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Author Archives: Legal Eagle

Lawyers for pets

February 1, 2010 – 9:14 am

Long-time readers of this blog will know I’m fascinated by animals and the law. A while back I wrote a post on the topic of pets who are recipients of bequests, and discussed the possibility of a rich animal being better represented before the law than a poor human being. The dog in that post [...]

Posted in Animals, Fark!, Human/Civil rights, Law, Society | Tagged , , , | Comments (12)

Food allergies and negligence

January 27, 2010 – 12:47 pm

Via the Obligations Discussion Group, I have become aware of a recent English High Court case, Bhamra v Dubb (trading as Lucky Caterers) [2010] EWCA Civ 13. As someone who suffers from a severe food allergy myself (anaphylactic reaction to tree nuts) this case is of intense interest to me.
The facts of the case are [...]

Posted in Law, Religion, Society | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (15)

Japanese ghosts are the scariest

January 23, 2010 – 7:20 am

I was talking to a Japanese friend about how my parents had a book of Japanese myths and legends, and I loved to read it as a kid, but some of those stories were so scary. I am sure that Japanese ghosts are the scariest and the weirdest. Anyway, I thought I would put together [...]

Posted in Art, Fark! | Tagged , , , , | Comments (22)

Political correctness on campus

January 21, 2010 – 8:36 pm

Via a friend, I came across this interesting piece on political correctness on US university campuses. The author starts out with a salutary tale:
In 2007 a student working his way through college was found guilty of racial harassment for reading a book in public. Some of his co-workers had been offended by the book’s cover, [...]

Posted in Academia, Australian internet filter, Education, Free Speech, Human/Civil rights, Literature, Personal liberty, Politics, Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (43)

The limits of law

January 19, 2010 – 9:07 pm

[Update: now cross posted at Online Opinion - 22/1/10]
One of the things that I’m thinking about in my PhD is the limits of law. What can law change? And more importantly, what can’t it change? Who enforces the law? Can we change the way in which people behave by regulating them more?
Via CoreEconomics, I came [...]

Posted in Economics, Human/Civil rights, Law, Personal liberty, Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (48)

Earliest political memories

January 15, 2010 – 7:25 pm

[Cross posted at Larvatus Prodeo]
Today my daughter was playing with her pink superball while my son was asleep (it’s small, so she’s only allowed to get it out while he’s sleeping). I heard her mutter to her toys while brandishing the pink superball, “This is the Prime Minister, and if you do something he doesn’t [...]

Posted in Children, Politics, Society | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (14)

Bloggers, journalists and the law

January 15, 2010 – 6:08 pm

Richard Ackland has an interesting piece in the SMH on the laws protecting journalists versus the laws protecting bloggers, with some thoughts about the blurred line between journalism and blogging as well. He says:
Justice William Gummow of the High Court asked the question last year during an appeal in Ray Chesterton’s defamation action against 2UE: [...]

Posted in Blogging, Free Speech, Law, Media, Popular culture, Society | Comments (6)

Artistic talent and crime

January 14, 2010 – 7:12 am

Via Jason Soon’s Sick of Politics blog I came across an interesting piece by Clive Hamilton on talented artists who commit crimes. Like Jason, I think it’s probably the first time I’ve been in unqualified agreement with Clive. Wonders will never cease.
Hamilton says:
Should artistic talent place those who possess it above the law? Put this [...]

Posted in Children, Law, Popular culture, Society, Sport | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (27)

Life’s a beach

January 11, 2010 – 7:09 pm

The Eagle family has just spent a few days down on the coast, staying with some friends who have a beach house. It was really lovely.
The beach plays such an important role in my childhood memories. My parents are both Sydneysiders, and we used to visit their childhood holiday venues. We would go camping with [...]

Posted in Children, Personal | Tagged , | Comments (5)

Pin Striped Prison

December 21, 2009 – 6:11 am

I’ve just read The Pin Striped Prison by Lisa Pryor (2008, Picador, Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney). Pryor was a law student who now works as a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Pryor is exploring a number of questions: what drives young people to want to become lawyers? Why do many lawyers decide it is not [...]

Posted in Academia, Books, Education, Law | Tagged , , , | Comments (23)