Here is the notice that was going around (and was just forwarded to me) about former Governor Russell Peterson speaking at the University of Delaware tonight:
What do Polar Bears, SUVs, and Windmills all have in Common?
They will be a part of the upcoming debate on Delaware and the United States Energy Policy.
Come participate in a public forum on…
Moving Towards a Responsible Energy Future
Taking place Wednesday, January 30, 2002 at 7:00 p.m., at the University of Delaware, Perkins Student Center's Bacchus Theater.
The focus of the discussion will be on the proper path that should be taken to ensure a safe and secure energy future for Delaware and the US for generations to come.
Keynote Speaker for the Event, Former Governor Russell Peterson, followed by a panel discussion with: Governor Peterson, Dr. John Byrne, Director of the University of Delaware's Center for Energy and Environmental Policy; Edwin L. Mongan, DuPont’s Manager of Environmental Stewardship; and Adeline Stevenson of the Gwich’in people of North Alaska. The evening will be M.C.'d by Joseph Otis Minott, Esquire, Executive Director of Clean Air Council.
How To Get There
From I-95 take exit 1B. Drive 2 miles North on 896 (S. College Ave.) towards Newark. Take a Right on Park Pl. At the next light turn left onto Academy Rd. The Perkins Student Center will be on the Right. Pay parking is available in the garage to the right of the Perkins Center, but there is also a free lot adjacent to Russell Hall on the left of Perkins. Once inside Perkins, follow signs to the set of stairs leading down to the Bacchus Theater. SEE YOU THERE!
Sponsored by: Sierra Club * Delaware Audubon Society * Delaware Clean Air Council * Alaska Coalition * Union of Concerned Scientists * Delaware Nature Society * UD Students for the Environment (S4E) * State PIRGs
For more information : Contact John M. Kearney, Clean Air Council, Staff Attorney, 302-691-0112
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
around the law
There's something sad about the "Spirit of Justice," and the "Majesty of the Law," being covered by curtains in the United States' Justice Department's Great Hall.
The definitive source for determining how to write a legal citation is commonly referred to as the bluebook becasue of the color of its binder. The actual name of the volume is the Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, and it is now available online.
USC Law School's Legal Resources on the Web includes a great collection of links to law related sites on the internet.
Orson Scott Card is one of today's premier writers of fantasy and science fiction. About fourteen years ago, he wrote a short story on the subject of censorship called Prior Restraint that looks at artistic expression, and its repression, in a unique manner.
I found out at today's City Council meeting for Newark, that former Delaware Governor Russell Peterson will be giving a speech on Wednesday evening at the Bacchus Theatre in the old University of Delaware Student Center, on the subject of the future of the United State's energy policy. I searched for the time of the presentation on the U of D website, but none was published. If I can locate it tomorrow, I will include it here. If you're in the Delaware area, and have an interest in the environment, this should be an interesting speech. Russell Peterson was the most environmentally conscious governor that Delaware has ever known, and he filled a number of other roles in striving to bring us a better world environmentally. He has been the head of the National Audobon Society, and served on a number of environmental posts in the White House, including chairman of the President's Council on Environmental Quality, and director of the Office of Technology Assessment of the United States Congress. He also served in leadership positions on a number of international environmental groups.
- William Slawski
The definitive source for determining how to write a legal citation is commonly referred to as the bluebook becasue of the color of its binder. The actual name of the volume is the Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, and it is now available online.
USC Law School's Legal Resources on the Web includes a great collection of links to law related sites on the internet.
Orson Scott Card is one of today's premier writers of fantasy and science fiction. About fourteen years ago, he wrote a short story on the subject of censorship called Prior Restraint that looks at artistic expression, and its repression, in a unique manner.
I found out at today's City Council meeting for Newark, that former Delaware Governor Russell Peterson will be giving a speech on Wednesday evening at the Bacchus Theatre in the old University of Delaware Student Center, on the subject of the future of the United State's energy policy. I searched for the time of the presentation on the U of D website, but none was published. If I can locate it tomorrow, I will include it here. If you're in the Delaware area, and have an interest in the environment, this should be an interesting speech. Russell Peterson was the most environmentally conscious governor that Delaware has ever known, and he filled a number of other roles in striving to bring us a better world environmentally. He has been the head of the National Audobon Society, and served on a number of environmental posts in the White House, including chairman of the President's Council on Environmental Quality, and director of the Office of Technology Assessment of the United States Congress. He also served in leadership positions on a number of international environmental groups.
