Category Archives: Law

Freedom of speech to speak foolishly…

May 15, 2008 – 9:09 pm

Continuing on the American theme from Helen’s conference post below, I thought I might mention this amusing First Amendment case, Purtell v Mason. I’ll let Sykes J from the Seventh Circuit of the United State Court of Appeals introduce the story:
The setting is a neighborhood feud. The case features an unsightly, 38-foot recreational vehicle stored [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Free Speech, Personal liberty | Comments (3)

Types of lawyers

May 14, 2008 – 8:53 pm

Here is a rather amusing post about the 17 different types of lawyer. I’ve meant to put it up for a while, but it got lost in my Inbox.
I don’t think it covers me, but then again, I am a rara avis. I do know, however, at least one Lawyer Who Is Writing A Thriller, [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in General | Comments (1)

Much worse than crying “Wolf”…

May 14, 2008 – 10:01 am

What a crazy situation:
In late 2006, Darrell Roberson came home from a late-night card game to find his scantily clad wife with another man in a pickup in the driveway. Tracy Roberson was with her lover but cried rape, and her husband fired four shots into the truck as Devin LaSalle drove off, killing him.
Darrell [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark! | Comments (10)

Riding the porcelain plane?

May 13, 2008 – 10:28 pm

Apparently a New York man is suing an airline for US$2mill because the pilot forced him to sit on a toilet during part of the flight. He was given a last minute seat on a plane, but then a flight attendant complained her jump seat was uncomfortable, so the pilot moved him to the toilet so [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark! | Comments (6)

Tyler Cowen’s ‘libertarian heresies’

May 10, 2008 – 9:03 pm

Tyler Cowen gave last night’s keynote address at the Institute for Humane Studies Fellows’ Research Colloquium, and in it he revealed a selection of five ‘libertarian heresies’. Three of them particularly struck me.
First, he made a cogent case for the idea that we (in the developed world, at least) are freer now than we were [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Economics | Comments (15)

So, what does ‘progressive fusionism’ look like?

May 8, 2008 – 4:33 am

This piece had its origins in a pair of posts written by Don Arthur over at Club Troppo, and followed up by Andrew Norton, Andrew Leigh, Will Wilkinson and Backroom Girl. The idea that libertarians and ‘progressives’ could hammer out some of their differences and reach a compromise far more workable than that between [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Economics, Philosophy, Politics | Comments (14)

Ethics and the law - when can a lawyer “dob in” a client?

May 7, 2008 – 10:33 pm

A while back, a non-lawyer friend asked me out of curiosity if a lawyer could (or should) report a client to authorities if the lawyer knew or suspected that client was committing fraud. It’s a little complicated. One’s first thought may be: ”Surely the primary duty of a lawyer is to uphold the law, and therefore the [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Personal liberty | Comments (2)

Opes investors fail at first hurdle

May 3, 2008 – 11:40 am

I know that some people have lost a lot of money through the collapse of Opes Prime, so it seems a bit ghoulish to be fascinated by it - but there you have it, I can’t help myself - I’m fascinated. There are so many interesting equitable and property law questions raised by it (tracing, [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Economics, Equity, Insolvency law | Comments (11)

Seinfeld makes it to court

May 3, 2008 – 10:09 am

I’ve written previously on how Alice in Wonderland has made it into many Court judgments. Well, now Jerry and Elaine have made it into a judgment too!
In Parish Oil Co Inc v Dillon Companies Inc, the US Court of Appeals in Colorado mentioned Seinfeld in an anti-trust case:
Indeed, the plaintiffs’ reading would apparently render unlawful [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Economics | Comments (0)

The Spirit and the Law - consumer protection and mediums

April 24, 2008 – 10:19 pm

A certain section of the British spiritualist community is protesting again the repeal of the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 (UK). The Independent reported the other day that the recently formed Spiritualist Workers Association (SWA) believes that the repeal of the legislation is discriminatory towards spiritualism. The Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU) which is a long-established body, backed [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark!, Society | Comments (3)