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London Students Anti-War March - LSE

IMC'ista | 01.11.2002 19:04

After a day of teach-ins and discussion at the LSE and a brief 'occupation', students gathered ready to march to parliament. Another group several hundred strong including students from SOAS came marching down the street, refused to stop for the hastily throwm together thin police line with the LSE students joining them to a huge cheer. (article 1)

London Students Anti-War March - LSE
London Students Anti-War March - LSE

London Students Anti-War March - LSE
London Students Anti-War March - LSE


IMC'ista

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Mr.

13.02.2004 00:04

Dear Librarian, Students and Professors,



Re: www.trafford.com/robots/03-1143.html - and - www.globaljusticeonline.com - or amazon.com and - “Learn the law”



My book, “Learn the law”, is dedicated “To my mother who read bedtime classics to me as a child, and to my wife who hated me reading anything in bed”. It might just as well have been dedicated to the assiduous breed under whose tutelage I read the law. They soldiered on until I was able to conqueror the complexities of the law and write a book on law.

The purpose of this letter ( e-mail) is intelligent recommendation. My book is an experiment in ‘tuition sans boredom’ . I have set out to cover the legal globe in 246 brief pages, with many legal issues addressed, global court structures, and explanation of law in a readable “ABC introduction to law”.



Professors,students, you and your significant other ( who may hate you reading anything in bed), can all understand and gain from this simple, yet effective new approach to law.

Sometimes if we take all of life and law too serioulsy, we afford ourselves too great an opportuinty for depression, and too litle opportunity for laughter.

Thus recommended, I close, and invite you to read a chapter, and glance at the book’s contents and one of the book’s web sites.



Kind regards.



Sincerely,



X

_________

NOTABLE











THE JUDGE



One of my favourite pieces of nonsense poetry, Lewis Carroll’s “You Are Old Father William”, succinctly states how Father William developed his powers of advocacy:



“You are old,” said the youth, and your jaws are too weak

For anything tougher than suet;

Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak,

Pray, how did you manage to do it?”

“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,

And argued each case with my wife;

And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw

Has lasted the rest of my life.”



Well, if argument with one’s spouse is the prescription for preparing a case, as a married lawyer, I was inclined to take that advice. Words, especially effective use of language, are essential for any lawyer wanting to make his mark in court. However, as the lawyer’s jaw grows stronger with years of purposeful matrimonial discussion (as distinct from exchanges without legal content), I wondered what might be the judge’s equivalent preparation for hearing a case. The question might be, “You are old, yet you are attentive and hear. How do you manage to do it?”



“In my youth,” said the judge, “my talkative wife,

Taught me how to look bright but not hear;



My ear would be turned towards trouble and strife,

But I’m totally deaf in that ear.”

(Apologies to Lewis Carroll!)

Some judges who do not have the good fortune of a hearing defect, end up unable to avoid counsel’s clamour save by cat-napping on the Bench. The “sleeping judge” is a character known to all jurisdictions.



The judge (ignoring here lay people who adjudicate in minor courts and technically knowledgeable arbiters sitting in arbitrations) is an experienced lawyer who has ascended to this important position. In some jurisdictions, a lawyer of many years’ experience is appointed (or in some countries, elected) to the “Bench” (i.e. where judges sit in court, and most people sit in parks). The requisites for a judge are:

- a sound knowledge of the law on which he adjudicates;

- a lawyer’s skill to grasp facts and issues; in addition he should use his intuition and commitment to justice to deduce from what is said as well as from what is kept hidden;

- within the confines of procedure, he should interpret legal rules and apply them with binding authority.



His tasks might be said to be knowing, grasping and deciding. Having heard the facts, he has to dispense “justice according to law.” How the final purpose is achieved will determine the quality of the judge.



When observing the judge in court, beware of feigned sentience. Counsel might feel that his address to the Bench in stentorian tones commands attention, but he may be mistaken. Sedulity is no answer for senility.



The sleeping judge, to whom I earlier alluded, is exceptionally clever. He has an ingenious practice which even years of attending court might not reveal. The secret? Sleeping judges have refined their art of restfulness on the Bench, to make their closed eyes convey an appearance of cogitation. Drowsily, they drift away to drift back sufficiently to grasp the bare essentials of the case. Such a judge’s utterances provide convincing proof of constant attentiveness. Thus, he might slowly open his eyes (his yawns being swallowed behind tightly closed lips, suggesting reflective rumination) and say:



Judge: I am not sure that I fully appreciate the point which Counsel made but I am open to persuasion.