- William Slawski
Monday, January 28, 2002
oyez, oyez, oyez
This is the cry often used to open a court to session.
The American Heritage English Dictionary has this to say of the term:
Yes, French was the language of choice in English Courts for a good number of years. It wasn't until the Statute of Pleading was passed in 1362 that English was permitted to be used by litigators. Though the statute became law, the use of french was still permitted, and documents were often filed with the court in french for at least three centuries after the passage of this statute.
Most statutes during that time were also written in french as an early Arms Control Act from 1383 shows.
If you read through the Many Variations of Trial by Combat, which is a description from Thomas, the Duke of Gloucester and constable under Richard II, on the Manner of Conduction of Judicial Duels, you'll see the use of "oyez, oyez, oyez" to begin a trial by combat (from Medieval Life & The Hundred Years War).
From the enlightening article Plain Language--The Arrows in Our Quiver, we find some other words that were derived from this use of french in English courts, including: action, appeal, attorney, claim, complaint, counsel, court, defendant, evidence, indictment, adjudge, judgment, jury, justice, parol, party, plaintiff, plea, sentence, sue, summon, and voir dire.
Will terms like "oyez, oyez, oyez" continue to be part of our legal system? The Statute of Pleadings was intended to allow the people being represented in court the opportunity to understand what was being said during legal proceedings. Plain english language used in courtrooms and legal documents today would go a long way towards the same result. But the tradition recitation of oyez three times will probably continue on as part of the historic tradition of the courts.
(Any discussion of the use of the term "oyez" should also point towards one of the best resources on the web about the US Supreme Court, which is the Oyez Project from Northwestern University.)
- William Slawski
The American Heritage English Dictionary has this to say of the term:
The courtroom cry "Oyez, oyez, oyez," has probably puzzled more than one auditor, especially if pronounced "O yes." (Many people have thought that the words were in fact "O yes.") This cry serves to remind us that up until the 18th century, speaking English in a British court of law was not required and one could instead use Law French, a form of French that evolved after the Norman Conquest, when Anglo-Norman became the language of the official class in England. Oyez descends from the Anglo-Norman oyez, the plural imperative form of oyer, "to hear"; thus oyez means "hear ye" and was used as a call for silence and attention. Although it would have been much heard in Medieval England, it is first recorded as an English word fairly late in the Middle English period, in a work composed around 1425.
Yes, French was the language of choice in English Courts for a good number of years. It wasn't until the Statute of Pleading was passed in 1362 that English was permitted to be used by litigators. Though the statute became law, the use of french was still permitted, and documents were often filed with the court in french for at least three centuries after the passage of this statute.
Most statutes during that time were also written in french as an early Arms Control Act from 1383 shows.
If you read through the Many Variations of Trial by Combat, which is a description from Thomas, the Duke of Gloucester and constable under Richard II, on the Manner of Conduction of Judicial Duels, you'll see the use of "oyez, oyez, oyez" to begin a trial by combat (from Medieval Life & The Hundred Years War).
From the enlightening article Plain Language--The Arrows in Our Quiver, we find some other words that were derived from this use of french in English courts, including: action, appeal, attorney, claim, complaint, counsel, court, defendant, evidence, indictment, adjudge, judgment, jury, justice, parol, party, plaintiff, plea, sentence, sue, summon, and voir dire.
Will terms like "oyez, oyez, oyez" continue to be part of our legal system? The Statute of Pleadings was intended to allow the people being represented in court the opportunity to understand what was being said during legal proceedings. Plain english language used in courtrooms and legal documents today would go a long way towards the same result. But the tradition recitation of oyez three times will probably continue on as part of the historic tradition of the courts.
(Any discussion of the use of the term "oyez" should also point towards one of the best resources on the web about the US Supreme Court, which is the Oyez Project from Northwestern University.)
