Eoin – Page 73 – Cearta.ie

Hadley v Baxendale in the Irish High Court

Posted on 22 February, 2011 by Eoin

Hanrahan v Minister For Agriclture, Fisheries And Food [2010] IEHC 442 (26 November 2010)

McMahon J:

11. It is well established that a plaintiff may recover such damages for a breach of contract ‘as may fairly and reasonably be considered either arising naturally, i.e. according to the usual course of things’ or ‘such as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of both parties at the time they made the contract, as the probable result of the breach of it’. This test was set out in Hadley v Baxendale (1854) 9 Ex 341 at 354-355, and has been approved in numerous Irish decisions such as Lennon v. Talbot Ireland Ltd (Unreported, High Court, 20th December 1985), and Lee v. Rowan (Unreported, High Court, 17th November, 1981,).

12. The plaintiff is entitled to such damages as would put him as nearly as possible into the position in which he would have been had the animals been returned as agreed. In the absence of the cattle themselves, a sum of money to represent their value should be awarded. Additionally, the plaintiff claims he is entitled to profits lost and expenditure incurred because of the breach of the agreement. In the present case, these primarily relate to his loss of milk from the milking cows not returned.

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Summa cum laude: Offline education

Posted on 22 February, 2011 by Eoin

For me, then, the whole angle of attack centering on supposed limitations of technology and distance education was misjudged and the fact that the traditional education providers (in this country) were not in the forefront of using technologies and supporting the unmet demand from those who couldn’t possibly attend full-time classes but yet who had the skills and the passion for teaching, seemed a terrible shame.

via ollscoil.blogspot.com

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law.arts.culture » Freedom to Read Week [in Canada]

Posted on 22 February, 2011 by Eoin

It’s Freedom to Read Week in Canada, an annual event organized by the Freedom of Expression Committee of the Book and Periodical Council, “that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

via lawartscult.osgoode.yorku.ca

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RTÉ defends stance on covering candidates – The Irish Times

Posted on 22 February, 2011 by Eoin

PAUL CULLEN, Political Staff

LEGAL CHALLENGE: RTÉ HAS defended its election coverage in the face of criticism of its treatment of Independent candidates by a Dublin city councillor.

Cieran Perry, who is standing as an Independent in Dublin Central, says he is planning a legal challenge to the State broadcaster’s policy on election coverage.

Mr Perry has accused RTÉ of breaching the principle of fairness established in court judgments on election coverage because it treats some candidates as “also-rans”.

via irishtimes.com

I’ve set out the legal principles in posts on Cearta here and here.

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Estoppel and consideration – money for nothing?

Posted on 18 February, 201122 February, 2011 by Eoin

During the property boom, lots of banks made lots of loans to lots of property developers. Then, as the market began to tighten, many of the banks made alternative arrangements with some of their developer clients. Now that the property market has collapsed, banks are seeking to enforce the terms of loans as against developers, and the developers are relying on the alternative arrangements by way of defence. An Cumann Peile Boitheimeach Teorenta v Albion Properties Ltd & Ors [2008] IEHC 447 (07 November 2008) is one such case (see also the legal issues in Helsingor Ltd v Walsh [2010] IEHC 54 (05 March 2010)).

I learn via the very helpful new blog Stare Decisis Hibernia – a blog concerned with recent decisions of the Irish Superior Courts – that another such case has recently been decided by the High Court. ACC Bank plc v Kelly [2011] IEHC 7 (10 January 2011) turned largely on its facts, and Clarke J held that there was no binding agreement in place or clear understanding between the parties that the bank would not call in the loan. The defendants had argued that the alternative arrangement could be relied upon on the basis of an estoppel or enforced as a contract supported by consideration, but, in the course of holding that those claims failed on the facts, Clarke J made some important observations about when forbearance to sue constitutes good consideration (the underlined words are his emphasis):

7.9 So far as the case in promissory estoppel is concerned, I have already indicated that I am not satisfied that any concluded arrangement (even if it be short of a contract) had been come to between the parties such as could have grounded a case in promissory estoppel.

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Understanding Robert Mapplethorpe through Patti Smith | Jacket Copy | Los Angeles Times

Posted on 18 February, 2011 by Eoin

On Monday the J. Paul Getty Trust and Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced the joint acquisition of the works of Robert Mapplethorpe. The 200 unique artworks, 2000 photographs, 3,500 Polaroids and 120,000 negatives are worth in the neighborhood of $30 million.

In addition to the artworks, Mapplethorpe’s correspondence is included in the acquisition. What will probably be of most interest to history are the documents related to the 1990 “obscenity” trial in Cincinnati, a flashpoint in the era’s culture wars, that stemmed from a posthumous show of Mapplethorpe’s photography that included homoerotic and sadomasochistic images. But pop culture fans may be more interested in Mapplethorpe’s personal correspondence with rocker Patti Smith, whose memoir of her relationship with Mapplethorpe, “Just Kids,” won the 2010 National Book Award for nonfiction.

via latimesblogs.latimes.com

For mire on the controversial Mapplethorpe show in Cincinnati, and subsequent equivalent causes célèbres, have a look at my post on Cearta considering whether galleries should show offensive art and my follow-ups here and here on this site.

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Learning with ‘e’s: The truth about blogging

Posted on 18 February, 2011 by Eoin

Anyone who blogs regularly will have discovered several truths. The first is that you are only as good as your last post. …

The second truth is reflected in something that Shelly Blake-Plock (@teachpaperless) has expanded upon in his excellent post ‘Why teachers should blog‘. I quote: To blog is to teach yourself what you think. …

A third truth … is this: Writing on blogs is dialogical, much more so that it ever could have been in paper format. …

via steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

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News: When the Professor Is Controversial – Inside Higher Ed

Posted on 18 February, 2011 by Eoin

The political views of academics should not be used as the bases to hire, fire, promote or demote them. That idea — not terribly disputed — is at the center of draft policies being released today by the American Association of University Professors on how to handle personnel issues involving politically controversial academics.

But even if the AAUP and many of its critics agree on that statement, they are likely to disagree on at least some of the principles put forth by the association. …

To prevent inappropriate political intrusion, the report offers a series of principles. For example, when responding to charges that indoctrination is going on in the classroom, the AAUP states that “[o]nly the proven demonstration of the use of ‘dishonest tactics’ to ‘deceive students’ — not the political views, advocacy, or affiliations of the faculty member — may provide grounds for adverse action” and that “[n]either the expression nor the attempted avoidance of value judgments can or should in itself provide a reasonable ground for assessing the professional conduct and fitness of a faculty member.” … The report says as well that colleges must focus on academic substance, not style. “The academic imperative is to protect free expression, not collegiality,” it says.

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