Counsel: As I said earlier, Your Honour….



So Counsel is skillfully made to recount those important points which he had inconsiderately raised during the judge’s slumber.



Those judges who are neither deaf nor senile,

represent an assiduous legal breed. The hours are long, the responsibilities great, and late nights are normal for the responsibilities and burdens of this high office.





CONTENTS



Part I - History



- In the Beginning

- A cover story





Part II - Concepts


- What is law?

- The Three Bears sue Goldilocks

- What is justice?

- The Rastafarian who knew the law?

- The process of legal thought

- Left brain, right brain, law brain, ‘no brain’

- The burden of proof

- The truthful/lying witness

- An exercise in logic for counsel

- Legal philosophy

- The law according to this book



Part III - Structures


- Understanding legal systems and this book

- The law here – Part I

- The law here – Part IIa

- The law here – Part IIb

- The law here – Part IIIa

- The law here – Part III b

- The law here, there and everywhere

- Legal systems wider afield

- The structure of the courts - U.K.

- The structure of the courts – U.S.A.

- The structure of the courts – U.S.S.R. (then)

- The structure of the courts – Russia (now)

- The structure of the courts – The People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.)

- The structure of the courts – Canada

- The structure of the courts – South Africa

- Negotiation, mediation, arbitration, litigation, frustration



Part IV - The international dimension


- The International Court of Justice

- Law of the Sea

- War, nuclear weapons and international peace

- Grenada – why the invasion was wrong and why dumb people dropped smart bombs in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq







Part V - Human rights, human wrongs and


humankind


- Human Rights

- To hang or not to hang

- The Lord Chancellor’s enlightenment of Notable

- The Detective – a kind of human being

- The crime of passion



Part VI - Lawyers and the legal process


- The lawyer as professional

- The trial of Socrates

- The Judge

- The classics and the greats

- Erudite Caribbean lawyers

- The lawyer’s bad name

- Abraham Lincoln sees things another way

- Dead men tell no tales

- Nûremberg – 1945

- Doctors, evidence and the legal process

- Game theory and the value of litigation

- Counsel loses hope

- Two lawyers one day in court







Part VII - And so to the end


- The lawyer nearing the end

- What is an ETACOVDA?

- The General Exit Examination

- Glossary of legal terms



ILLUSTRATIONS





Themis
The Law portrayed in perfect form – as a learned beast

Me judice
The Rastafarian who knew the law

Pleading at the bar

The Sword of Justice

Moses’ mistake

Sitting on the same bench

A socialist view

A capitalist view

The International Court of Justice

Social protest

Hup, two, three, four…

Flush

Litigation

Honest Abe may have been wrong

Imbued with the Law I

Imbued with the Law II

Imbued with the Law III

DIAGRAMS



The Law here I (Sources of the law in Canada and law in the British Commonwealth)



The Law here IIa (How the law fits into the system of government – Canada)



The Law here IIb (How the law fits into the system of government – Jamaica)



The Law here IIIa (The courts – Canada)



The Law here IIIb (The courts – Jamaica)



The Structure of the Courts – UK



The Structure of the Courts – USA



The Structure of the Courts – USSR (then)



The Structure of the Courts – Russia (now)



The Structure of the Courts – Canada



The Structure of the Courts – South Africa



The Structure of the Courts – The People’s Republic of China









BOOK REVIEW

(Reviewed by: Dr. Alfred Sangster ‘Sunday Observer’ November 16, 2003)

LEARN the LAW

By NOTABLE

This book is written by an author with the pen name of Notable and is published by Trafford Publishing 2003 in Canada. The author who wishes his name to be withheld has Jamaican roots and may in fact be a Jamaican national who has had much international experience and is currently practicing overseas. The evidence for his Jamaican connections is clear from his table of a glossary of legal terms with the Jamaican meanings: Acquittal, (Gone clear); Settle (Cool runnings); Summons (Who want me?); Costs (How much you say?).

He also refers to the story of a Jamaican Rastafarian who is the accused in court. Briefly his previous history with the legal system had been mixed. On one occasion he had not done wrong, yet he was convicted. On another occasion when he was in fact guilty his lawyer had successfully convinced the judge that he was not guilty. Therefore he had come to regard the legal system with some ambivalence and was unwilling to take any chances. When therefore as the charge was read out and the Clerk of Courts asked the question: “Guilty of not Guilty?” his reply was “You ask I that? It’s that I man come here to find out!”

