Archive for March, 2010
Burning for reform
Thursday, March 25th, 2010Are republicans the only people in NZ who can commit the offence of flag-burning by burning a flag? You might remember that Paul Hopkinson had his conviction for flag-burning overturned in the High Court, because Justice Ellen France held that the offence needed to be interpreted narrowly to provide space for free speech rights under […]
New media law blog
Thursday, March 25th, 2010Check out Inforrm’s terrific blog here. Inforrm stands for “International Forum for Responsible Media”. It contains thoughtful commentary about media law issues, a useful blogroll, and a note of significant new and upcoming cases. Its lead today notes what I’ve been meaning to do for a while: that the evidence that the rest of the […]
Lights out
Friday, March 12th, 2010Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick slams the US Supreme Court’s astonishing decision to overturn the trial judge’s willingness to allow argument about the Californian gay-marriage case to be televised. Oddly enough, the Supreme Court determined that because Perry is a “high profile” case, there is extra reason to turn out the lights. As it explains in its […]
Bare reasoning
Friday, March 12th, 2010In Lowe v New Zealand Police, Clifford J rightly overturns Nick Lowe’s conviction for offensive behaviour for cycling in the nude. It was on World Nude Bike Day, but Mr Lowe, “a committed cyclist and naturist”, doesn’t need that incentive to bike about naked. For example, he competes in the Coast to Coast without clothes […]