Word of the Week - Monday 30th May 2011

Monday 30^th May 2011 – Tribunal

This week's Word of the Week is 'Tribunal'

“Tribunal in the general sense is any person or institution with the authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title.^[1] For example, an advocate appearing before a Court on which a single Judge was sitting could describe that judge as 'their tribunal'.

Many governmental bodies that are titled 'tribunals' are so described to emphasize the fact that they are not courts of normal jurisdiction. For example the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is a body specially constituted under international law; in Great Britain, Employment Tribunals are bodies set up to hear specific employment disputes. Private judicial bodies are also often styled 'tribunals'.

The word 'tribunal' is not conclusive of a body's function. For example, in Great Britain, the Employment Appeal Tribunal is a superior court of record.”
   
         -    Wikipedia

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My First Quarter 2011 Reading List

Since I found out that I had been accepted to study for a law degree, I decided to start reading more in preparation for September. I started a new reading list at the very start of the 2011 calendar year and have read thirteen books to date.

Some of my reads were chosen by my personal interest as an entertaining read, so my first four books were all written by my favourite author, John Grisham.

·         A Time To Kill

·         The Associate

·         The Street Lawyer

·         The Appeal

I read two non-law related books, one for entertainment as I enjoy reading crime fiction and medical thrillers, and the other for a bit of insight into body language because I would like to be able to understand people a little better.

·         The Surgeon – Tess Gerritsen

·         Reading People – Joe Navarro

Living and studying in The Netherlands means the inevitability of having to learn and master the Dutch language, so I have read through a selection of books to help me get to grasps with Dutch grammar and sentence structure.

·         Dutch Comprehensive Grammar – Bruce Donaldson

·         Dutch Essential Grammar – William Z. Shetter and Esther Ham

·         Teach Yourself Dutch Grammar – Gerdi Quist and Dennis Stirk

In preparation for starting my degree I have also purchased and read through a number of Law related books to try and grasp some of the more complex rules and scenarios in advance.

·         AS Level Law – Cavendish Lawcard Series

·         Common Law Theory – Douglas E. Edlin

·         Handy Law – David L. Hudson Jr.

·         The Law Machine – Marcel Berlins and Clare Dyer

Throughout the year I would like to read another five or so books from John Grisham, as well as a couple more from Tess Gerritsen, however I know that Law School will also require a lot of reading, so I’m not too sure if I will really want to read a lot in my free time.

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Word of the Week - Monday 23rd May 2011

Monday 23^rd May 2011 – Tort

This week's Word of the Week is 'Tort'

“A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty (other than a contractual duty) owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general. Though many acts are both torts and crimes, prosecutions for crime are mostly the responsibility of the state, private prosecutions being rarely used; whereas any party who has been injured may bring a lawsuit for tort. One who commits a tortious act is called a tortfeasor. The equivalent of tort in civil law jurisdictions is delict.

A person who suffers a tortious injury is entitled to receive "damages", usually monetary compensation, from the person or people responsible — or liable — for those injuries. Tort law defines what is a legal injury and, therefore, whether a person may be held liable for an injury they have caused. Legal injuries are not limited to physical injuries. They may also include emotional, economic, or reputational injuries as well as violations of privacy, property, or constitutional rights. Tort cases therefore comprise such varied topics as auto accidents, false imprisonment, defamation, product liability (for defective consumer products), copyright infringement, and environmental pollution (toxic torts), among many others.

In much of the common law world, the most prominent tort liability is negligence. If the injured party can prove that the person believed to have caused the injury acted negligently – that is, without taking reasonable care to avoid injuring others – tort law will allow compensation. However, tort law also recognizes intentional torts, where a person has intentionally acted in a way that harms another, and "strict liability," which allows recovery under certain circumstances without the need to demonstrate negligence.”

-          Wikipedia

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Word of the Week - Monday 16th May 2011

Monday 16^th May 2011 – Manslaughter 

This week's Word of the Week is 'Manslaughter'

“Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BCE.[1]

The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind. This is particularly true within the law of homicide, where murder requires either the intent to kill – a state of mind called malice, or malice aforethought – or the knowledge that one's actions are likely to result in death; manslaughter, on the other hand, requires a lack of any prior intention to kill or create a deadly situation.

Manslaughter is usually broken down into two distinct categories: voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

Voluntary manslaughter occurs either when the defendant kills with malice aforethought (intention to kill or cause serious harm), but there are mitigating circumstances which reduce culpability, or when the defendant kills only with an intent to cause serious bodily harm. Voluntary manslaughter in some jurisdictions is a lesser included offense of murder. The traditional mitigating factor was provocation; however, others have been added in various jurisdictions.

Involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought. It is distinguished from voluntary manslaughter by the absence of intention. It is normally divided into two categories; constructive manslaughter and criminally negligent manslaughter.”

    - Wikipedia

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A Rock and a Hard Place

Friday was just a typical day, nothing special, with the exception of the date; Friday the 13^th... Now I would class myself as quite superstitious, but I was feeling quite optimistic. Not long into the day my newly purchased Lumix TZ8 digital camera hit the concrete from arms length, and my heart skipped a beat. The lens was zoomed out to 12x and I didn’t expect the camera to be in one piece as I looked towards the ground.

Luckily the camera came out in working condition, with a dent on the outer plastic part of the lens and with a few scrapes of paint missing. My first reaction was to test the camera, and all seemed well, the zoom was a little slower but it still worked. When it came to taking the memory card out of the camera, I realised where the most serious damage had taken place. The lock system for the battery and memory card compartment no longer worked, meaning that I had to prise open the compartment and then force it back closed.

