cearta.ie – Page 90 – the Irish for rights

Last Friday morning, I attended a seminar on Promoting innovation – Reshaping the Law for the Digital Economy (Irish Times | SiliconRepublic here and here). It was hosted by Google Ireland and co-sponsored the by Institute for International and European Affairs (IIEA); and the morning was very ably chaired by TJ McIntyre (blog | Chair, Digital Rights Ireland | Consultant, Merrion Legal | UCD). There were five presentations; in this post, I’ll deal with the first two; in ~~the next~~ tomorrow’s post, I’ll deal with the remaining three; and in a third post, I’ll add a few comments of my own on some of the issues raised by the seminar.

First up was Johnny Ryan (IIEA | author A History of the Internet and the Digital Future) speaking on “A hinge in history: the conditions of the digital future and the need of rights reform”, and setting the scene for the debates that would follow. (Update: Johnny comments below that video of his presentation is now available). For him, we live in the age of the perpetual beta. Before Gutenberg‘s printing press, hand-transcribed manuscripts made information fluid. By contrast, after Gutenberg, the printed book fixed information in static form.…

The Curious Persistence of Blasphemy

22 November, 2010

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| Blasphemy

Jeremy Patrick (Osgoode Hall Law School, York University) has just made an important new paper “The Curious Persistence of Blasphemy” available via SSRN.

Here is the abstract:

Despite expectations to the contrary, blasphemy laws and their modern-day counterparts persist in a surprising number of jurisdictions around the globe. This article discusses four examples: the “defamation of religion” movement at the United Nations, the surprising resurrection of blasphemy law in Ireland, the Australian trend toward enacting “religious vilification” laws, and the problem of formal illegality and private violence for blasphemous speech in Pakistan. Next, blasphemy is considered from three conceptual angles: the religious, the legal, and the secular/cultural. Last, the curious persistence of blasphemy is examined through an inquiry into why people blaspheme to begin with, and what harms (real or perceived) are caused by blasphemy. The conclusion here is that as long as societies hold something sacred – religiously or culturally – blasphemy will remain an operative concept and legal or social pressure to suppress blasphemous statements will continue to persist.

On the position here in Ireland, Patrick provides an excellent summary:

B. Ireland’s Surprising Resurrection of Blasphemy

Ireland has had a strange and surprising relationship with blasphemy laws. The earliest reported common law prosecution for blasphemy dates to 1703, and a couple of other prosecutions have been discovered dating to the mid 1800s.

…

Shakespeare and chess

21 November, 201023 November, 2010

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| General

On Wikipedia’s Portraits of Shakespeare page, there is a painting called “The Chess Players” attributed to Dutch painter Karel van Mander (1548 – 1606):

The Chess Players, by Karel van Mander (attr), via Wikipedia

Wikipedia says that this was identified in 1916 (New York Times, 12 March 1916) as an image of Ben Jonson (left; white) and William Shakespeare (right; black) playing chess. It seems that this claim that had been floating around in chess circles for a year or so, but most subsequent scholars seem to have considered this to be pure speculation. However, the claim was revived in 2004 by Jeffrey Netto, who argued that the chess game symbolises “the well known professional rivalry between these figures in terms of a battle of wits” (See Jeffrey Netto “Intertextuality and the Chess Motif: Shakespeare, Middleton, Greenaway” in Michele Marrapodi Shakespeare, Italy and Intertextuality (Manchester University Press, 2004) 218). As he puts it elsewhere:

This painting clearly evokes the theme of intellectual virtuosity. The two giants of British Renaissance literature are enmeshed in an intellectual contest that allegorically represents their well-known literary rivalry. Chess here iconographically depicts their battle of artistic wits, a battle before which the world can only marvel.

It looks as though Shakespeare is about to win the game, whatever about the artistic battle of wills.…

Rethinking Law – Law Student Colloquium at TCD

19 November, 201017 November, 2010

| 1 Comment

| Conferences, Lectures, Papers and Workshops

Are you a Law student, undergraduate or postgraduate? Would you like to present a short paper or give a presentation on a legal topic of your choice at a colloquium in Trinity College Dublin? If so, then the third annual Law Student Colloquium is for you. Kindly sponsored by Allen & Overy, it will take place in the Graduates’ Memorial Building, TCD (map) and the Law School, TCD (map), on Saturday 19 February 2011. Posts about the previous colloquia are here.

This conference brings together law students from Ireland and abroad to present papers on a wide variety of legal topics. The ethos of the Colloquium is one of re-thinking law. Papers which demonstrate originality, engage with current developments and challenge existing understandings of distinct legal issues are especially welcome.