SCAN PICTURE P 52



The author reflects near the end of the book, his reasons for writing and argues that it is necessary to consider the sufferings and challenges of our times in the context of the law. He is writing therefore to: the elevated academic lawyer engrossed in his reflections, the practitioner embroiled in the problems of his clients, the judge trying to wrest justice from the jaws of advocacy and the lay reader who wants to know what is afoot in law.

The book is divided into seven sections each of which give an understanding and appreciation of the processes of the law and the implications of the legal systems. There are a series of illustrations which go with several of the issues being discussed.

The book moves at times from simple to complex issues.

In a simple explanation of the implications of trespass, he uses the children’s story of Goldilocks and the three bears. This is the story of the little girl Goldilocks, who goes wondering in the woods and comes to the cottage of the three bears. She enters and finding no one at home, she explores the home, sits on chairs, eats porridge and goes to sleep in a bed. The author makes a case for litigation as Goldilocks is sued by the three bears for damage that is: trespass on their property, damage to property (scratches on chairs) contamination of two bowls of porridge (Papa and Mama bear’s) and consumption and misappropriation of one bowl of porridge (Baby bear’s). The charges are made out and this is an example of how the legal process works.

The trial of Socrates the Greek Philosopher is also re-enacted

Continuing on the legal systems, there are several illustrations of how the legal systems are structured in Canada and Jamaica. The diagrams seek to provide the key to answering the questions:

What are the sources of a country’s law?
What is the complementary relationship between the legislative and governmental systems?
What is the structure of the courts?
The structure of the International Court of Justice is also illustrated and the author with his wide experience in international law reflects on the possibility – with tongue on cheek -- of offering his services as a judge to the court in The Hague. He awaits the call to serve and imagines a very long wait!

In the chapter on: The Law Here, There and Everywhere, Notable gives a somewhat simplified grouping of the main systems of law placed in generic categories. He names:

Traditional and Religious Laws such as seen in some African countries and being dominant in Islamic countries
Roman-Germanic Law has a foundation in the works of the Emperor Justinian
Common Law Systems which have their roots in the particular customs of a society
Socialist Systems of Law were those largely practiced in the Socialist countries which have mostly collapsed and these laws were to represent the will of the people as formulated by the State
Hybrid systems in which as the term implies, compromises and changes have been made to incorporate various society needs and practices.
The book also has a number of puzzles geared to testing the logical thinking processes of the readers. One interesting conundrum is entitled The Truthful/Lying Witness. A witness was an able logician and penned the following statement:

“What is written on the opposite side of this paper is true.” On the opposite side of the paper was: -

“What is written on the opposite side of this page is false.”

Such statements confirm the well-known statement by the English Playwright George Chapman: “I am ashamed the law is such an ass.”

Scan Picture page 39



Notable obviously feels strongly about a number of issues and declares his hand and position quite clearly:

In the American Intervention in Grenada with the support of some Caribbean Governments, he clearly in hindsight sees this action as illegal and cites the arguments for this position. Clearly he was unmoved by the massacre of Maurice Bishop and his colleagues nor persuaded by the position of veteran Grenadian journalist Alister Hughes
His Anti-American position continues with the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and the condemnation of President Bush (whose picture appears in one of the illustrations) is articulated quite strongly in the longest chapter of the book. This is designated as an “Extra” on the cover but just happens to be the longest chapter in the book.
Hanging also comes in for analysis and criticism with the case for: one page with statements, and the case against: two pages with statements and associated explanations. There is no doubt on which side of the fence Notable is on, in this debate.
The author is against war and all for peace. He seems to have forgotten one of mankind’s dirty little secrets that men have been at war from the beginning of recorded history and there seems that propensity to engage in it in spite of the obvious consequences and lack of logic.
There is a well-known saying which is: “Some people feel they can push themselves forward by giving themselves a pat on the back.” Notable obviously feels this way for on the back cover of the book there are a number of fictitious review comments such as:

“A journey of legal discovery, unlike any I have encountered.” Christopher Columbus

“Had I read Notable’s work more attentatively, and been less hasty on the hemlock, I would have beaten the rap.” Socrates

“Speaking purely theoretically, relative to the other law books available, I haven’t had such a good giggle about law in years.” Albert Einstein

“Religion, I decided long ago, is the opium of the people: but, people I have yet to determine what Notable’s book is.” Karl Marx

In conclusion, the book is one for a laugh as well as for careful review of the serious issues raised. Justice and the Law continue to be important issues for every generation.

Courtenay Barnett
mail e-mail: ablec@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.globaljusticeonline.com


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