Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Antiquities prosecutions
Melik Kaylan has advice for prospective curator/jailbirds: “The morality around acquiring antiquities parallels that of hunting certain species — it was OK for millennia and suddenly isn’t anymore.” (“A Civilized Solution to Looted Art”, WSJ/OpinionJournal.com, Dec. 14). More on museums in legal hot water: Apr. 28, Dec. 5.
“How To Increase Liberty In America”
National Review’s 50th Anniversary Issue is on the newsstands (table of contents) and one of its features is a mini-symposium by ten writers on the topic “How To Increase Liberty In America” (more: “Corner”, Jacob Sullum at Reason “Hit and Run”, criticizing Robert Bork’s entry). I’m one of the contributors; my piece calls for reviving the vital old principle of assumption of risk in our courts. The piece is online to subscribers only at the moment.
Speaking of symposium entries that are online to subscribers only: the October issue of The American Lawyer ran a supplement on the cost of litigation, again with contributions from numerous authors. My piece focused on the cost of the discovery (information-demanding) phase of lawsuits.
At some future date I may get around to posting these pieces. In the mean time, readers should consider supporting both these fine publications, whether by subscribing or by buying single copies.
Product placement
The practice was common and unremarkable during the Golden Age of Radio, yet somehow the Republic survived (John Hood, “Warning: Coke, Though Refreshing, Is A Sponsor of This Program “, Reason, Nov. 22).
Blawg Review #36
…is up at AutoMuse, and mentions our posts on immigration penalties and on suing moms in Alberta.
Book review: A.N. Wilson, “After the Victorians”
In today’s New York Times Book Review I’ve got a review of After the Victorians, the new book by journalist/author A.N. Wilson surveying the history of Great Britain in the first half of the twentieth century, a period of marked geopolitical decline culminating in the dissolution of the Empire. I praise the book as cleverly organized, engagingly written and rich in content, but point out that it is utterly wrongheaded in blaming the decline of British power in the 1940s on the supposed perfidious schemes of the United States (Walter Olson, “Damn Yankees”, Dec. 11).
Update: Kazakhstan v. “Borat”
The Central Asian country has dropped its lawsuit against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, the Boston Globe reported (Joshua Glenn, “Surprise Kazakh”, Nov. 27)(via Amanda Butler)(see Nov. 16, Nov. 29).
Warning label of the week
Eric Koppisch of Colorado Springs writes Gregg Easterbrook to note that Milky Way brand chocolate milk declares “Warning: Contains milk.”
Columnist-fest
Because we haven’t done a columnist-fest in a long time:
* “I’m struck by how little attention has been given to one of the biggest problems in America’s judicial system: the enormous cost and creativity-killing pace of ordinary civil cases. … War is what a lawsuit is”. (John Stossel, syndicated/TownHall, Dec. 7).
* For years and years liberal groups have been cheering the federal government’s right to attach burdensome regulatory strings when colleges accept its money. Now, with the Solomon Amendment controversy, they finally get to learn about the other side of the story (Steve Chapman, “When Liberals Oppose Strong Government”, syndicated/Chicago Tribune, Dec. 8).
* “No Couch Potato Left Behind”: George Will on a $3 billion federal program to subsidize owners of obsolete TV sets (“The Inalienable Right To a Remote”, syndicated/Washington Post, Dec. 8).
Judge demands freeze on Boston Herald’s assets
Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy, having won a libel judgment of more than $2 million against the Boston Herald, smaller of the city’s two big newspapers, is now demanding that a court order the paper’s assets frozen to guarantee payment of the judgment. (Jonathan Saltzman, “Court is asked to freeze Herald’s assets”, Boston Globe, Nov. 29). Dan Kennedy at Media Nation (Nov. 29) says that the Herald’s original article criticizing Murphy was anything but a model of good journalism.
But free-press advocates ought to be concerned that a sitting judge can have some influence over the Herald’s future — and possibly its very survival — because of reporting that amounted to criticism of how he performed his public duties. That, more than anything, is what the First Amendment was designed to protect.
(via Romenesko). For the chilling effects of libel awards won by judges in Pennsylvania, see Mar. 16, 2004, etc.