cearta.ie – Page 115 – the Irish for rights

In the UK, the Ministry for Justice has just begun a consultation process seeking views on the “multiple publication rule” at common law under which each publication of defamatory material can form the basis of a new defamation claim, and in particular on the effects of this rule in relation to online archives. If this rule is reformed, then a major plank of the libel tourism phenomenon, by which London has become the libel capital of the Western world and home to libel actions that have little to do with its jurisdiction, will quite properly have been removed (see BBC | ComputerWorld | Greenslade | Guardian | Index on Censorship Free Speech blog | Information Overlord | OUT.law | Slaw | TechWatch | Times Online).

The multiple publication rule was established in Duke of Brunswick v Harmer (1849) 14 QB 185 (already discussed on this blog), reaffirmed in Loutchansky v Times Newspapers [2002] QB 783, [2001] EWCA Civ 1805 (05 December 2001), and upheld by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Times Newspapers Ltd (Nos 1 and 2) v the United Kingdom Applications 3002/03 and 23676/03, [2009] ECHR 451 (10 March 2009).…

The Free World Centre

21 September, 200922 September, 2009

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| Freedom of Expression

From the Guardian (last week, apologies for coming late to this):

Fighting for free speech

Is offence the new censorship? The launch of the Free Word Centre seeks to reopen the debate about freedom of expression

Ursula Owen

It’s entirely appropriate that the new Free Word Centre, which is launched tonight, is based in Farringdon Road. The area has associations with the written word that go back to the Middle Ages, and a long tradition of publishing, printing and radicalism. William Morris published the famous “Free Speech in the Streets” in his political broadsheet The Commonweal from 13 Farringdon Road. …

Free Word’s mission is to promote the power of the written and spoken word, and to protect creativity and free expression generally. What makes it different from the many literature houses all over Europe is that its core principle is free expression and literacy – which immediately makes its outlook international and political (not always seen as a palatable word in the arts). The ideas behind it were thrashed out by the eight founder members over five years. They are now resident in the building. Free Word is a venue, an office space, a thinking space, where media meets literature.

…

Advice to Freshers: Don’t Panic

21 September, 200930 September, 2009

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| Universities

As our new first year students arrive this week, there is a strong orientation programme for them, to ease them into Trinity life. Trinity News, one of the student newspapers, writes in praise of Trinity’s old-fashioned freshers’ week; another college’s publication last week looked at Freshers’ First Steps; and GoToCollege has some useful tips for those Starting College. Flying Saucer; a current UK student has some excellent advice (entertainingly quirky, often practical, but occasionally misleading: have loud parties, make friends, don’t buy books); a recent US graduate does something similar in a very American fashion (prioritize, study, find meaning); the Guardian warns that the first week is more likely to challenge your wallet than your brain; Registrarism emphasises that newspaper copy doesn’t always recognise that there is much more to freshers’ week than commerce and alcohol; but by far the most useful pieces of college advice is a series of columns in the New York Times called College Advice, From People Who Have Been There Awhile. Some favourites:

Gerald Graff: Recognize that knowing a lot of stuff won’t do you much good unless you can do something with it by turning it into an argument.

…

Cartoons in the Academy

20 September, 200917 September, 2009

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| General

From Kelly Anders on the Faculty Lounge:

Cartoons in the Academy

Cruise the halls of a typical grouping of faculty offices in any law school, and several cartoons are sure to adorn the walls and doors. Some are funny in a mild-mannered way, while others can be quite political. Are cartoon postings yet another perk of being tenured, or do untenured faculty and staff feel just as comfortable displaying these images? Do they make us more “human” to students, or does their presence provide a small sense of comfort that academic seriousness has not made us lose our youthful edge? Personally, I do not have any funnies or political commentary taped on my door, but I do have a book of museum cartoons from The New Yorker in my office. Some of my colleagues occasionally use a cartoon in their classes. If you have cartoons nearby, what are they depicting and how are they used? Does anyone mention them?