- William Slawski
Saturday, January 26, 2002
politics of search engines
Have you ever considered that the methods that search engines use to index the web may be based more upon political views than upon limitations based upon technology? Do search engines run counter to the architecture of the web? A couple of years old, but very well researched and thought provoking, the article Shaping the Web: Why the politics of search engines matters gives a detailed analysis of this subject, and comes up with the following as one of its authors' conclusions:
women and the law
Law in the United States has historically been a profession predominantly represented by males. If you visit a law school, you might find that there is a very equal mix of male and female students on campus. That has not always been the case. The Women Lawyers Association of the Los Angeles County Bar Association has put together a site entitled Women's Legal History Biography Project, which is a great collection of articles and biographical material on women working in the legal field.
the socratic method
In law school, they taught us that the socratic method was a way of teaching that involved the law school professor standing in front of the class and grilling students on the facts, holdings of law, and meanings of cases. Lectures, and plain speech about legal methods, and analysis were the exception rather than the rule. Of course, that was
how many of the professors learned about teaching from their law school professors. Normally, the academic background required to teach law school involved a law degree, and experience as an attorney, and not a degree in education. What if they got it wrong?
An author who has previously written on serious scholarly subjects such as Shakespeare, has recently written a book called Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization. In an essay entitled The Art in the Popular, he explains why he would write about less serious subjects as Star Trek and Gilligan's Island. In doing so, he also explains how law schools have gotten the socratic method wrong.
educational resource guide to congress
CongressLink includes a great amount of historical information, and present day information about Congress. It also includes some truly great educational resources, like the Winning the Seat: A Congressional Election Simulation as a lesson plan for high school and college students. It looks like the type of classroom activity that could be a lot of fun.
- William Slawski
As a first step we would demand full and truthful disclosure of the underlying rules (or algorithms) governing indexing, searching, and prioritizing, stated in a way that is meaningful to the majority of Web users. Obviously, this might help spammers. However, we would argue that the impact of these unethical practices would be severely dampened if both seekers and those wishing to be found are aware of the particular biases inherent in any given search engine. We believe informing users, on the whole, will be better than the status quo, in spite of the difficulties.
women and the law
Law in the United States has historically been a profession predominantly represented by males. If you visit a law school, you might find that there is a very equal mix of male and female students on campus. That has not always been the case. The Women Lawyers Association of the Los Angeles County Bar Association has put together a site entitled Women's Legal History Biography Project, which is a great collection of articles and biographical material on women working in the legal field.
the socratic method
In law school, they taught us that the socratic method was a way of teaching that involved the law school professor standing in front of the class and grilling students on the facts, holdings of law, and meanings of cases. Lectures, and plain speech about legal methods, and analysis were the exception rather than the rule. Of course, that was
how many of the professors learned about teaching from their law school professors. Normally, the academic background required to teach law school involved a law degree, and experience as an attorney, and not a degree in education. What if they got it wrong?
An author who has previously written on serious scholarly subjects such as Shakespeare, has recently written a book called Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization. In an essay entitled The Art in the Popular, he explains why he would write about less serious subjects as Star Trek and Gilligan's Island. In doing so, he also explains how law schools have gotten the socratic method wrong.
The process of beginning with popular culture and attempting to ascend from it to higher levels of reflection has a name: the Socratic method. I am not talking about the parody of the Socratic method used by law professors and other academics, but the real thing--the philosophic procedure Plato shows Socrates pursuing in dialogue after dialogue. In the most philosophically autobiographical passage Plato ascribes to his teacher, Socrates explains in the Phaedo (96a-100a) that he became disillusioned with what we would call scientific attempts to understand the universe in terms of material causes. So he decided to turn from the study of the heavens to the study of human things, and that meant studying the accounts of the universe people give when they speak to each other in the city. For Socrates, what human beings say about their world is the best starting point for philosophy, and his aim, as Plato shows, is always to move in the direction of true knowledge from the confused and contradictory opinions people commonly express about the most important subjects, such as justice and the good.
educational resource guide to congress
CongressLink includes a great amount of historical information, and present day information about Congress. It also includes some truly great educational resources, like the Winning the Seat: A Congressional Election Simulation as a lesson plan for high school and college students. It looks like the type of classroom activity that could be a lot of fun.
- William Slawski
Wednesday, January 23, 2002
Around the Law
What were the important influences in your life when you were 16 years old? The Papers of George Washington look at our first president's school exercises, and cite the "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation," as having a profound influence upon him in his teen years.
