I’ve got no time to tell this tale the dicks and bulls are on my trail But I’ll remember these two good men That died to show me how to live -Woody Guthrie, Two Good Men, from Ballads of Sacco and Vanzetti I have long been fascinated by the American case that was … [Read more...]
The Blackmailer’s Charter: Victims in British Film and Theatre – Part 2
This is the second part to the article, The Blackmailer’s Charter: Victims in British Film and Theatre. I can’t neglect to mention a bold play that preceded it by a few years. Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey (1958), staged by the innovative and brilliant Theatre Workshop under Joan Littlewood, … [Read more...]
The Blackmailer’s Charter: Victims in British Film and Theatre
I recently saw the 1961 British film Victim, starring one of my favorite actors, Dirk Bogarde. Dirk plays the highly successful barrister, Melville Farr, expected by his staff to take silk very soon (that is, become an eminent Queen’s Counsel, with a judgeship in his bright future as well). We see … [Read more...]
Cronaca Nera: Two True Crime Books From Italy
The Fatal Gift of Beauty:The Trials of Amanda Knox by Nina Burleigh I had largely finished this book when the news came that the Italian Appeals Court – the Court of Cassation – had, on March 26 ruled that American university student Amanda Knox and Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, briefly her … [Read more...]
O Patria: The Patriation Struggles
Should a government fail to respect natural rights, wrote Locke and Rousseau, then disobedience and rebellion were justified. Thus was born the modern notion of human rights. So responsive was this notion that the greatest social revolutions in the history of the western world took place – one in … [Read more...]
Privacy in Canada
Everywhere in the Western world it appears that the right to privacy is under serious assault. It is normal to read about and attend conferences with such threatening monikers as “Big Brother in the 21st Century”. Businesses, financial predators and governments all seem to have an ever-increasing … [Read more...]
Miss Julie’s Revenge, or Men Who Hate Women, Please Meet Lisbeth Salander
One of the great events of our summer in Edmonton is the Fringe Festival which offers an amazing assortment of acting talent, both local and international. While there is certainly something for everyone amongst the plays and musicals on offer, many are on the zany or surreal side. When I noticed … [Read more...]
Privacy in Canada (Part 3)
New case law has arrived since the debate over the Lawful Access Bill ended this spring. Before commenting on it, I would like to make a small detour to clear up one point. The lack of a federal position paper that would canvass the rich body of case law might lead one to wonder about the approach … [Read more...]
Privacy in Canada (Part 2)
From the time of the Code of Hammurabi in the 17th century BCE, societies that have aspired to some level of freedom and personal autonomy have expressed awareness of the need for privacy. In North America, the modern era of awareness of privacy as a right to be enshrined in the law might be traced … [Read more...]
Resistance to Dictatorship and Piercing the Immunity of the General
AUTHOR'S NOTE This column is a continuation of a discussion of these two books. The first part was published in LawNow March/April 2012. A look at Carmen Aguirre’s Something Fierce: Memoirs of A Revolutionary Daughter (2011) and Heraldo Normeydo Mendoza’s The Dictator’s Shadow: Life Under Augusto … [Read more...]