nonsense!