Now this left me with a predicament; do I buy an upgraded DSLR so that I have more creative control, or just replace the camera with the Lumix TZ8, a camera that I know already works superbly?

My heart is talking me into making the more expensive DSLR purchase because of my love for photography, however my brain is telling me that buying a DSLR may be a waste of money, as I won’t have a lot of free time when I start studying Law in September. I have been told by many fellow students that Law requires a lot of commitment and involves heavy reading with a lot of long assignments, and this makes me a little uneasy on spending £400+ on a new camera, if I won’t even get time to get the most out of it.

So there is my dilemma, feel free to post any opinions below.

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Word of the Week - Monday 9th May 2011

Monday 9^th May 2011 – Negligence

This week’s Word of the Week is ‘Negligence'...

“Negligence (Lat. negligentia, from neglegere, to neglect, literally "not to pick up something") is a legal concept in the common law legal systems mostly applied in tort cases to achieve monetary compensation (damages) for physical and mental injuries (not accidents).

Negligence is a type of tort or delict (also known as a civil wrong). "Negligence" is not the same as "carelessness", because someone might be exercising as much care as they are capable of, yet still fall below the level of competence expected of them. They could also be aware of the issues, yet choose to put the issue aside because they underestimated the importance. It is the opposite of "diligence". It can be generally defined as conduct that is culpable because it falls short of what a reasonable person would do to protect another individual from foreseeable risks of harm. In the words of Lord Blackburn,

"those who go personally or bring property where they know that they or it may come into collision with the persons or property of others have by law a duty cast upon them to use reasonable care and skill to avoid such a collision." Fletcher v Rylands ([1866] LR 1 Ex 265)

Through civil litigation, if an injured person proves that another person acted negligently to cause his injury, he can recover damages to compensate for his harm. Proving a case for negligence can potentially entitle the injured plaintiff to compensation for harm to their body, property, mental well-being, financial status, or intimate relationships. However, because negligence cases are very fact-specific, this general definition does not fully explain the concept of when the law will require one person to compensate another for losses caused by accidental injury. Further, the law of negligence at common law is only one aspect of the law of liability. Although resulting damages must be proven in order to recover compensation in a negligence action, the nature and extent of those damages are not the primary focus of negligence cases.”

    - Wikipedia

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Word of the Week - Monday 2nd May 2011

Monday 25^th April 2011 – Continuance

This week’s Word of the Week is ‘Continuance’...

In American procedural law, a continuance is the postponement of a hearing, trial, or other scheduled court proceeding at the request of either or both parties in the dispute, or by the judge sua sponte. In response to delays in bringing cases to trial, some states have adopted "fast-track" rules that sharply limit the ability of judges to grant continuances. However, a motion for continuance may be granted when necessitated by unforeseeable events, or for other reasonable cause articulated by the movant (the person seeking the continuance), especially when the court deems it necessary and prudent in the "interest of justice.

Although a continuance is the result of a court order, issued by the judge in a trial or hearing, it also can come from a statute or law. The terms continuance and postponement are frequently used interchangeably.^[1]

The burden of scheduling trials which includes assembling the witnesses, lawyers and jurors all at the same time usually is a reason not to grant continuances in criminal cases except for compelling reasons.^[2][3]

A person accused of a crime has certain rights defined by the federal constitution, state constitutions and various statutes. These include the right to be represented by counsel, the right to compulsory process (issue of subpoena ad testificandum and subpoena duces tecum) to secure the attendance of witnesses, gather evidence and the right to a speedy trial. There are some cases in which a denial of a continuance may infringe on such rights and amount to a violation of due process which could result in dismissal of an indictment, or be the grounds for reversal.^[4][5]

Courts will lend a defendant all practicable help in securing evidence necessary for a defense, if it is sought in a timely manner. It is usual to grant a continuance if there is a problem in gathering evidence or the serving of subpoenas upon witnesses, if the defendant is not at fault for the delay. (See Powell v. Alabama) ^[6]

One accused of a crime has a right to be afforded a reasonable opportunity to secure the personal attendance of a witness. A continuance is proper, if it appears due diligence has failed to procure the presence of a witness. It must be shown that it is reasonably certain the witness' presence will be subsequently secured, and that the expected testimony will be material to the accused's defense.^[7]"

--          Wikipedia

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'Summer’ Plans

Taken with my Panasonic Lumix TZ8 (ZS5)

I currently have no academic or work related activities to attend to until September, so I have decided to go on a long vacation and return to my hometown of Wolverhampton, England.

My vacation is for a little over four months; however I also plan to visit Wales before returning home to Groningen, The Netherlands to start Law School.
During the summer I also intend to read some of my course material in advance, with the hope that this will prepare me sufficiently for starting Law School. I have brought many books with me, both in electronic and printed formats – meaning that I have hundreds of books at my disposal; this way I should be able to find a few books which are really useful and easy to follow.

As well as studying, I do plan on enjoying my time away – and hopefully keeping up with my new photography hobby, which I have been enjoying of late. I also considered buying an entry level DSLR camera, but I want to make sure that I have the budget and time to commit to a more serious hobby.

Of course, I also have a lot of family and friends that I wish to catch up with, as I haven’t seen many of them for a year or two and will be away for some time from September onwards.

So those are my plans for the summer, but whatever your plans for the summer are, I hope that you all have a great time, and remember that summer is meant to be a break, so try not to study too hard!

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