mars 2012

The shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Florida teenager, by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, hasraised questions about a self-defense law, called Stand Your Ground, that has been enacted in some form in 21 states. Does self-defense legislation like Stand Your Ground laws provide too much criminal immunity when innocent people are shot by someone who feels threatened? Or are these laws still needed to allow people to protect themselves? Read the discussion

Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to effective lawyers during plea negotiations, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in a pair of 5-to-4 decisions that vastly expanded judges’ supervision of the criminal justice system. The decisions mean that what used to be informal and unregulated deal making is now subject to new constraints when bad legal advice leads defendants to reject favorable plea offers. By Adam Liptak Read more on www.nytimes.com

On the Monarchy, please access the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17438874 Read/view the BBC article and video.  You can also access the Diamond Jubilee website: http://www.thediamondjubilee.org/ There is relevant information on the role of the Queen in Parliament on the Houses of Parliament website: http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role/parliament-crown/  

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WASHINGTON — If the Obama administration persuades theSupreme Court to uphold its health care overhaul law, it will be in large part thanks to a 70-year-old precedent involving an Ohio farmer named Roscoe C. Filburn. Mr. Filburn sued to overturn a 1938 federal law that told him how much wheat he could grow on his family farm and made him pay a penalty for every extra bushel. By Adam Liptak Read more on www.nytimes.com

Growing concerns about the failure of police to properly investigate cases of women who have killed themselves after violence or abuse have led to a campaign for a new homicide law of "suicide aggravated by harassment or violence". The campaign is to be launched next month by Southall Black Sisters,who say the law would also cover those who jump from high buildings after being jeered by onlookers or who kill themselves after being encouraged over the internet. By Amelia Hill Read more on www.guardian.co.uk

Dr Ashley wrote about the problems of placing law students with City firms, which she attributed to prejudice against working-class origins, dress and speech. While I agree that students with great potential may be lost if their speech and dress appear professionally inappropriate at interview, this is hardly the fault of the recruiters, nor is it a simple matter of 'class prejudice'. It is obvious that future lawyers should speak and write clear, accurate and correct English. As Baroness Deech, chair of The Bar Standards Board, has... [Lire la suite]

The Master of the Rolls has urged judges to use caution in speaking about public matters, warning they risk undermining the independence of the judiciary. Lord Neuberger said judges should be free to comment extra-judicially on a wide range of issues, but that they should be cautious about publicly discussing controversies as it could call into question judicial independence. By Catherine Baski Read more on www.lawgazette.co.uk

A teenager charged with the murder of two British friends as they enjoyed a Florida holiday almost a year ago will go on trial on Monday as prosecutors hope to uncover the truth about the men's final moments. Shawn Tyson, whose 17th birthday is also on Monday, is accused of shooting James Kouzaris, 24, and James Cooper, 25, both former students at the University of Sheffield, during a confrontation in Newtown, a ghetto in Sarasota, in the early hours of 16 April 2011. By Richard Luscombe in Miami Read more on... [Lire la suite]

He was just a jerky kid. That was the defense his lawyer made for Dharun Ravi, who used a webcam to spy on his gay freshman roommate before the roommate killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. But the jerky-kid defense failed miserably on Friday with theconviction of Mr. Ravi in a New Jersey court on bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and other charges. Lawyers said the conviction gave new potential to hate-crime prosecutions forcyberbullying and digital spying largely because it seemed to... [Lire la suite]