October 31, 2011 – 12:10 pm
I have just finished reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2010). It raises all kinds of social, ethical, scientific and legal issues. I thought I’d explore them in this post. I don’t intend to offer any firm conclusions, but I would like to generate discussion about the kinds of conflicts medical […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in History, Intellectual property, Law, Motherhood, Personal liberty, Public Policy, Society, Welfare
|
Tagged African American people, body parts, california, cancer, cells, cervical cancer, doctors, HeLa, HeLa cell line, Henrietta Lacks, illness, Intellectual property, medical researchers, Moore v Regents of University of California, patent law, pharmaceutical companies, property, property law, Rebecca Skloot, spleen
|
October 26, 2011 – 7:08 pm
Once upon a time, I was a lawyer who acted for mortgagees. I used to repossess houses and call on guarantees. Sometimes I’d get mortgagors calling me in distress, saying, “How can the bank take my property? It belongs to me.” Sigh. Well, yes you do own it – but it is subject to the […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Law, Public Policy, Society
|
Tagged banks, greed, lessee, mortgagee, mortgages, mortgagor, NAB, property rights, public relations disaster, repossession, Residential Tenancies Act, rights of tenants, sheriff, Supreme Court of Victoria, tenants, warrants for possession
|
October 25, 2011 – 11:53 pm
David Cameron has said he has “no bad blood” towards Conservatives who defied orders to oppose a call for a referendum on the UK’s EU membership. Ministers won the vote but 81 Tories backed the call, the biggest rebellion on Europe against a Conservative PM. The prime minister said he knew people felt “strongly” about […]
October 21, 2011 – 1:23 pm
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: ‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert… Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Events, History, Philosophy, Politics
|
Tagged dictators, libya, muammar gadaffi, ozymandias, percy bysshe shelley, philosophy, poetry, rameses II
|
October 20, 2011 – 3:46 pm
The Daily Mail reports that the European Court of Justice has just ruled that it is illegal to patent technological processes and treatment which use of embryonic stem cells because this constitutes ‘commercial exploitation’ which is contrary to morality: Scientists warned the ‘devastating decision’ will stop pioneering treatments for degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Intellectual property, Law, Public Policy, Society, Technology
|
Tagged biotechnology, commercial exploitation, CSIRO, embryonic stem cells, European Court of Justice, Greenpeace, Law, morality, patent law, Russell Blackford, stem cells, The Limits of Law
|
October 19, 2011 – 12:34 am
[SL: On September 18, I published a piece on the religious transformation currently going on in Europe, pointing out in passing that monotheism — if one examines its geographic origins — is almost as foreign to Europe as it is to India or China. In the post below, regular commenter Lorenzo has attempted to explain why: […]
By skepticlawyer
|
Posted in Feminism, Guest Post, History, Law, Middle east, Religion, Skeptics
|
Tagged 2005 Eurobarometer poll, Akhenaton, Byzantine Empire, cousin marriage, ibn Khaldun, islam, islamism, Kerry Greenwood, kinship, Mesopotamia, Mongols, monolatry, monotheism, Out of the Black Land, pastoralists, queer-hatred, Sassanids, social geography, Zoroastrianism
|
October 18, 2011 – 1:40 am
PARENTS who allow their children to become truants will lose welfare payments under Labor’s plan to toughen elements of the Northern Territory intervention after a report found widespread acceptance of the controversial program in Aboriginal communities. In a redesign of its attack on indigenous disadvantage, the Gillard government will announce plans to legislate to continue […]
By DeusExMacintosh
|
Posted in Australia, Drugs, Economics, Funnies, Law, Politics, Public Policy, Racism, Society
|
Tagged alcohol, Australian Labor Party, indigenous affairs, jenny macklin, Julia Gillard, northern territory intervention
|
October 17, 2011 – 6:21 am
This post involves further thoughts on the Eatock v Herald Weekly Times case. I have attempted to clarify a few things, and to illustrate on a practical basis exactly why I think the legislation and the decision could be problematic. Introductory remarks on Bolt, affirmative action and group rights First, I should reiterate that I […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Australia, Free Speech, Human/Civil rights, Law, Media, Politics, Society
|
Tagged aboriginal, aboriginality, aborigines, Andrew Bolt, anti-Semitism, BDS, Bromberg J, Bruce Everett, Federal Court of Australia, Gubbas, hate-speech, Israel, Israeli Defence Force, Larissa Behrendt, Mark Bahnisch, Max Brenner, offence, offensive, Pat Eatock, Politics, racial discrimination, Racial Discrimination Act, racial vilification, Racism, Russell Blackford, The Drum, vindication
|
October 15, 2011 – 5:59 pm
This week, we published Lorenzo’s cracker of a guest post on the slow demise of the Euro, and someone at ‘Aunty’ ABC must have noticed, because he’s been interviewed on the strength of it. The show in question is called ‘Counterpoint‘, and airs on Monday October 17th. The show itself starts at 16:05; Lorenzo’s segment […]
October 13, 2011 – 10:32 am
“Phoenix Jones”, a self-styled superhero vigilante (complete with home made body armour) has ended up on the wrong side of the law. The Herald Sun reports that Phoenix could be charged by police after he intervened in what he thought was a fight and allegedly pepper sprayed a number of people: Phoenix Jones – known […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Fark!, Law, Popular culture, Society
|
Tagged assault, comic books, crime fighter, Fark!, pepper spray, Phoenix Jones, police, Seattle, superhero, United States, vigilante, vigilante justice, Watchmen
|