We are simple souls, and so find ourselves “conflicted” (to use pop psych jargon) over the public vituperate venting about one Macsyna King. How we love a mob. All heat and no light. A dirty bomb. Macsyna is coming out of the closet via a book, Breaking Silence: The Kahui Case, written by Ian Wishart. The mob [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Cases'
Macsyna King, Representative of the Coming Race
July 8th, 2011 13 Comments
Tags: Chris and Cru Kahui · Due Process · Ian Wishart · Investigate Magazine · Macsyna King · Welfare
The Separation of Church and Self: Rethinking Separationism
December 16th, 2010 119 Comments
Is it just for a pluralistic society to ground its public policy on religious premises? What role should religion play in such a society? Debate over questions like these has figured in theology, philosophy, political science, jurisprudence and popular culture for centuries. In contemporary Western pluralistic society the debate continues. Even for those unfamiliar with [...]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Coercion Test · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Endorsement Test · Freedom of Religion · Gerald Gaus · James Madison · John Rawls · Jürgen Habermas · Justice Scalia · Law Studies · Lee v Weisman · Lemon Test · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Devine · Philip Quinn · Philosophy of Religion · Political Philosophy · Religion in Public Life · Richard Rorty · Robert Audi · Separationism · Stephen Carter · Terence Cuneo · Vincent Phillip Muñoz
Should we Have Faith in the System? The Judge, the Bully & the Bus-Driver
March 6th, 2010 64 Comments
Sometimes judges get things right, really right, check this from the Herald: Judge Turns Tables on Driver’s Schoolboy Accuser A schoolbus driver was taken to court for grabbing the arm of a rowdy boy who would not stop pulling a girl’s hair. But the judge threw out the charge – and had a policeman take [...]
Tags: Kevin Phillip J · Parenting · Smacking
Grr: On Naming Names the Court has Suppressed
January 11th, 2010 4 Comments
Just because I am a blogger, I’m friends with Cameron Slater a.k.a. Whale Oil, I’ve gone on the record as supporting some of Cameron Slater’s concern with the current practice of name suppression orders for celebrities and I’m legally connected does NOT mean that I automatically always know who the beneficiary of every celebrity name [...]
Tags: Name Suppression · Whale Oil
R v Field Sentencing Decision now Online
October 7th, 2009 No Comments
Justice Hansen’s official sentencing notes in the case of The Queen v Phillip Hans Field (a.k.a former Member of Parliament, Taito Phillip Field) are now online and make for some interesting reading. To begin with, as I read through, I could see Field’s supporters angle; he helped a couple of people out, they thanked him [...]
Tags: Phillip Field
In Defence of the Partial Defence of Provocation
July 23rd, 2009 16 Comments
The case we have all watched in horror playing out in the news is over. Clayton Weatherston has been found guilty of murdering Sophie Elliot and his attempt at the partial defence of provocation was rightly shown the contempt it deserved by the court. At MandM we maintained our standard policy of refusing to comment [...]
Tags: Clayton Weatherston · Defences · Due Process · Provocation
The Foreshore and Seabed Repeal: The Inconvenience of Due Process
July 2nd, 2009 14 Comments
That the state is not above the law but also subject to it is surely one of the foundational concepts of any just and free society. This notion has found its place in the writings of many influential philosophers, jurists and theologians, it can be found in the constitutions and bills of rights of most [...]
Tags: Foreshore and Seabed · Human Rights · Jurisprudence · Justice · Liberty · Māori Land · Ngāti Apa
How to Find the Reported Judicial Decision on the David Bain Re-Trial
June 3rd, 2009 3 Comments
The blogosphere has featured many posts on many blogs regarding David Bain’s guilt or innocence regarding the homicide of his family. We have refused to participate in this speculation and have made our opinions on speculating on the Bain case before the court has ruled clear. I do not intend to break this self-imposed rule [...]
Tags: David Bain · Justice
Twitter Updates on David Bain Trial?
March 8th, 2009 6 Comments
MandM have just one thing to say on the David Bain trial: Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Do not expect any commentary or speculation on the trial at MandM until the verdict is in.
Tags: Justice
A Review of Last Night’s Boscawen, McCoskrie, Evans, Baldock Meeting UPDATED
September 8th, 2009 46 Comments
Last night’s meeting with John Boscawen, Bob McCoskrie, Jim Evans and Larry Baldock on amending s59 of the Crimes Act to decriminalise the use of reasonable force for the purposes of parental correction was encouraging. The main themes I came away with from each speaker were: John Boscawen – ACT Party MP John Boscawen has [...]
Tags: Bob McCoskrie · Fitzgerald v Muldoon · Jim Evans · John Boscawen · John Key · Larry Baldock · Referenda · s59 · Smacking