Coruscation: law Archives

October 25, 2005

Legislating from the bench

* Any judicial ruling overturning a law is in wrong, that judges
can only decide what a law means not whether or not it is
Constitutional, so that any ruling overturning a previous ruling
that made new law is simply restoring order to the land. That
negating something doesn't bring anything else into existence.

* State legislatures and Congress are the only ones with the
authority to intepret the Constitution and that they also have the
power to change it whenever they choose, without having to resort
to a Constitutional amedment.

[*]

Previously on lancemannion: Orson Scott Card.

Posted by omor at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2005

Dahlia: fans and non-fans

Dahlia Lithwick, Slate-based legal commentator, has her fans and
her detractors.

Posted by omor at 04:12 AM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2005

Beldar Law Review

Beldar's legal review.

On Dahlia Lithwick.

On Eliot Spitzer:
Whose job, as he views it, is to use the power of the State of New
York to enforce not "the law per se," but ... well, whatever he
damn well pleases whatever he thinks will get him elected to his next
target office whatever his keen insight perceives as being
within that broader, unwritten social compact. (Or maybe its
penumbras and eminations.)

Posted by omor at 02:21 AM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2005

Chief Justice Roberts

Roberts purports to rock: offers lawyer jokes
and doubts Michael Jackson.

Posted by omor at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)

September 05, 2005

Find Articles

findarticles is the poor man's Lexis/Nexis.
Can't find it there ? Try MozBot instead.

Posted by omor at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2005

June was Lane Courtesy month

June was Lane Courtesy month.
Keep right except to pass.
Slower traffic keep right.

It's the law.

[Via Motorist News]

Posted by omor at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

July 08, 2005

Castle Coalition

Eminent domain, condemnation, expropriation:

“Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.”
U.S. Constitution, Amendment V

Castle Coalition opposes taking, even with just compensation.

Peter Sprigg thinks marriage if more for public purpose than private purpose.
(Family Research Council at panel discussion at the University of Pennsylvania,
February 12, 2004).

Posted by omor at 09:36 PM | Comments (0)

July 06, 2005

Police unsure how to enforce squeegee kids law

Vancouver police and the RCMP are not rushing to enforce B.C.'s new
law outlawing aggressive panhandling and squeegeeing, saying it will
take them some time to figure out exactly how they're going to use
it.

"Will there likely be any tickets issued today? Probably not,"
Vancouver police spokesman Const. Howard Chow said Friday. "And it's
not because we don't like the act -- but it's growing pains with any
new legislation coming out. It was just released yesterday."

Chow said the department still needs time to get details about the
Safe Streets Act and its penalties out to its officers on the beat
and to resolve enforcement issues, such as how to issue tickets to
people without a fixed address.

Chad Skelton and Krisendra Bisetty
Vancouver Sun

2005 January 29

Police unsure how to enforce squeegee kids law

Chad Skelton and Krisendra Bisetty
Vancouver Sun

2005 January 29

"We [need to] have a chance to inform our members on the act itself
and how to use it effectively," he said. "And, like everything else
new, once members become aware of it and become aware of its
effectiveness, undoubtedly they'll use it if the situation warrants
it."

The RCMP also said it is still in the process of reviewing the act.

"It's not a matter of delaying it. It's being cautious and making
sure the right things are in place," said provincial RCMP spokesman
Cpl. Anthony Choy.

Both forces stressed that the act is now law and -- if they receive a
complaint from the public -- they will act on it.

"If [someone] is walking down the street and encounters aggressive
panhandlers, I would recommend they walk away and call the police,"
said Chow, adding if the person feels in danger they should call 911.

Attorney-General Geoff Plant said he's not upset that police are
taking some time to figure out how to use the new law.

"It's not an issue that gives me any concern," he said. However, he
added, "I hope that their consideration is something that takes days
and weeks and not months. If we were to fast-forward four or five
months from now and find that police were still thinking about how to
use the tool, I would be disappointed."

Plant said while he is happy with the media attention the new act has
received -- which he hopes will encourage people to stop aggressive
panhandling -- he thinks it may have created unrealistic
expectations.

"To me, the entertainment is over the extent to which media outlets
are so determined to see if the world has been transformed in 90
minutes or less," he said.

Chow said the VPD are not yet clear what impact the act will have on
the already overworked department.

"Sure it's going to stretch our resources," he said. "But that's what
we're there for -- to keep the streets safe."

Choy said RCMP detachments across the province are still figuring out
how to fit enforcement of the new act into their existing budgets.

"We're more or less trying to determine how it works with our current
service delivery and enforcement plans," he said. "We are at the
stage of analyzing the legislation and seeing how it can be applied
on a day-to-day basis. I would say by next week we would have
something better to tell you."

While the details are still being worked out, Chow said the VPD
supports the law, particularly after receiving "scores" of complaints
from merchants, tourists and people who are being badgered by
beggars.

"This is just going to increase our arsenal," he said. "I think most
of us have probably experienced, having lived in an urban environment
like Vancouver, where you have panhandlers in your face, [who] won't
let you pass, aggressively asking you, sometimes threatening you, for
money."

The new act specifies that tickets ranging from $86 to $115 can be
issued to people for asking for money in a threatening manner, asking
for money while on a roadway (as squeegee kids do) or asking for
money from someone in a "captive location," such as a bank machine,
pay phone or bus stop.

In particularly serious cases, police can file a report to Crown
counsel and an offender could be sent to jail for up to six months.

However, people will not be sent to jail for not paying their fines.

The new law is similar to legislation introduced in Ontario in late
1999 that was directed primarily at squeegee kids.

That law has been heavily used -- with more than 2,000 tickets issued
in its first two years.

In Ottawa alone, police issued 764 tickets under the act in 2003,
with most tickets being issued for squeegeeing, begging in a parking
lot and aggressive panhandling.

Cities in Ontario have seen a noticeable drop in squeegeeing in
particular, but there have been some concerns raised about how those
street people are now making money.

A 2003 study by the University of Guelph that tracked 50 homeless
youth both before and after the squeegee law was introduced in
Ontario found a dramatic drop in the number of teens cleaning windows
for money.

Before the act was introduced, 65 per cent of the teens relied on
cleaning car windows as their primary source of funds.

Following the act's introduction, that dropped to just 24 per cent.

Most of the homeless youth switched to less aggressive forms of
panhandling to replace the lost income, but the survey also found an
increase in the number of male teens selling drugs.

The study also found a large increase in the number of teens relying
on some form of income assistance.

Posted by omor at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2005

White Collar Crime

Law professors' white collar crime covers the legal issues in business crime.

White Collar Crime also covers the public out of courtroom contests.

Put the search words "Enron scandal" or "Ken Lay," or even this Enron
reporter's name, "Mary Flood," into any of the above search engines and
one of the first things you will see is www.kenlayinfo.com. If you hit
on Lay's Web site from there, then Lay pays between roughly 5 cents and
12 cents.

Posted by omor at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)

December 20, 2004

Overlawyered

Overlawyered chronicles the excesses of litigation, lawsuits,
and regulation. By Walter Olson, intellectual guru of tort reform,
and Ted Frank.

The ethics sections includes an even handed look at pro bono work.
Good to know, even if you don't need a lawyer.

Coruscation

coruscation: sideblog for Stylized Facts.