cearta.ie – Page 135 – the Irish for rights

Data Commissioner’s prosecution can go ahead
Realm Communications Ltd v Data Protection Commissioner: High Court, Judgment was given by Mr Justice McCarthy on 9 January 2009 [2009] IEHC 1

The Data Protection Commissioner did not act unlawfully in issuing summonses against a company using text messages for marketing purposes (Realm) without the consent of the recipients, without having first sought to arrange an amicable resolution between the company and the complainants.

Suspended sentence for burglary not wrong in principle
DPP v de Paor and Zdanowski: Court of Criminal Appeal. Judgment was delivered by Mr Justice Hardiman on 19 December 2008 [2008] IECCA 137

An application by the Director of Public Prosecutions to review the suspended sentence of five years for robbery and false imprisonment imposed on Cuan de Paor – on the grounds that it was unduly lenient – was refused.

Coming to terms with greater role of expert is an edited version of Mrs Justice Fidelma Macken’s remarks at the recent launch of the Law Reform Commission‘s Consultation Paper on expert evidence (pdf).

In short: US Supreme Court upholds immunity of prosecutors [the case is here]; EU Commission criticised; Seminar on construction law; Criminal law conference; Law Society complaints committee; New managing partner at Eversheds

Bonus links from today’s Times Online: Forcing out judges at 70 ‘threatens supreme court’ (the Irish judicial retirement age is also 70); The law lords who served their time (the longest-serving Irish judge was Christopher Palles, Chief Baron of the Exchequer for 42 years between 1874 and 1916).…

Legal Citation

2 February, 20099 June, 2009

| 11 Comments

The Oxford Standard for Citation Of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is fast establishing itself as the UK’s standard system of legal citation. It is at present undergoing revision, and the Editors welcome comments and suggestions by email before the end of the month.

It is important to disclose sources (not least to avoid charges of plagiarism), in as complete a fashion as will allow a reader to find the source easily. Systematic citation methods allow for accurate, comprehensive and consistent citation of references such as cases, statutes, books, articles, and so on; and, in the legal context, they will also provide valuable information about a case, such as when it was decided, the level of decision, and so on. There are many possible citation systems, of which Harvard maintains a very useful list of paper-based resources.

Cover of the 18th edition of the Bluebook, via its website. However, one citation system stands out, and this is one situation where you really can judge a book by its cover: the Standard System of American Legal Citation is universally called The Bluebook, because of the colour (or, I suppose, the color) of its cover (pictured right; see its wikipedia page). It was first published in 1926 (pdf); it is now in its eighteenth edition; and Peter Martin’s online Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (Cornell Legal Information Institute) is based on it.…

Ethical reporting of suicide

1 February, 20091 March, 2009

| 3 Comments

| General, Irish Society, journalism, Press Council

Spirit Moves is a discussion programme on RTÉ Radio which explores ethical issues that arise from current news events. It is broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 on Sunday evenings at 6:00pm; it is re-broadcast on RTÉ Choice (one of RTÉ’s Digital Radio Stations) on Monday afternoons at 4:00pm; and episodes -including this – are available to stream here. This evening’s programme discussed the ethical and legal issues that arise in the context of reporting suicide. The host was Tom McGurk, and the participants included Colum Kenny, Joan Freeman, Paul Drury, Tom Clonan, and Lisa O’Carroll.

Suicide is a serious and tragic social issue, on which several indefatigable organisations do sterling work. In particular, reporting it has been the subject of a conference (pdf) by the Irish Association of Suicidology, and of a report (pdf) by the National Office of Suicide Prevention. The American Association of Suicidology has developed a set of sensitive guidelines on the reporting of suicide; and Headline (blogged here) is doing something similar in Ireland.

The Press Council has recently published a very interesting Discussion Document (pdf) on the issue. As I’ve previously argued on this blog, the key point is that much of the reason for sensationalist media coverage (that sells papers or delivers audience share) is because we – the general public – buy the papers and listen to or watch the programmes.…

Consequences

1 February, 200931 January, 2009

| 1 Comment

| General

Via University of Louisville Law Faculty Blog:

Bonus link: In a similar vein, see Lawyer’s Humor, Circa 1875 from the Legal History Blog.…

St Bridget’s Day

1 February, 200931 January, 2019

| 2 Comments

| General

Anois teacht an Earraigh

le Antaine Ó Raifteirí (1784-1835)
(source | translation)

Anois teacht an Earraigh beidh an lá dul chun síneadh,
Is tar eis na féil Bríde ardóidh mé mo sheol.
Ó chuir mé i mo cheann é ní stopfaidh me choíche
Go seasfaidh mé thíos i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.

