Three years after a request made by the Commissioner of Official Languages, the Supreme Court is still refusing to translate its decisions handed down before 1970. Its reasons are not valid ..read more

There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law and good sense. Journalist Annabel Crabb wrote the judgement was a “lesson in shades of grey”. What is not said, however, is that a significant factor in this case is that Lehrmann gave evidence. This is a major difference from the aborted criminal prosecution in 2022, in which Lehrmann relied on his right to silence at trial. Lee’s decision in this defamation case is ..read more

There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law and good sense. Journalist Annabel Crabb wrote the judgement was a “lesson in shades of grey”. What is not said, however, is that a significant factor in this case is that Lehrmann gave evidence. This is a major difference from the aborted criminal prosecution in 2022, in which Lehrmann relied on his right to silence at trial. Lee’s decision in this defamation case is ..read more

Donald Trump's Supreme Court brief characterizes historic cases and documents as saying one thing when they say the complete opposite. erhui1979/Digital Vision Vectors/Getty Images Former President Donald Trump claims that the president of the United States is absolutely immune from criminal prosecution. On March 19, 2024, Trump filed his brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith for Trump’s alleged criminal attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump argued in the brief that the Supreme Court must dismiss the criminal indictment against him because ..read more

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a $250 million lawsuit against former president Donald Trump on Sept. 21, 2022 . Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images New York Attorney General Letitia James hit former president Donald Trump with a US$250 million lawsuit on Sept. 21, 2022, citing “staggering” amounts of falsified business information and fraud. The civil lawsuit alleges that Trump, his company – the Trump Organization – and three of his children lied to lenders and insurers about billions of dollars’ worth of assets. This follows a three-year investigation into Trump’s New York-ba ..read more

China’s first ever civil code came into effect on January 1 2021. Replacing a raft of other laws covering issues from marriage, to inheritance, adoption and property, it has binding authority over all civil disputes. A unified civil code has been on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) political agenda since 2014. After ten rounds of open consultation, the National People’s Congress passed the new code in May 2020. Some changes introduced under the civil code reflect grassroots concerns, for example the imposition of liability on people who occupy other passengers’ seats on a train. From Januar ..read more

The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, one of the landmarks in Brunei. Brunei recently announced punishing gay sex by stoning offenders to death. AP Photo/Vincent Thian After Brunei introduced death by stoning for homosexuals under its Islamic law, or Sharia, the condemnation from human rights organizations and others was swift. Recently, the country backed down under mounting international pressure, saying it would not carry out executions under the new law. The sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, said, “As evident for more than two decades, we have practiced a de facto moratorium on the exe ..read more

For the past two years, Paul Brereton, a New South Wales Supreme Court judge and Army Reserve major general, has been conducting an investigation into the conduct of members of the SAS in Afghanistan. While the findings are not yet known, leaks from within the Australian Defence Force (ADF) have suggested that as many as five cases involving unlawful killings have been uncovered. Much of the media commentary surrounding the allegations has centred on the potential criminal prosecution of these alleged offences. But a further legal issue can arise from investigations of this kind – the alleged ..read more

South Africa's police face many civil claims by crime victims. Shutterstock/Arisha Ray Singh South Africa is plagued by crime. Violent crime, in particular, has reached epidemic proportions. The country has some of the world’s highest murder, assault and rape rates. So how does – or how should – the law respond to this problem? One option would be to try to prevent crime from taking place in future. But available crime statistics for the last decade suggest that without a major overhaul of policing and the introduction of coordinated social responses to fighting crime this is unlikely to happe ..read more

South African court rules that racism is a criminal offence. Shutterstock A South African estate agent Vicky Momberg was caught on video verbally abusing a black policeman. She used the word ‘kaffirs’ repeatedly during her tirade against men who were trying to assist. The word is deeply offensive and considered the most racist in South Africa. The state brought a case of crimen injuria against Momberg and a court has sentenced her to three years in jail (one suspended). This makes her the first person in the country to be jailed for this offence. Thabo Leshilo asked legal experts Penelope Andr ..read more