I see from a number of blogs (mostly from India, for some reason) Michael Mancini has evaded justice.

As you may remember, Mr. Mancini was the motorist issue with a £60 fixed penalty notice for not being in control of his vehicle while blowing his nose in a traffic jam. Outraged, he refused to pay.

He was prepared to face the judgement of the court but prosecutors in Ayrshire decided to take no further action. He is quoted as saying "I'm relieved it's now all behind me and I've cleared my name. I was determined to fight this and go to court because I know I did nothing wrong,"

It was also reported that the police officer who issued out the notice has earned the nickname "PC Shiny Buttons" for his over-zalous approach to policing. This is the same man, apparently, who last year issued a £50 fixed penalty to a man who accidentally dropped a £10 note in the street.

Of course, that guy's not my favourite policeman. No, that would be these guys ...

Labels: criminal law, Just for Fun, News

So, for no reason at all, I was wondering today about CCTV at work. So, I did some internet based research, and here's what I came up with.

Apparently, the Information Commissioner has published an Employment Practices Code (Data Protection), which has a whole section on workplace monitoring (Part 3). Here are some sections I have selected at random:

"where monitoring goes beyond one individual simply watching another and involves the manual recording or any automated processing of personal information, it must be done in a way that is both lawful and fair to workers."

"Monitoring may, to varying degrees, have an adverse impact on workers. It may intrude into their private lives, undermine respect for their correspondence or interfere with the relationship of mutual trust and confidence that should exist between them and their employer."

"In broad terms, what the [Data Protection] Act requires is that any adverse impact on workers is justified by the benefits to the employer and others."

"Where possible, any video or audio monitoring should be targeted at areas of particular risk and confined to areas where expectations of privacy are low. Continuous video or audio monitoring of particular individuals is only likely to be justified in rare circumstances."

There is also a CCTV Code of Practice, and again I have selected some random paragraphs:

"When you install CCTV in a workplace, such as a shop, it is likely to capture pictures of workers, even if they are not the main subject of surveillance. If the purpose of the CCTV is solely to prevent and detect crime, then you should not use it for monitoring the amount of work done or compliance with company procedures."

"Example: You suspect that your workers are making mobile phone calls during working hours, against company policy, and you consider installing CCTV cameras on their desks to monitor them throughout the day. This would be intrusive and disproportionate. Continuous monitoring should only be used in very exceptional circumstances, for example where hazardous substances are used and failure to follow procedures would pose a serious risk to life."

"Is CCTV limited to areas which workers would not expect to be private? CCTV should not be used in toilet areas or private offices."

I should add to this my own advice that it is never, ever acceptable for an employer to use CCTV footage to earn money by submitting it to You've Been Framed! - even if the footage is as funny as this:

Labels: Just for Fun, Privacy

According to UPI, a Scottish teen who threatened his granny's parrot was ordered by an Edinburgh Sheriff to buy her some chocolates by way of apology.

Stefan McKinsley, 19, pled guilty to breach of the peace on Monday 1 February 2010. His gran had called police in the early hours of Saturday morning with a complaint that her grandson was drunk and was hitting the parrot's cage.

The teen threatened the bird with violence if it did not quiet down and allow him to sleep, and was not placated even after his grandmother placed a cloth over the parrot's cage.

The precise wording of the apology is not recorded, but perhaps it went something like this?

If you don't stop squawkin' you'll be no more! You will cease to be! You'll expire and go to meet your maker! You'll be a stiff! Bereft of life, restin' in peace! You'll be pushing up the daisies! your metabolic processes will be 'istory! You'll be off the twig! You'll kick the bucket, you'll shuffle off your mortal coil, run down the curtain and join the bleedin' choir invisibile!! YOU WILL BE AN EX-PARROT!!

Labels: criminal law, Edinburgh, Just for Fun, News

I note, from the website Scottish Golf View that the recession is hitting many golf clubs hard with "membership levels in Scotland having dropped by 2.6 per cent in the men's game and 4.6 per cent on the ladies' front over the past year".

But, fear not for the Scottish Golf Union has a number of contacts "experts in finance, legal, general business and so on" - as chair Douglas Connon points out "You tend to find people on the committee of a club with issues often have businesses with some issues as well".

Maybe if they didn't spend so much time on the golf course, their businesses wouldn't be in so much trouble, eh?

Labels: Just for Fun

If there really are 8 Jedi in Strathclyde Police, how come the crime detection and clean up rates are so low?

Also, since it is now apparently fine to declare a fictional religion to your employer, is it also okay to declare fictional racial groups too? Who's up for declaring themselves as Elvish in the next Census?