Law students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, as well as researchers and recent graduates from all institutions, are invited to attend and participate. The Colloquium will consist of several panels on thematic areas of law with individual presentations of approximately fifteen minutes duration. An expert in the relevant area of law will chair each panel. There is some excellent advice here about the art of the conference paper; the article was written for US graduate students but it contains much that will be very helpful indeed for anyone interested in participating in the Colloquium.…

Irish higher education: three further thoughts

19 November, 201016 November, 2012

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| Irish Society, Universities

By way of a brief update on my two recent posts about third level policy, a story in yesterday’s papers caught my eye. First, a report in the Irish Times:

Less than 15% in some Dublin areas going to college

Less than 15 per cent of Leaving Cert students in some poorer areas of Dublin are progressing to third level, according to the 2010 Irish Times feeder school list published today. … In stark contrast, most schools in south Dublin have a progression rate of 100 per cent; every one of their students who sat the Leaving Cert this year has progressed to third level.

The new figures come amid renewed controversy about the impact of the abolition of third-level fees in 1995 and as students face increased registration charges in next month’s budget. The list appears to show that “free fees” have have had only a marginal impact in boosting participation levels in poorer areas. …

The Irish Times also publishes a separate list focusing on progression rates to high-points courses, mostly in the university sector. This list is dominated by feepaying schools. …

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to locate either list on the Irish Times website. The Irish Independent has a similar story:

Parents buying school success, figures reveal
More than 90pc of students who sat the Leaving Cert in fee-paying or grind schools went on to higher education, figures compiled by the Irish Independent reveal.

…

Higher education policy: evidence from Ireland and Europe

18 November, 201016 November, 2012

| 2 Comments

| Irish Society, Universities

Picking up where I left off with yesterday’s post about the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Higher Education Policy Conference, Professor David Raffe, Director of the Centre for Educational Sociology in the University of Edinburgh spoke on “Higher education policies across the UK since devolution”, and his paper put the higher education policy issues into context. In particular, he demonstrates not only the challenges being faced by higher education at present but also the diversity of available policy responses even in the UK. I’m going to summarize those aspects of his paper which are relevant to Irish circumstances and leave to one side his application of those elements to devolution in the UK [my occasional comments about the Irish position are in parentheses], and I will use his paper to put the contribution of Dr Selina McCoy in context.…

Sleepwalking into an obscene damages award

17 November, 20103 February, 2013

| 8 Comments

| Defamation, Defamation Act 2009, Freedom of Expression, Irish cases, Irish Law

Obscene. Once I had caught my breath, and collected my composure, this was my immediate reaction to learning that a high court jury had awarded 10 million euro in libel damages, made up of €9m in compensatory damages and €1m in aggravated damages. According to RTÉ:

A Co Louth businessman who took a libel action against his former employers after an incident in which he sleep walked naked has been awarded €10m in damages.

The jury agreed that a press release sent out by mining company Kenmare Resources in July 2007 insinuated that Donal Kinsella had made inappropriate sexual advances to company secretary Deirdre Corcoran on a business trip in Mozambique in May that year.

The award is the highest award of damages for defamation in the history of the State. … Lawyers for Kenmare Resources were granted a stay on the award pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. … Kenmare Resources issued a statement saying it was ‘shocked’ at the verdict and it will ‘immediately and vigorously appeal the decision’.

The Irish Times added: “Outside court, Mr Kinsella (67) said he was ‘exhilarated and vindicated’ by the jury’s verdict”. I do not in any way begrudge him the vindication of his reputation, but does this really require 10 million euro?…

Higher education policy in Ireland: achievements and challenges

17 November, 201016 November, 2012

| 5 Comments

| Irish Society, Universities

I attended the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Higher Education Policy Conference yesterday on the topic “Higher Education Policy: Evidence from Ireland and Europe”. In the first session, Dr Selina McCoy of the ESRI spoke on “Higher education research in Ireland: where are we now?” and Muiris O’Connor of the Higher Education (HEA) spoke on “Higher education policy in Ireland: achievements and challenges”. In the second session, Professor David Raffe, Director of the Centre for Educational Sociology in the University of Edinburgh spoke on “Higher education policies across the UK since devolution” and Research Professor Liv Anne Støren of the Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, Oslo spoke on “New trends in higher education in Norway – Are traditional male students ousted by female working class students and immigrant students?”. It was a fascinating series of presentations. Muiris O’Connor’s paper was an excellent survey of the evolution and present state of the Irish higher education sector. David Raffe’s paper put the higher education policy issues into context. Selina McCoy examined the very important specific issue of access to higher education in Ireland, whilst Live Anne Støren provided a comparative perspective on that issue.…