cearta.ie – Page 50 – the Irish for rights

#CRC12logosmall The Copyright Review Committee has announced a limited extension of time for submissions. There has been a good response to the Committee’s wide-ranging Consultation Paper (you can download a pdf of the Paper here (via DJEI) or here (from this site); and summaries of each of the chapters are linked from this page).

However, although the date for submissions has already been extended from Friday 13 April 2012 to Thursday 31 May 2012, there have been many further requests for another extension. The Committee has therefore decided to extend the closing date to close of business on Friday 29 June 2012, in the following two limited circumstances only:

first, parties who intend to make a submission to the Committee, but who feel that they cannot do so before the existing deadline of close of business Thursday 31 May 2012, should apply to the Committee before that date for an extension until close of business on Friday 29 June 2012. The Committee will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.
second, the Committee will soon publish on their website – probably here – every submission that will have been received by the current deadline of 31 May 2012, and the Committee will accept responses to those submissions until close of business on Friday 29 June 2012.

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Sunlight is the best disinfectant: open justice and company law proceedings

24 May, 20126 December, 2022

| 1 Comment

| Open Justice

Hot on the heels of McKillen v Misland (Cyprus) Investments Limited [2012] EWHC 1158 (Ch) (26 April 2012), about which I blogged in my previous post, the ever-wonderful Stare Decisis Hibernia blog brings news of another open justice case in the Irish High Court. In In re Skytours Travel Ltd, Doyle v Bergin [2010] IEHC 531 (9 July 2010) Laffoy J refused to hear a dispute between shareholders in camera. Section 205 of the Companies Act, 1963 (also here) allows a shareholder who complains that the affairs of the company are being conducted in an oppressive manner to apply to the court for a remedy, and subsection (7) allows the court to hear such an application in camera. In particular, section 205(7) provides:

If, in the opinion of the court, the hearing of proceedings under this section would involve the disclosure of information the publication of which would be seriously prejudicial to the legitimate interests of the company, the court may order that the hearing of the proceedings or any part thereof shall be in camera.

Article 34.1 of the Constitution provides that

Justice shall be administered in courts established by law by judges appointed in the manner provided by this Constitution, and, save in such special and limited cases as may be prescribed by law, shall be administered in public.

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Portuguese bank held unjustly enriched in landmark mortgage ruling

3 May, 20124 March, 2013

| No Comments

| Restitution

The [Portalegre] court’s … decision states that there is “unjust enrichment” in this operation because, as the loan was granted with the sole purpose of financing the property, by handing back the property the debt is extinguished.

via algarvedailynews.com

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In England, justice is open to all – like the Ritz Hotel

3 May, 20126 December, 2022

| 10 Comments

| Open Justice

Thus (probably) spoke a nineteenth century Irish judge, Sir James Mathew (1830-1908) (pictured left). The Ritz is now owned by David and Frederick Barclay, and they are at present locked in what the media are describing as “bitter” legal proceedings (in tabloid-speak, is there any other kind of legal dispute?) being taken against them in London by Irish businessman and property developer Paddy McKillen. McKillen and the Barclays own stakes in a high profile hotel group; and in these proceedings, McKillen alleges that the Barclays have been attempting to seize control of the group by unlawful means. He is no stranger to high-stakes litigation, having successfully thwarted the National Asset Management Agency in the Irish courts in Dellway Investments v NAMA [2011] IESC 4 (3 February 2011).

In the London proceedings, much dirty linen had already been laundered in public, and McKillen balked at the prospect of having to wash more, seeking an order of the court to keep sensitive information about his personal business financial affairs away from the prying eyes, not only of the media and the public, but also of the defendants! Unsurprisingly, the application failed (Irish Independent | Irish Times here and here | PA | RTÉ News).…

Tales of Mystery and Pagination – A new blog from Trinity College Dublin Library

26 April, 201227 April, 2012

| 2 Comments

| Blogging

The Library of Trinity College Dublin dates back to the establishment of the College in 1592, and it is now the largest research library in Ireland. It was endowed with the privilege of legal deposit by the Copyright Act, 1801 and continues to receive copies of material published in the United Kingdom and Ireland, pursuant respectively to the Legal Deposit Libraries Act, 2003 and section 198 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 (also here). The Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections in the Library, located in the East Pavilion of the Old Library, is responsible for some of the oldest and most valuable books in Ireland. The Department of Early Printed Books has just established a most wonderful blog about its work, entitled Tales of Mystery and Pagination. They explain the title as follows:

In a effort to gain a loyal fan-base for our blog we have been inspired by the ever popular Harry Clarke and his contributions to the 1919 edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of mystery and imagination. Not content with behaving like a magpie for the blog’s title we have used three examples of Clarke’s work to help illustrate what we hope to be a lively and interesting site for anyone interested in books and libraries.

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IALT Seminar and Book Prize

25 April, 20124 March, 2013

| No Comments

| Conferences, Lectures, Papers and Workshops

The Irish Association of Law Teachers (IALT) Spring Seminar will take place on Thursday 26 April 2012 next at 6.30pm in the IIIS Seminar Room, Room C6.002, 6th Floor, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin (map here). Professor William Binchy, Regius Professor of Laws, Trinity College and Professor David Gwynn Morgan, Professor Emeritus of Law, UCC will discuss

Law Reform and Social Transition.

A reception will follow and all are welcome; if you are interested in attending, please email the IALT in advance.

In related news, nominations for the 2012 Kevin Boyle Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship are now open and will close on 30 April 2012. This prize is awarded to a member of the IALT who has published a book in the twenty four months preceding the closing date that is deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to the understanding of law. The prize will be awarded at the IALT annual conference in Dublin in November.…

The Muppets and Contract Law

24 April, 20127 November, 2012

| 2 Comments

| Cinema, television and theatre, Contract

I’ve recently had the great good fortune to see The Muppets (2011) (imdb | official site | wikipedia). Like the recent classic movie Shrek Forever After, it is very much a movie about contract law: indeed, both movies turn on cultural assumptions about the binding nature and literal enforcement of written contracts.

Warning: plot spoilers At the end of The Muppet Movie (1979) (imdb | wikipedia), the Muppets are hired by studio executive Lew Lord (played – in a splendid cigar-chomping movie-stealing cameo – by Orson Welles) under “the standard rich-and-famous contract” (pictured above left). It has the generally assumed form of contracts: it is long; indeed, it is vveerry long – it contains a multitude of clauses, and those terms are the heart of the new movie: The Muppets. Nancy Kim on Contracts Prof Blog mentions a few of the issues:

… the star of the new Muppets movie is a long, scrolled, fine print contract signed by none other than Kermit the Frog. The entire plot hinges on … a condition in the contract … A real live condition – but is it a condition precedent or condition subsequent? In addition, there are issues of nondisclosure (there’s oil under the theatre, but the evil Tex Richman isn’t telling).

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Themis, open justice, and business litigation

23 April, 20126 December, 2022

| 6 Comments

| Freedom of Expression, Open Justice, The Rule of Law

I noticed the following report in Saturday’s Irish Times:

Media challenges McKillen’s bid for secret hearings

Property developer Paddy McKillen’s bid to keep information about his financial dealings out of the public arena during a High Court case in London is to be challenged by a number of newspapers, including The Irish Times.

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