the thrill of legal proceedings

This is not a great look: link, judgment.  The High Court in Cesan v The Queen; Mas Rivadavia v The Queen [2008] HCA 52 has overturned two criminal convictions on the basis that the trial judge…

on-line defamation decision, eh

A Canadian court has recently handed down what seems like an eminently sensible judgment concerning defamation on the Internet: story/judgment.  In essence, the decision means that (for Canadian purposes) linking to a defamatory web page does not itself…

accused mass coat hanger thief

It’s hard not to enjoy it when a non-lawyer witness confounds a lawyer in court.

As such I really enjoyed this link sent to me by Tom (no website AFAIK) in which the hapless Mr Lovelace, barrister at…

an idea about police spying

This kind of thing makes grim but not at all surprising reading. Just as they did in the 1950s and 1960s, the powers that be are making it their business to infiltrate groups of citizens attempting to exercise their legitimate…

U.S. Supreme Court Judge: ‘absurd’ not to punch suspects in the face, stick things under fingernails

In a recent interview, everyone’s favourite extreme right wing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia remarked that he found it ‘absurd’ to think that authorities couldn’t torture an individual who had information about an imminent terrorist attack (

red mass: the court goes to church

The Sydney Morning Herald and Catholic News tell us that judges and other members of the legal community in New South Wales recently participated in ‘Red Mass’, a European tradition in which members of the legal profession seek…

refuse to tell your employer about your sex life, lose your job

This is an extraordinary decision by the Industrial Relations Commission.  Telstra has had its right to sack an employee upheld, where the basis of the sacking was that she had sex with another employee (or employees, it seems) outside of…

Serious Crime (Control) Bill 2007 (SA) – a bill controlling what, exactly?

I just became aware of this piece of legislation, recently introduced into the South Australian Parliament: the Serious Crime (Control) Bill 2007 (SA). You can see the bill here in Rich Text Format or here in…

verballing 101

The South Australian Government has gone ahead with legislation to ban David Hicks from selling his story.  He’s still allowed to tell his story, but he’s not allowed to sell it.  Lucky him.  Presumably he’ll be able to…

kidnapping, bounty hunting completely fine by U.S.

Confirming that the United States still regards the phrase “war on terror” to mean “license for continuing and willful insanity”, a lawyer representing the U.S. in a high profile case in England has indicated that the U.S. view is that…

demanding equality in pre-crime

Britain’s Lord Justice Sedley has caused quite a fuss by suggesting that all Britons (and any visitors to the Isles) should be added to the British criminal DNA database (alternative article).

Unsurprisingly the suggestion has caused…

trade your vote in for a new one

This is an interesting development in the US – an appellate court has ruled that it is legal to ‘swap’ votes, and also to facilitate the swapping of votes.

The idea emerged in the 2000 presidential election campaign – supporters…

a big week for the separation of powers

This week is turning into a big week for the notion of the separation of powers in Australia.  As you (should) know, the separation of power between the judiciary and the parliament/executive is one of the devices included in…

who are the ones that we kept in charge? killers, thieves and lawyers

This interesting rant on The Road to Surfdom kindly makes the point that not all lawyers are evil – just the ones who consistently seek to undermine the legal process for political gains. Others, such as Dr Haneef’s lawyer Stephen…

Australia: subject to the laws of the United States

You may have come across this story over the last few months – one Mr Hew Griffiths, an Australian software pirate – was extradited to the United States and prosecuted for offences under US copyright law. He subsequently