cearta.ie – Page 43 – the Irish for rights

I know what you did last Summer, Mr Cowen, and in fact we all know what you did last Summer, Mr Cowen, because the the Irish Mail on Sunday reported on your enrollment in the Executive Education Programme at Stanford University in California. However, it is now clear that you would prefer that we didn’t know, that you consider that the Mail‘s coverage infringed your right to privacy, and that you intend to complain about this to the Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman. I’m glad you are looking to pursue this matter before the Ombudsman and Council and not in the courts, but I do not think that your complaint is likely to be upheld. I know what you did last Summer, Mr Cowen. Indeed, as you are a public figure, I am entitled to know what you did last Summer, Mr Cowen.

The Office of the Press Ombudsman ensures that members of the public have access to an independent, quick fair and free mechanism for complaints of breaches of the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Magazines. If Prof John Horgan, the Ombudsman, considers that a complaint is valid, he reeks to resolve the matter by conciliation.…

The HMV vouchers saga just makes me wanna shout, and throw my hands up, in frustration

16 January, 20134 February, 2013

| 3 Comments

| Consumer

There have been many developments today in the HMV vouchers saga about which I blogged yesterday. I argued that HMV’s vouchers, tokens, gift cards, and the like, were valid, and that National Consumer Agency (the NCA) should have been vocal and active in support of consumers in possession of vouchers which HMV had been refusing to honour. Having monitored the situation yesterday, the NCA sprang into action this morning. They questioned the basis upon which gift vouchers, tokens, gift cards, and the like, were not honoured in HMV’s Irish shops yesterday; and they met with representatives of HMV. However, it was too late, and it was all for naught. HMV’s Irish shops did not open their doors this morning (the notice, right, was on the front door of HMV’s Grafton Street shop this morning). This meant – among other things – that it was not practically possible to redeem vouchers, whatever the legal position as to their validity. Then, it emerged during the day that the Irish operation was going into receivership (and not Examinership, the Irish equivalent of the Administration regime to which the UK operation is subject). This definitively means that vouchers are now effectively worthless, just like the claims of other contractual creditors (including the claim to the proceeds of a charity single).…

I can’t believe the news today: if Administration fails, then HMV might go away

15 January, 201323 January, 2013

| 4 Comments

| Consumer

The photo on the left, by Cian Ginty on Flickr, shows the HMV store on Grafton Street, Dublin, closed up on a Saturday night. I read the news today, oh boy, about how 300 Irish jobs are at risk as HMV enters Administration in the UK. None of the Irish media coverage that I have seen or heard contains anything on the formal fate of the Irish operation. It could be put into Examinership (which is the equivalent of the UK’s Administration regime); or, since it is a relatively small part of the total operation, and it is tightly bound to the UK business, the Irish operation might be left to trade normally while the UK administrators get on with things. In both the UK Administration regime and the Irish Examinership regime, the business seeks the protection of the court in a bid to put in place a scheme to allow the business to continue trading. If the bid is not successful, then HMV will cease trading, and the shutters will come down more permanently not only on the Grafton Street store but on all 236 of its stores after 92 years of trading.

It is being reported that

HMV’s administration means it can legally declare gift vouchers worthless, a blow for those who received one as a Christmas gift.

…

The spirit of Madison, and not his ghost

14 January, 201315 January, 2013

| No Comments

| Human Rights, Irish Law, Irish Society

Rights matter when their exercise is unpopular. It is easy to exercise a right when no-one else objects. It is when some-one else objects, and seeks to prevent its exercise, that the right to do so becomes crucial. This is particular so when the majority object, and seek to rely on the force of numbers to prevent its exercise. That is precisely when the right is at its most important, and most necessary. As Kearns P (Carney and Hogan JJ concurring) put it in Fleming v Ireland [2013] IEHC 2 (10 January 2013),

51. … If, accordingly, the plaintiff’s constitutional rights extend as far as the manner claimed, then the fact that she is exercising those rights in a manner and for a purpose which some might consider contrary to their own ethical, moral or religious beliefs – or even the prevailing mores of the majority – is irrelevant.

