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Author: Eoin

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

Today in law and literature

1 February, 2011
| 1 Comment
| General

In Ireland, the first day of February is the feast day of St Bridget, and it is traditionally regarded as the first day of Spring. For the day that’s in it, here’s an image of St Bridget’s Cross:

St Bridget's Cross, via wikipedia

According to the font of all wisdom and knowledge, Wikipedia, on this day in

  • 1552 – Edward Coke, English jurist and Member of Parliament, was born (d. 1634).
  • 1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
  • 1790 – In New York City, the Supreme Court of the United States convenes for the first time.
  • 1851 – Mary Shelley, English author, died (b. 1797)
  • 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude, though it was was not ratified by the states until later; as a consequence, today is National Freedom Day in the United States.
  • 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
  • 1904 – S. J. Perelman, American humorist, was born (d. 1979)
  • 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1901) and George Whipple, American scientist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
…

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Academic freedom and tenure: some further thoughts (Donncha Kavanagh) « University Blog

1 February, 2011
| No Comments
| Academic Freedom, General, Tenure

…The state then, as argued by Kant in 1798, has a duty to protect academic freedom in order to enhance if not ensure the rule of reason in public life, while the university has commensurate duty to counter the excesses of the state and its desires.

… neither should one be in thrall to academic freedom, or use it to simply buttress selfish desires for permanent employment and security. In this regard, I think academic freedom should not always be bundled together with the concept of ‘permanency’ (which varies in meaning depending on context). …

… If academic freedom is a meaningful privilege that comes with real responsibilities, it must have an elitist dimension, which means that there needs to be a robust process to determine who is accorded this freedom (qua responsibility). …

via universitydiary.wordpress.com

See also Stephen Mennell and Paddy Healy Defending academic freedom (Letter, Irish Times, 1 February 2011):

the debate on academic freedom … concerns the freedom of the academic expert to speak the truth in the public interest. That freedom is underpinned by the right to tenure in the Universities Act (1997).

Ferdinand von Prondzynski Lack of trust is the biggest threat to our academic freedom
(column, Irish Times, 1 February 2011):

If we are serious about exploiting the smart economy, we need to build up understanding between our academics and the public.

…

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The empty chair and the moratorium: broacasters’ duties of fairness – I

1 February, 201114 September, 2020
| 7 Comments
| advertising, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Election 2011, Freedom of Expression, Irish Society

Empty chair in BBC tv studio, via the BBC websiteDuring the course of the next month or so, we are going to hear a lot about the duty of broadcasters to be balanced, fair, objective, and impartial, in current affairs matters. In fact, TV3 have twice now sought to determine exactly what that duty means. First, earlier this month, TV3 queried whether this duty requires a moratorium on political coverage the day prior to polling and on election day. Then, last Thursday night, on Tonight with Vincent Browne, Browne suggested that if Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny did not accept TV3’s invitation to participate in an election debate with other party leaders, TV3 would go ahead with the debate with an empty chair where Kenny should have been; and Browne simply rebuffed Fine Gael’s Alan Shatter’s objection that the empty chair would breach TV3’s duty of impartiality. Given how supine Irish broadcasters have been in the past about the scope and limitations of this duty, I’m delighted to see TV3 take such a robust interpretation, and I look forward to further examples during the general election. In the meantime, in this post, I want to look at the fairness issues raised by the moratorium; in a future post I will look at those raised by the empty chair.…

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Source of contention | Media Law Journal

1 February, 2011
| No Comments
| General, Journalists' sources

When – if ever – should journalists be forced to disclose their confidential sources?

It’s been a hot issue lately. The Crown applied to court for an order requiring TV3 to provide identifying information of the Waiouru Army Medals thief after John Campbell’s anonymised TV interview with him. The Serious Fraud Office compelled the National Business Review to turn over notes and tapes made during its scoop on South Canterbury Finance. The government had to fend off accusations that its new Search and Surveillance Bill did not properly protect journalists’ confidential sources. …

The Evidence Act [a href=”http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2006/0069/latest/DLM393681.html”here] provisions are fairly new, and got their first run in the Campbell case (which doesn’t seem to be available online). TV3 argued that if they were ordered to turn over information identifying their interviewee, then their sources would “dry up”. The Crown asked me to give evidence about whether that was true. What hard evidence is there of this “chilling effect” on confidential sources?

My evidence is here … [and the] cases, reports and articles I’ve drawn on are listed at the end.

I found the exercise fascinating. It quickly became obvious there is no hard evidence. If sources don’t come forward, we don’t find out, and we can’t know why they didn’t.