Posted on Absolvitor: Scots Law Online.

Labels: criminal law, Glasgow, Just for Fun, News

An article in the This Day Online website ("African Views on Global News") and an amusing extract from the welcome address for budding lawyers entering law school in Nigeria.

" Gentlemen,

We use the above term with no apologies whatsoever to the gender hyperactive ones among you. The term has subsisted these long years to cover both sexes and we do not see any reason for it to be tampered with.

We must point out that we do not accede to the ludicrous version 'gentlemen in skirt' when referring to our females members ... As this is not Scotland, the very picture of a gentleman in skirt wakes up disturbing images which thankfully our laws have not yielded to yet. "

I'm guessing that "Law and Gender" hasn't made it onto the curriculum yet, then?

Labels: Just for Fun, Law Schools

The Morning Call website in Pennsylvania, USA reports on an usual defence to a drink driving charge.

The law doesn't apply to him, he claims, because he is a "sovereign man". He continued, "I don't live in the state of Pennsylvania ... I live inside myself," The 44 year old man told the judge that to convict him would be tantamount to "committing acts of treason, usurpation and tyranny."

The judge has ordered a psychological examination of the man.

Posted on Absolvitor: Scots Law Online

Labels: criminal law, Just for Fun, News

Don't forget to check out Mike Dailly's new blog in The Firm Magazine. Entertainingly titled "Dailly's Weekly Blog" it kicks off with an attack on proposals to introduce ABS (Alternative Business Structure) to the legal profession in Scotland, concluding (with a crescendo) in labelling the SNP Justice Secretary Mr. Kenneth MacAskill "spoon boy"!

LOL! (As I believe they say in cyberspace). It is believed that this is the first time that any serving member of the Scottish Government has been compared to a character in The Matrix. (Although, in a certain light Fiona Hyslop looks a bit like Carrie-Anne Moss). Presumably, Mr. MacAskill will remember that - there is no spoon. Also that Matrix Chambers are English barristers and, therefore not subject to Scottish legislation.

Labels: Just for Fun, law firms, Scottish Government

"You are to know, says he, that the Judges do not sit in court to do Business above three Hours in the day, that is from Eight in the Morning to Eleven. After they have taken some Refreshment, the Method is, to spend the rest of the Day in the Study of the Law, reading of the Holy Scriptures, or else it is taken up in some other innocent Amusements, at their Pleasure: So that it is rather a Life of Contemplation, than of Action, free from worldly Cares and Avocations."

from De Laudibus Legum Angliae, by Fortescue (1470) - as quoted in "How to be free" by Tom Hodgkinson (2006).

Labels: Just for Fun

BBC News reports that Sheriff Hogg in Edinburgh Sheriff Court has fined a Polish man £100 for breach of the peace for taking a photo of an unwell (the report suggests possibly drunk) woman outside a pub.

The Sheriff is quoted as saying: "I'm going to impose a fine to remind him chivalry is not dead and when somebody is in distress you leave them to it."

Wait a moment, I'm not sure where the Sheriff gets his information on chivalry from, but I have it on good authority that the knight's approach to the damsal in distress is not to "leave her to it". In fact, the amateur photographer ought to have assisted the woman, then laid seige to the inn which had served her the offending food/drink instead.

For more on this peculiar judgement, see zero point nine.

Labels: criminal law, Just for Fun, News

My thanks to those lovable folks at the IP Kat for drawing my attention to this fantastic Disney-parody explanation of copyright law and "fair use". Confused? Just watch and enjoy...

Labels: IP, Just for Fun

KansasCity.com reports that a woman in Kansa, USA was ordered to serve three days in jail after a judge found her in contempt of court for inappropriate dress.

Kirstie Arnold, 28, wore short shorts in court before Garrard County District Judge Janet Booth. Booth had warned Arnold about her clothes in two previous court appearances, and in the last appearance had fined Arnold 50 dollars.

Booth ordered her to serve the three days "for disregard and disrespect for court proceedings."

Labels: Just for Fun

You may not have known it, but there is already a legal limerick on Absolvitor: Scots Law Online - which was quite a hit on Wikipedia for a while.

So, when I came across a dedicated "absolvitor" limerick, I knew I just had to share:

The absolvitor limerick, by Chris Young

The defender now seeks a decree
Of absolvitor, granting "that he
Be absolved". I ask, coyly,
The court to assoilzie
My client and let him go free.

This limerick was found on the Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form (OEDILF) website.

Labels: Just for Fun