Author: Eoin

Dr Eoin O'Dell is a Fellow and Associate Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin.

Tax day, excise and Dr Johnson

| 3 Comments
| Conferences, Lectures, Papers and Workshops, Restitution

Thumbnail of a detail from Joshua Reynolds' protrait of Samuel Johnson, via the Guardian websiteOn this day, 15 April, millions of US citizens will complete their annual tax returns: for the IRS, today is filing day, colloquially known as tax day. It is also the day on which, in 1755, the first edition of Dr Samuel Johnson‘s Dictionary of the English Language was published. Many of the US taxpayers filing their taxes today would probably apply to their situations the sentiments of one of his better know definitions:

Excise: a hateful tax levied upon commodities and adjudged not by the common judges of property but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.

The Commissioners of Excise sought the advice of the Attorney General as to whether the definition was defamatory and invited Johnson to amend it. Characteristically, he declined, and the definition appeared in subsequent editions of the Dictionary. However, the Commissioners did not pursue a defamation claim against him, but there is evidence to suggest that they did keep watching to see if he ever amended the definition.


This post is republished from the updates feed of the website for the conference on Restitution of Overpaid Tax (Merton College Oxford, 9 and 10 July 2010).…

Read More »

Fourth Legal Education Symposium – more information

| 1 Comment
| Conferences, Lectures, Papers and Workshops, Legal Education

University of Limerick sundial, via UL siteAs I’ve already posted here, the Fourth Legal Education Symposium will be hosted by the School of Law, University of Limerick in the Kemmy Business School on Friday, 14 May 2010.

Due to the generous sponsorship of Limerick solicitors’ firm Holmes O’Malley Sexton, there is no conference fee, but registration is essential, and a form is available by email.The programme for the day includes two plenary sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and several parallel workshop session in both the morning and the afternoon.

Speaking in the morning plenary session on The Purpose of a Law Degree will be Professor Fiona Cownie, Keele University, Dr John Temple Lang, Cleary Gottlieb Steen Hamilton, Brussels, and Professor Paul McCutcheon, Vice President Academic, University of Limerick.

Speaking in the afternoon plenary session on Promoting Legal Research will be Professor Sally Wheeler, Queens University,Belfast, Dr Neville Cox, Trinity College Dublin, and Professor Sandeep Gopalan, NUI Maynooth.

Kudos to Sinead Eaton for putting together a really excellent package.…

Read More »

A Proper Scrabble in today’s Irish Times editorial

| 2 Comments
| General

Original Scrabble via the scrabble websiteAn editorial in today’s Irish Times [with added links]:

Proper Scrabble

QUIXOTRY: According to Webster’s, “Quixotism, or visionary schemes”. And 365 Scrabble points for Michael Cresta on a record-breaking night in October 2006, including a “triple-triple”, covering two triple-word scores with one word – worth nine times the value of the word – a double letter score on the X, plus the 50-point bonus for using all seven letters.

Not to put a tooth in it, however, what we were concerned with this week was definitely not a “visionary scheme”. More like crass commercialism, a pandering to youthful ignorance, and the debasement of a great game played in 121 countries and 29 languages. For Scrabble’s manufacturer Mattel, horror of horrors, had apparently announced it intends to make the first major rule changes in 62 years, allowing inter alia the use of proper nouns including geographic names, celebrities and even products and companies “to enable younger players and families to get involved”.

The reports unleashed a torrent of righteous indignation around the world from traditionalist Scrabblers and the press. The Thunderer thundered. An Australian [Canadian?] writer compared the changes to poet Robert Frost’s view of free verse as akin to playing tennis with the net down.

…

Read More »

Blasphemy: Historical anachronism or modern crime?

| 1 Comment
| Blasphemy, Conferences, Lectures, Papers and Workshops

TCD Long Room Hub logoThe Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, presents a public lecture entitled

Blasphemy: Historical anachronism or modern crime?

by Professor David Nash, Department of History, Oxford Brookes University, UK.

The lecture will take place from 4:00pm to 5:30pm on Tuesday, 20 April 2010 next, in the Swift Lecture Theatre (Room 2041A), Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin (map here).