Well, I have had cartoons on my notice board for as long as I have been teaching, and I post ones I like on this site. More to the point, I use them on my courses’ WebCT/Blackboard sites and in class, to provide an accessible way in to heavy material or as an alternative to my (dry and sadly misunderstood) humour.…

The benefits of the Press Council

19 September, 200910 December, 2012

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| Defamation, judges, Press Council

Using the Press Ombudsman and Press Council mechanisms will allow media complaints to be settled without lawyers, as expensive legal processes will be invoked much less frequently following the enactment of the Defamation Act, 2009 according to the Press Ombudsman, Prof John Horgan. On the one hand, he would say that wouldn’t he? On the other, I hope that he’s right; it’s much too early to tell, of course, but that is the intention behind the establishment and recognition of his office.

However, not only is bringing a complaint to his office cheaper and quicker, it’s probably also safer than going to court. According to the Irish Times breaking news service, a judge was accidentally shot in court; but the facts were rather more prosaic, and the later print version of the article explained that pellets from a toy gun struck the judge at a family law hearing. …

The sins of academics and students

18 September, 200929 September, 2009

| 4 Comments

| Phones in class, Universities

The current edition of Times Higher Education (I can’t get used to this odd title, I keep wanting to add “Supplement“; but it was dropped some time ago, so I must resist the temptation) has articles on the temptations that academics and students find hard to resist.

First, the academics:

The seven deadly sins of the academy

… The inward-looking, incestuous atmosphere of university life has long made it a breeding ground for some of the canonical deadly sins. … It would not be hard to draw up a list of traditional academic deadly sins on the basis of such examples. But how many have survived in today’s academy …? Which have disappeared? And, assuming goodwill hasn’t broken out on all sides, what have they been replaced by?

Modernisation and a huge expansion of the sector have brought fresh air into even the stuffiest quadrangles. So, if people in general are subject to avarice, envy, gluttony, pride, lust, sloth and wrath, what are the vices particularly prominent on campuses and in common rooms now? …

The answer, it seems, is:

Sartorial Inelegance (this matter is always in the eye of the beholder, especially if my tie is too loud);
Procrastination (this post is evidence that I occasionally succumb, though elsewhere in the THE there is an article advising academics to blog, so really, I’m working, honestly, I am …);
Snobbery (this will, no doubt, be presumed against me, based on where I work, so I’ll just move swiftly on, waving at the riff-raff [add insulting link to taste here] as I go);
Lust (no comment; does the Fifth Amendment apply in cyber-space?);

…

Ave, Salve, Vale

17 September, 20092 January, 2013

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| General

from Dr Gernot Biehler – An Appreciation

The Law School is very sad to announce the passing of our beloved friend and colleague, Dr Gernot Biehler [pictured left], husband of Professor Hilary Delany, on Sunday 13th September. … We will always remember him with the greatest affection and respect.

A Memorial Service will be held at 5.15pm on Thursday 8 October 2009 in the College Chapel, Trinity College Dublin.

Update (26 September 2009): An obituary from the Irish Times: Versatile Trinity College law fellow who first came to Ireland as diplomat.…

Kingsfield on Higher Options

16 September, 200912 January, 2013

| 2 Comments

| Cinema, television and theatre, Contract

This time last year, I found myself explaining to concerned parents at the Higher Options Fair that law students’ small lecture load does not necessarily mean a small work load. Plus ça change. My colleagues have found themselves explaining much the same thing today at this year’s event. Briefly, law students should spend considerable amounts of time on independent reading, developing research skills (how to find what is relevant) and honing discernment and judgment (how to decide what to use of what is read) – these are all important practice skills which they learn in college.

In the US, variations on the Socratic Method are widely used (and just as widely discussed) in Law Schools to teach these skills, and it is one of the driving dramatic forces in The Paper Chase, a book/movie/tv series on which I have already commented here and here. Its great character was John Houseman‘s inconic Contracts Professor, Charles Kingsfield – the clip below is the first time we meet him in the tv series:

The case being discussed in the clip is Hawkins v McGee 84 N.H. 114, 146 A. 641 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 1929) (wikipedia; pdf), and Kingsfield’s victim is James T Hart, the confused first year law student, played by Timothy Bottoms, who is the central character in the series.…