Law

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• A Country For Sold Men in Law: It is happening quietly, but certainly. Little by little at first, and recently in ways far more brazen, whole chunks of our country are being sold. » more
  
  
• A Monument To Corruption in Law: The Adarsh Society scam has many dimensions—illegal permissions, allotments, extra FSI, contraventions of the law, ownership of the land, and more. But there’s another scandal quietly brewing and it is possibly the worst of all. On the basis that, following the Ministry of Environment & Forests’ notice to the society asking it to show cause why it should not be demolished, some lobbies have recently suggested that the building should be “auctioned” (the auction proceeds to go to the state treasury). » more
  
  
• A Question Of Trust, A Matter Of Faith in Law: Civilization’s future, EM Forster wrote in his July 1941 essay, originally broadcast on BBC, demands something less dramatic and emotional than prattle about love. “Tolerance,” he said, “is a very dull virtue. It is boring. Unlike love, it has always had a bad press. It is negative. It merely means putting up with people, being able to stand things.” Speaking about a post-War England, he was convinced that it was this quality that would most be needed in the years ahead. » more
  
  
• Accessing The Law in Law: As our world gets more complex, so do our statutes. We now have laws for everything from the preservation of wild elephants (1879; seriously) to the running of cybercafes. This statutory morass is confusing and intimidating, and the citizen is more often victim than intended beneficiary. This is a situation that breeds corruption and administrative oppression; few, for instance, know precisely what their rights are whether it is a traffic offence or applying for a factory license. » more
  
  
• Ask The Experts in Law: We find television shows about lawyers, law firms and crime detection so compelling because we perceive court rooms as arenas for a civilized form of gladiatorial combat. ‘Courtroom’ TV serials show feisty lawyers trading verbal blows against each other and sometimes even against awkward judges. Witnesses are the hapless victims fed to legal lions. Every now and then an ‘expert’ witness — a scientist or a doctor, perhaps — is trundled out; sly lawyers try to tie them in knots, usually saying something like “so you can’t say for sure”, to which the witness responds “of course not; that’s just the most likely answer, in my professional opinion.” » more
  
  

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• For Whom The Decibels Toll in Law: We Indians are especially fond of noise. It appeases our gods. It makes us go faster on our pot-holed roads. It makes us better neighbours and fellow passengers on railway trains. Shouting into a cellphone shows how important we are (never mind that some of us like to shout into the wrong end of the phone). It also makes us incredibly stupid. When I once yelled at a driver for honking he looked genuinely perplexed and said, “but I wasn’t honking at you!” » more
  
  

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• Judgement Daze in Law: What is about judges that so upsets politicians and political columnists? A couple of days ago, one politician referred to High Court and Supreme Court judges as the “laziest” layer of the judiciary. That’s a curious statement coming from someone who’s made a career and an exceedingly good living out of that “laziness”. On television, a self-anointed political pundit was even more waspish, suggesting that judges “get off their butts” and saying that the judiciary was thoroughly useless, or words to that effect. » more
  
  

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• Minority Report in Law: Of all the opening words of the Preamble to our Constitution, the most difficult is one that wasn’t even originally there. Till 1977, we were a sovereign democratic republic, recently turned gloomy with Mrs G in the middle of her run up to pole-vaulting us into bananadom. In that year, we became both socialist and secular; and, as the Aston Martins and Bentleys on our potholed roads, and repeated outbreaks of sectarian violence show, we have honoured both ideals. » more
  
  

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• PILfering Justice in Law: Last week, India’s Law Minister, M Veerappa Moily, announced his shiny new ‘National Litigation Policy’. It recognises that the single largest litigant in this country is the government itself, and outlines several measures to make the government an ‘efficient and responsible’ litigant. » more
  
  

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• Tyrannosaurus Lex in Law: In 2006–2007, Bryan Garner, the paladin of plain language in the law, video-interviewed eight justices of the US Supreme Court on their views on legal writing and advocacy. American lawyers studied these videos closely to see what each judge liked and didn’t, and began tailoring their writing and arguments to fit.  » more