David Nash is the author of Blasphemy in Modern Britain 1789-present (Ashgate Publishing, 1999 | Amazon) and Blasphemy in the Christian World (Oxford University Press, 2007 | Amazon) and I am told that all are welcome to attend (though it is probably best to contact the Hub to be sure). I’m really looking forward to this; it is just one of many forthcoming events organised by the Hub, especially their fascinating Trinity Week events (next week, from 12 to 17 April) under the banner of Ideas For the Future.…

Read More »

Tort journal; and unjust enrichment

| No Comments
| Restitution

Cover of Journal, via publishers siteThe Journal of European Tort Law (also here and here) is officially launched today at the 9th Annual Conference on European Tort Law. A joint-venture between the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) and the Institute for European Tort Law (ETL) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, it is the first law review to be dedicated to the analysis and development of tort law in Europe. The General Editor is Professor Ken Oliphant, and it is published by de Gruyter, Berlin. The editors welcome all queries and submissions. The table of contents of the first volume:

  • Helmut Koziol & Ken Oliphant Preface (2010) 1 JETL 1
  • Lord Bingham of Cornhill The Uses of Tort (2010) 1 JETL 3
  • Nils Jansen The Concept of Non-Contractual Obligations: Rethinking the Divisions of Tort, Unjustified Enrichment, and Contract Law (2010) 1 JETL 16
  • Vaia Karapanou & Louis Visscher Towards a Better Assessment of Pain and Suffering Damages (2010) 1 JETL 48
  • Michael G Faure & Niels J Philipsen Fees for Claim Settlement in the Field of Personal Injury: Empirical Evidence from the Netherlands (2010) 1 JETL 75
  • Ulrich Magnus Why is US Tort Law so Different?
…

Read More »

Simon Singh, ‘bogus’ claims, and – finally – sense about libel

| 11 Comments
| Defamation, Defamation Act 2009, Freedom of Expression

Simon Singh, via his websiteSimon Singh has become an unlikely poster boy for reform of the UK’s libel laws. On Thursday, in an important judgment on the defence of fair comment, the Court of Appeal made it considerably easier for him to defend a libel case being taken against him by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA). Singh is a science writer whose current concern is with the basis and efficacy of alternative treatments. He is the co-author (with Professor Edzard Ernst) of Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial (Bantam Press, 2008; Amazon). On 19 April 2008, in a piece headlined Beware the spinal trap in the Guardian‘s “Comment and Debate” page, he wrote:

The British Chiropractic Association claims that their members can help treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying, even though there is not a jot of evidence. This organisation is the respectable face of the chiropractic profession and yet it happily promotes bogus treatments.

The BCA sued Singh, alleging that this passage was libellous. Aoife McLysaght presented a compelling critique (via YouTube) to Ignite Dublin #3 about this case. To my mind, this is the first of the many worrying aspects of the case.…

Read More »

Conference on Restitution of Overpaid Tax

| 2 Comments
| Conferences, Lectures, Papers and Workshops, Restitution

'The Tax Collectors' by van Reymerswaele, via wikimedia commonsThe School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, Pump Court Tax Chambers and One Essex Court are delighted to announce a conference on

Restitution of Overpaid Tax

which will take place in Merton College Oxford on the weekend of Friday 9 and Saturday 10 July 2010.

In Woolwich Equitable Building Society v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1993] AC 70 (HL), the House of Lords held that taxes unlawfully exacted by the Revenue are recoverable by the taxpayer as of right. The recent decisions of the Court of Appeal in Test Claimants In the Franked Investment Group Litigation v Commissioners of the Inland Revenue [2010] EWCA Civ 103 (23 February 2010) and FJ Chalke Ltd v Revenue & Customs [2010] EWCA Civ 313 (25 March 2010) demonstrate that many fundamental elements of the Woolwich principle still remain to be resolved. Eminent contributors will explore the general issue of restitution of overpaid taxes from various perspectives – for example, the tax background, various private law claims, alternative public law approaches, defences, and remedies – and in various jurisdictions (such as Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand, as well as the UK).

Details Programme | Contributors | Abstracts | Venue | Bookings | Contact | Updates…

Read More »

© cearta.ie 2025. Powered by WordPress