Going back a few hundred years further, what did the people of the 15th century do for pleasure? The Richard III Society tells us about Delights of Life in Fifteenth-Century England, which details some interesting pastimes and diversions.
Lysander Spooner wrote an essay in 1852 on the common law right to a trial by jury. The document is a long one, but is an interesting discussion of the right to have a jury trial, and the right to be a juror.
At a Newark City Council meeting recently, a member of the public spoke before the Council as a representative of a church on Main Street. The City Council has been reviewing the many different liquor licenses held by different establishments in Newark. The rule that defines each licensee's rights under their license vary depending upon the year that the license was granted. A new restaurant near the church has applied for a liquor license, and it appears that the church is interested in seeing that the City consider very carefully the impact upon the church that granting such a license might have. The thought of having a church for a neighbor has been in the back of my mind since the meeting a couple of weeks ago, and when I came across an article on such a subject, it raised some additional things to think about. Struggling with Churches as Neighbors: Land Use Conflicts Between Religious Institutions And Those Who Reside Nearby, brings forth some points I hadn't considered.
The United States Chamber of Commerce today released a poll which makes the Delaware judicial system look very good. This survey of corporate counsel ranked each state in a number of categories, including judge's impartiality and competence, juries predictability and fairness, and a number of other categories. Delaware finished first amongst the fifty states overall. Delaware also finished first amongst all the states
in each individual category ranked.
- William Slawski
Going back a few hundred years further, what did the people of the 15th century do for pleasure? The Richard III Society tells us about Delights of Life in Fifteenth-Century England, which details some interesting pastimes and diversions.
Lysander Spooner wrote an essay in 1852 on the common law right to a trial by jury. The document is a long one, but is an interesting discussion of the right to have a jury trial, and the right to be a juror.
At a Newark City Council meeting recently, a member of the public spoke before the Council as a representative of a church on Main Street. The City Council has been reviewing the many different liquor licenses held by different establishments in Newark. The rule that defines each licensee's rights under their license vary depending upon the year that the license was granted. A new restaurant near the church has applied for a liquor license, and it appears that the church is interested in seeing that the City consider very carefully the impact upon the church that granting such a license might have. The thought of having a church for a neighbor has been in the back of my mind since the meeting a couple of weeks ago, and when I came across an article on such a subject, it raised some additional things to think about. Struggling with Churches as Neighbors: Land Use Conflicts Between Religious Institutions And Those Who Reside Nearby, brings forth some points I hadn't considered.
The United States Chamber of Commerce today released a poll which makes the Delaware judicial system look very good. This survey of corporate counsel ranked each state in a number of categories, including judge's impartiality and competence, juries predictability and fairness, and a number of other categories. Delaware finished first amongst the fifty states overall. Delaware also finished first amongst all the states
in each individual category ranked.
- William Slawski
Forum Selection and Web Sites
If a problem arises that might cause someone to try to sue someone else, the person bringing the suit usually makes a decision regarding which court they will bring the case in. This is known as "forum selection."
If you have a web site that people can access for free and it isn't interactive, chances may be that you can successfully argue that your website is only located in the state where it is written. But, when you start charging someone else money to access a web site, or add interactive elements to the site such as a unique login, there are a number of new risks that you may face.
One of those is that a court might make a decision that your website is now located in any number of locations because it is actively engaged in commerce in those other locations.
That's where a forum selection clause comes in. It isn't difficult to make a forum selection clause a part of the conditions to subscription to the website. Keep it simple, easy to find and understand, and in plain english.
To find out more, an article in Online Journalism Review from last November covers forum selection in The Revenue Booby trap.
- William Slawski
If you have a web site that people can access for free and it isn't interactive, chances may be that you can successfully argue that your website is only located in the state where it is written. But, when you start charging someone else money to access a web site, or add interactive elements to the site such as a unique login, there are a number of new risks that you may face.
One of those is that a court might make a decision that your website is now located in any number of locations because it is actively engaged in commerce in those other locations.
That's where a forum selection clause comes in. It isn't difficult to make a forum selection clause a part of the conditions to subscription to the website. Keep it simple, easy to find and understand, and in plain english.
To find out more, an article in Online Journalism Review from last November covers forum selection in The Revenue Booby trap.
- William Slawski
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Martin Luther King, Jr.
From "I've Been to the Mountaintop," by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr:
You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
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