…

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Sarah Ludington: The Dogs that Did Not Bark: Academic Freedom, Tenure, and the Silence of the Legal Academy During World War II

1 February, 2011
| No Comments
| Academic Freedom, General, Tenure

During World War II, the legal academy was virtually uncritical of the government’s conduct of the war, despite some obvious domestic abuses of civil rights, such as the internment of Japanese-Americans. This silence has largely been ignored in the literature about the history of legal education. This Article argues that there are many strands of causation for this silence. On an obvious level, World War II was a popular war fought against a fascist threat, and left-leaning academics generally supported the war. On a less obvious level, law school enrollment plummeted during the war, and the numbers of full-time law professors dropped by half. Of those professors “laid off” during the war, many took employment in government agencies and thus effectively silenced themselves. Finally, the American Association of Law Schools had only adopted a strong position on academic freedom and tenure in 1940. The commitment to academic freedom and tenure was insecure in many institutions and was only weakened by the severe economic strain of the war. To illustrate the effect of these larger forces, this Article tells the stories of five professors who criticized domestic policy during the war and the institutional consequences of their dissent. Of those professors, only one – a tenured professor at New York University – was fired during the war.

…

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More media coverage of Lowry v Smyth

31 January, 2011
| No Comments
| Defamation, General
Michael Lowry

Further to my links to coverage by RTÉ and the Irish Times, here is some more media coverage of Lowry v Smyth:

Judge refuses Lowry request in defamation case, via irishexaminer.com

Michael Lowry loses bid for summary judgment against Sam Smyth, via thejournal.ie

Tax-evading Irish lawmaker Lowry loses libel case, AP via google.com

Tax-evading Irish lawmaker Lowry loses libel case, AP via forbes.com

Judge refuses Lowry request in defamation case, via breakingnews.ie

Lowry fails to secure summary ruling in Smyth defamation case, via irishtimes.com

Lowry refused defamation judgment, via independent.ie

Michael Lowry Refused Request In Defamation Case, via thurles.info…

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Retention of DNA, and the effect of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights

31 January, 20111 February, 2011
| 4 Comments
| ECHR, Irish Law, judges, Privacy

Misha AngristAn article in today’s Daily Telegraph raises important issues relating to the retention of the DNA of innocent persons by the police in both the UK and Ireland. It also raises profound questions as to the effect of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in domestic law.

According to the Telegraph:

The [UK’s] Coalition Government has pledged to dramatically reduce the time period that police can retain samples of people who were not charged or convicted of offences. It follows a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in 2008 that a blanket policy of retaining such profiles indefinitely was illegal.

However, no new laws have yet been introduced and the Supreme Court will today hear a test case that such samples should be deleted now. If the country’s top court agrees it could result in police forces having to remove the samples immediately regardless of when new legislation is introduced.

The case is R (on the application of C) (FC) (Appellant) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (Respondent) (UKSC 2010/0186) …

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Lowry fails in ruling on Smyth claim – The Irish Times

31 January, 2011
| No Comments
| Defamation, General

Lowry fails in ruling on Smyth claim

Independent TD Michael Lowry arriving at the Moriarty Tribunal in Dublin Castle in April 2009. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh/The Irish Times Independent TD Michael Lowry arriving at the Moriarty Tribunal in Dublin Castle in April 2009. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh/The Irish Times

Related

  • Smyth to fight Lowry application | 21/10/2010
  • Judgment reserved in Lowry case | 17/12/2010

 

COLM KEENA Public Affairs Correspondent

Independent deputy for North Tipperary Michael Lowry has failed to get a summary ruling in a defamation case where he claimed journalist Sam Smyth had accused him of being a thief.

Judge Margaret Heneghan delivered judgment today in a case under the 2009 Defamation Act where Mr Lowry was seeking a summary ruling that comments by Smyth were defamatory, that Smyth had no reasonable defence to the comments, and that an order for a correction should be made.

In a hearing in December Smyth had argued that he had not called Mr Lowry a thief, but that he did believe the politician was a liar and a tax cheat.

Judge Heneghan said she had read through the exhibits attached to Smyth’s affidavit, which included matters to do with the McCracken and Moriarty tribunals, Mr Lowry’s dealings with Dunnes Stores, his personal statement to the Dáil in 1996, and the two publications that Mr Lowry is alleging were defamatory.

…

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Hi there! Thanks for dropping by. I’m Eoin O’Dell, and this is my blog: Cearta.ie – the Irish for rights.


“Cearta” really is the Irish word for rights, so the title provides a good sense of the scope of this blog.

In general, I write here about private law, free speech, and cyber law; and, in particular, I write about Irish law and education policy.


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