Jaani.net - Law notes, judicial humour, internet law and technology commentary

Used car salesman

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:16:46 -0800

The deceased appears to have maintained simultaneous domestic establishments with all three women and their respective children. In terms of division of his time he appears to have given preference to Margaret Green, but it seems that he spent two nights a week, regularly, with the respondent and, at least according to her evidence, gave what she regarded as a plausible explanation of his absences. Presumably, over a number of years, he managed to achieve the same result with the other women. This is consistent with his apparent success as a used car salesman.

Logically incontestable

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:06:37 -0800

Counsel for the States started with the proposition that disputes are either industrial or not industrial. That is logically incontestable; and, as was said by counsel in Repton v Hodgson in a sentence which Jordan CJ brought to light in an essay, ‘Like Sinclair’s well-known division of sleeping into two sorts, namely, sleeping with or sleeping without a nightcap, it would seem to exhaust the subject’. But the presence or absence of the quality ‘industrial’ in a dispute is not as indisputably apparent as the presence or absence of a nightcap on a sleeper. Read more »

A wrong thing

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:13:25 -0800

To read words into any statute is a strong thing and, in the absence of clear necessity, a wrong thing …

This case is rehearsed // reversed

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:58:33 -0800

The D A was ready
His case was red-hot.
Defendant was present,
His witness was not.[fn1]

He prayed one day’s delay
From His honor the judge.
But his plea was not granted
The Court would not budge.[fn2]

So the jury was empanelled
All twelve good and true
But without his main witness
What could the twelve do?[fn3]

The jury went out
To consider his case
And then they returned
The defendant to face.

“What verdict, Mr Foreman?”
The learned judge inquired.
“Guilty, your honor.”
On Brown’s face — no smile. Read more »

Learned and experienced counsel

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:33:34 -0800

[62] This is an appeal from the Chief Justice, which was argued by this Court over nine days, with some occasional assistance from the learned and experienced counsel who appeared for the parties. The evidence was taken and the matter argued before the Chief Justice in two days. This case involves two questions, of no transcendent importance, which are capable of brief statement, and could have been exhaustively argued by the learned counsel in a few hours.

An early funeral

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:07:54 -0800

‘George, are you sure it’s worth your while to go home?’

An appeal with a hole in the middle

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:53:35 -0800

‘This is an appeal concerning Polos, the mint with the hole in the middle. This is an appeal with a hole in the middle. It is dismissed.’

Italian mozzarella crime syndicate foiled

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:41:05 -0800

According to this report, four Italian police officers have been arrested for allegedly accepting cheese as bribes from motorists they pulled over. Read more »

Yobbo

Jaani — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:31:54 -0800

At 9.45 pm that night [the victim] received a phone call from a person who told her that the caller had read her letter [to a local newspaper] and that she should not have called the arsonist a coward; the caller did not like that; knew where she lived; had burnt the mosque and now her house was going to be burnt down. She thought the voice sounded like a 20 year old male ‘yobbo’ voice, ‘not very articulated, a breathy … Read more »

Don Giovanni

Jaani — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:07:31 -0800

Unambitious production of Mozart’s classic. Lacklustre set and fairly conservative staging are countered by a very good orchestral accompaniment (marring some clumsy passages from the upper strings) and some excellent singing by the lead roles. Like most Mozart, this is light-hearted and engaging opera and the production delights in these qualities — a very accessible work for those new to the genre. A humorous example from the libretto:

Women of every rank,
Every shape, every age. … Read more »