International Law

Ranking law journals

Posted on April 24, 2009
The Australian Research Council has recently completed its consultation process to develop ranking tables for journals. Controversy led to the Humanities and Creative Arts list being unavailable for a time after publication, but it seems to be available now...

Where stands the Defamation Bill, 2006 on the Government?s legislative agenda?

Posted on April 23, 2009
With all the coverage of Government ins and outs at Minister of State level, it was easy to miss yesterday’s announcement by Government Chief Whip Pat Carey of the Legislative Programme for the coming parliamentary session (Irish Times report | Government press release)...

? or of the blogosphere?

Posted on April 22, 2009
The First Amendment to the US Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; …”. Does that and similar declarations of press freedom extend to the blogosphere? The question is made more difficult in the context of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human [...

How to make Contract Law interesting?

Posted on April 22, 2009
This one, from Contracts Prof Blog, speaks for itself: Relive your 1L Contracts class at home! With better looking people! After what has seemed to most Contracts professors an unconscionably long time, the TV series The Paper Chase has finally come out on video...

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Google, Amazon, Citron

Posted on April 21, 2009
If you liked my posts about the gatekeeper responsibilities of search engines, then you’ll have loved last week’s furore over Amazon’s decision to disable search and sales ranking for “adult” material. I followed the controversy via John Naughton’s Memex 1...

Cowengate: no use crying over spilt milk

Posted on April 21, 2009
Silvio Berlusconi and Mara CarfagnaThough not by Filippo Panseca Yesterday’s Times Online has a short piece which begins [with added links] A scarf is the only thing protecting the modesty of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, in a painting of him and his Minister for Equal Opportunities, Mara Carfagna, 32, a former topless model, as angels...

Tweets on Twitter

Posted on April 19, 2009
Via the great John Naughton, the ultimate tweet about twitter:

Another heckers? veto; another failure of freedom of expression on campus

Posted on April 09, 2009
Via 9th Level Ireland, I am alerted to the following story [with added links]: Euthanasia lecture cancelled A controversial public lecture on euthanasia has been cancelled minutes after it began when a group of over 20 protestors disrupted it. The guest speaker

Tory Island and Unjust Enrichment

Posted on April 05, 2009
Tory Island is a small island of striking natural beauty off the northwest coast of Co Donegal. So, film-maker Neville Presho must have thought himself a lucky man to have a holiday home there. Until one day he returned to the island, and found that the house was gone, replaced by car park for an [...

Libraries

Posted on April 03, 2009
On Slaw, Michael Lines lauds a presentation by Paul Holdengraber, Director of the Public Education Program at the New York Public Library: Yesterday?s Keynote was probably one of the best talks on any topic I have ever heard. Inspiring, elevating, and hilarious, Paul Holdengraber delivered a wonderful message about reading, conversation, and libraries that has to [...

Cowengate and seditious libel

Posted on April 02, 2009
I wonder whether anyone has suggested that Conor Casby’s caricatures of Cowen constitute a seditious libel? It’s not that fanciful a question: the common law crime still exists, and has been used against milder criticism. But the mere fact that the question can be asked in this context demonstrates just how ridiculous the crime actually [...

Reminder: Rethinking Law - Law Student Colloquium at TCD on Saturday

Posted on April 02, 2009
Are you a Law student, undergraduate or postgraduate? If so, you should come along to a colloquium in TCD next Saturday, 4 April 2009, from 11:00am, and hear other law students present short papers across the full range of the law. Full information about this exciting event is available here, and attendance is free, but [...

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Posted on April 01, 2009
Three stories from today’s Irish Times caught my eye. First, the good. The Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman launched their first annual report yesterday. The press industry undoubtedly did a good thing in establishing the Press Council and the Ombudsman, and yesterday’s report on the first year of operation [...

A moot point

Posted on March 29, 2009
via the always-brilliant Courtoons:

Cowengate follow-on: a question, and more pictures at the exhibitions

Posted on March 29, 2009
Emerson, Lake and Palmer performing their 1971 album version of Pictures at an Exhibition The Cowengate controversy certainly caught the imagination this week; and, by way of update to my earlier posts on the topic, I’ve collected some more links about the affair below...