This is an extremely important holding as to the nature of constitutional rights. Fleming itself is a very sad and difficult case in which a Divisional Court of the High Court unanimously upheld the the ban on assisted suicide in section 2(2) of the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act, 1993 (also here) (see Paul McMahon on Ex Tempore | Conor O’Mahony on Constitution Project @ UCC).…

Public domain and copyright terms

3 January, 201314 January, 2013

| No Comments

| Copyright, James Joyce

A little late for Public Domain Day (blogged here last year – and the issues there are updated here), here’s a list of written, artistic, and musical works which have now entered the public domain; and here’s a map of countries’ standard copyright terms, (created by Balfour Smith, Program Coordinator of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, Duke University School of Law):

…

Santa’s Privacy Policy (via McSweeney’s)

2 January, 20138 January, 2013

| No Comments

| Privacy

On McSweeney’s:

Santa’s Privacy Policy

By Laurence Hughes [Originally published December 23, 2010.]

At Santa’s Workshop, your privacy is important to us. What follows is an explanation of how we collect and safeguard your personal information; the kind of information we collect; and your choices regarding our use and disclosure of this information.

Why Do We Need This Information?
Santa Claus requires your information in order to compile his annual list of Who is Naughty and Who is Nice, and to ensure accuracy when he checks it twice. …

What Information Do We Collect?
We obtain information from a variety of sources. Much of it comes from unsolicited letters sent to Santa by children all over the world listing specific items they would like to receive for Christmas. Often these letters convey additional information as well, such as the child’s hopes and dreams, how much they love Santa, and which of their siblings are doodyheads.

The letters also provide another important piece of information—fingerprints. We run these through databases maintained by the FBI, CIA, NSA, Interpol, MI6, and the Mossad. If we find a match, it goes straight on the Naughty List. …

There’s lots more detail where that came from; I suppose Santa had to introduce his privacy policy after the Federal Trade Commission imposed a record fine against him for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.…

The Contract in The Hobbit

21 December, 20124 February, 2013

| 3 Comments

| Cinema, television and theatre, Contract

Following on from my posts about the contract law issues in Shrek Forever After and The Muppets, another major movie brings us interesting contract law issues: The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey (blog | facebook | imdb | official site | twitter | wikipedia).

Warning: plot spoilers Bilbo Baggins is a typical hobbit, enjoying his quiet life in the Shire, when he is manoeuvred by the wizard Gandalf the Grey into hosting dinner for a company of dwarves. They tell him the story of how they lost their kingdom of Erebor and its great treasure to the terrifying dragon Smaug, and how they are now on a quest to reclaim their kingdom and treasure under the leadership of the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Moreover, since a company of thirteen (twelve dwarves, and Gandalf) invites bad luck, they tell him that Gandalf had proposed him as a fourteenth member, as a burglar. Bilbo and the dwarves are unconvinced, but Gandalf re-assures them that Bilbo will prove more than up to the task when the time comes (“Hobbits can pass unseen by most if they chose which gives us a distinct advantage” in sneaking past Smaug), so the dwarves present Bilbo with a contract to join the company (script | video clip, via blog and YouTube):

Thorin: Give him the contract.

…

Unconstitutional expenditures – VII – The judgments in McCrystal, Part 2

14 December, 20124 February, 2013

| 1 Comment

| Irish cases, Irish Law, Irish Supreme Court

In McCrystal v The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs [2012] IESC 53 (8 November 2012), the Supreme Court’s per curiam established that the respondents had expended public moneys on a booklet, website, and advertising campaign in relation to a referendum in a manner which was not fair, equal, impartial or neutral. In judgments handed down on 11 December 2012 by Denham CJ, Murray J, Fennelly J, and O’Donnell J (Hardiman J concurring with all four) the Court gave reasons for the conclusions which had been expressed in the per curiam. My analysis of these judgments is in two parts. The first part, in my previous post, considered some of the issues raised in the judgments. The second part, in this post, considers the impact which those judgments have on the issues raised in my earlier posts (I, II, III, IV, V, VI).

From my previous post, it is clear that, in McCrystal, the Supreme Court made two main findings. First, where the Government acts in clear disregard of the Constitution, then the Courts can intervene. Second, arising from McKenna v An Taoiseach (No 2) [1995] 2 IR 10, [1995] IESC 11 (17 November 1995), there is an obligation upon the Government, if it wishes to expend money providing information in relation to a referendum, to do so in a manner that is fair, equal, impartial and neutral.…