I gClár Clainne Mhuiris a bhéas mé an chéad oíche,
Is i mBalla taobh thíos de ‘thosós mé ag ól,
Go Coillte Mach rachad go ndéanfad cuairt mhíosa ann,
I bhfogas dhá mhíle do Bhéal an Áth’ Mhóir.

Fágaim le huacht é go n-éiríonn mo chroíse
Mar éiríos an ghaoth nó mar ‘scaipeas an ceo
Nuair a smaoiním ar Cheara nó ar Ghaileang taobh thíos de
Ar Sceathach a’Mhíle nó ar phlánaí Mhaigh Eo.

Cill Aodáin an baile a bhfásann gach ní ann,
Tá sméara is sú craobh ann is meas ar gach sórt,
Is dá mbéinnse i mo sheasamh i gceartlár mo dhaoine
D’imeodh an aois díom is bheinn arís óg. …

Plagiarising ‘plagiarism’

31 January, 20094 March, 2013

| 3 Comments

| plagiarism, Universities

On the eternal question of what constitutes plagiarism, via Critical Mass, a post that speaks for itself:

Welcome to the desert of the real

I know you ask yourself constantly: “What does plagiarism look like in the age of simulacrum?” Now we know:

In 2007, after several high-profile plagiarism scandals, Southern Illinois University released a 17-page report on how to deal with the issue. The report includes a lengthy definition of plagiarism, explaining exactly what does and does not merit the dreaded “p” word.

One problem: That definition appears to have been plagiarized.

The 139-word definition used in the report is nearly identical to the definition adopted by Indiana University in 2005. …

… Now if I were a clever postmodernist, I would have just posted Margaret Soltan’s analogous post here in lieu of my own. But I’m not that clever …

A true verdict?

30 January, 200930 January, 2009

| No Comments

| Freedom of Expression

In a previous post, I looked at the restrictions on publishing jury deliberations. Now comes the news that, in the UK, the Attorney-General has been given the go-ahead to prosecute The Times:

The Attorney-General has been given permission to bring contempt of court proceedings against the publishers of The Times and the foreman of a jury alleged to have revealed “secrets of the jury room”.

The foreman’s anonymous criticism of the conviction of a childminder for the manslaughter of a baby in her care was reported in a Times article in 2007. At the High Court, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC, was given leave to bring proceedings against Times Newspapers Ltd and the foreman. The newspaper had not been informed of the hearing.

Lord Justice Maurice Kay said: “We don’t think this is the very gravest case of jury indiscretion – nevertheless we grant permission.”

One question which I assume will arise – as Joseph Jaconelli suggested in (1990) 10 Legal Studies 91 and in chapter 7 of Open Justice: A critique of the Public Trial (OUP, 2002) – will be as to the extent to which freedom of expression, on the part both of the juror and of the media, trenches upon the traditional absolute secrecy of the jury room.…

Recent Contract Law Scholarship

29 January, 200926 January, 2009

| No Comments

| Contract

The most recent New York University Law Review (vol 83, number 6, December 2008) has two wonderful pieces about the Law of Contract, one relating to the old chestnut of efficient breach (a doctrine that has taken root in US law, but not elsewhere in the common law world), the other relating to the theoretical structure of the law’s approach to the subject.

Barry E. Adler Efficient Breach Theory Through the Looking Glass (pdf); here’s the abstract:

A party in breach of contract cannot sue the victim of breach to recover what would have been the victim’s loss on the contract. The doctrinal rationale is simple: A violator should not benefit from his violation. This rationale does not, however, provide an economic justification for the rule. Indeed, efficient breach theory is founded on the proposition that a breach of contract need not be met with reproach. Yet the prospect of recovery by the party in breach—that is, the prospect of negative damages—has received scant attention in the contracts literature. Close analysis reveals potential costs to disallowance of negative damages, particularly where a party with private information about the benefits of termination also has an incentive to continue under the contract.

…