Why should ?Anon.? get all the best lines? Reflections on anonymous political speech

Posted on March 28, 2009
Given that I have strongly defended anonymous speech on this blog (here and here), Sarah Hinchliff Pearons’s blogpost Accountability and Anonymity: Rethinking the Value of Anonymous Speech caught my eye. Her basic point is … not to argue that we should not try to prevent lawsuits designed to stifle free speech...

Cowengate and Freedom of Expression

Posted on March 26, 2009
Suzy must get the prize for the best political coinage of the day, for - so far as I can see - it is she who has given the name “Cowengate” [but see also Cerandor] to the sturm und drang surrounding satirical portraits of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Brian Cowen (the more popular, but less [...

Bentham and judicial retirement

Posted on March 26, 2009
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) (left) was a utilitarian philosopher, whose radical ideas on education inspired those who founded University College London. Nowadays, the Bentham Association (formerly the Bentham Club) is the Alumni Association for UCL’s lawyers, and it annually hosts a Presidential Address from an invited senior lawyer...

Cowengate: Pictures at an exhibition

Posted on March 26, 2009
Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgksy’s Pictures at an Exhibition, performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen at the BBC Proms in August 2006 This post is an addendum to Cowengate and Freedom of Expression (above)...

Why are legislators so loath to repeal criminal libel provisions?

Posted on March 25, 2009
Article XIX, the Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression, is an international human rights organisation which defends and promotes freedom of expression and access to information worldwide. Defamation is one of the Global Issues on which they focus...

International and European Perspectives in Legal Education

Posted on March 13, 2009
The theme of the afternoon plenary session of the third Legal Education Symposium was on International and European Perspectives in Legal Education As if she didn’t have enough to do as one of the organisers, this session was chaired by Prof Blanaid Clarke, and the session examined the ongoing the Bologna Process, which aims to create a [...

Developing legal education (including Laptops in class, again!)

Posted on March 13, 2009
As with the first set of parallel sessions, the second set of parallel sessions in the third Legal Education Symposium also covered a diverse range of interesting topics. There was another session on Experiential Learning, this one chaired by Prof Colin Scott of the School of Law, University College Dublin...

Issues in legal education

Posted on March 13, 2009
The first set of parallel sessions in the third Legal Education Symposium covered a wide range of fascinating topics. The session on Experiential Learning was chaired by Dr Suzanne Kingston of University College Dublin. Edward Phillips, Department of Law, University of Greenwich spoke about Legal Method and Legal Reflection: Experiential Learning in the Law School...

Teaching experiences in legal education

Posted on March 13, 2009
The theme of the morning plenary session of the third Legal Education Symposium was Teaching experiences in legal education It was chaired by UCD School of Law’s new Dean, Prof John Jackson, and the session examined the various ways in which the traditional legal curriculum could develop, including the integration of clinical education and interdisciplinary perspectives...

Covert surveillance, privilege, and iniquity

Posted on March 12, 2009
Caption: Hey boss. I’m not sure our covert surveillance is real covert any more In general, the public interest in the proper administration of justice requires that people called as witnesses before courts must answer all questions put to them, on pain of being held in contempt of court...

Services and overpayments

Posted on March 11, 2009
The English Court of Appeal recently considered two interesting issues in Furmans Electrical Contractors v Elecref Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 170 (10 March 2009). Furmans were subcontractors installing electrical cabling on jobs on which Elecref were electrical contractors...

Rescue from the runaway truck

Posted on March 11, 2009
Suppose you see a runaway truck, and seek to stop its progress before it does real damage - what legal claims arise? In an earlier post, I referred to two of the possible claims: first, if you stop it from injuring others, but are yourself injured in the process, you can sue the tortfeasor who [...

Education and training

Posted on March 10, 2009
The National Competitiveness Council yesterday published a Statement on Education and Training; from the announcement on the website: Education is central to our ability to improve our quality of life and wellbeing through success in selling goods and services on international markets...

Article 10 and the Duke of Brunswick

Posted on March 10, 2009
William VIII, Duke of Brunswick (pictured left; 1806-1884) was ruling duke of the Duchy of Brunswick from 1830 until his death. A famous eccentric, he bequeathed at least two interesting events to history. First, he lost a famous chess game to Paul Morphy (the Bobby Fischer of his era)...

Mandatory retirement, again

Posted on March 06, 2009

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