Monday’s Mix

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from forty-one recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Rule of Law  2. BC Injury Law Blog  3. SOQUIJ | Le Blogue  4. Clicklaw Blog  5. University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog

Rule of Law
B.C.’s New Family Law Act Is Likely to Affect Future Wills Variation Act Claims
British Columbia’s new Family Law Act will come into force tomorrow, March 18, 2013. In addition to the far reaching implications the new legislation will have for married and those unmarried couples who meet the criteria of spouses in section 3 on the breakdown of a marriage, the Family Law Act will likely have an impact on the rights of a surviving spouse on the death of the other. . . .

BC Injury Law Blog
Homeowners Liable For Teenage Guest Electocuting Himself By Raising Pole To A Powerline
Reasons for judgement were published this week by the BC Supreme Court, Vancouver Registry, dealing with liability following an unfortunate incident of self-electrocution. In this week’s case (Bendak v. Bohnet) the 13 year old plaintiff was visiting his friend’s home. Before going out to play his friend’s mom directed that her son finish a chore dealing with the property’s irrigation pipes. The Plaintiff tagged along helping his friend to complete the chores. While attending to the pipes they realized a rodent may have been caught in one of the pipes. The boys stood the pipe up which measured some 40 feet in length. It came into contact with overhead powerlines badly electrocuting the Plaintiff. . . .

SOQUIJ | Le Blogue
Quatre frères et sœurs, quatre pères; pourquoi un seul payeur de pension alimentaire?
Au terme d’une vie commune d’une quinzaine d’années pendant laquelle quatre enfants sont nés, monsieur apprend qu’il n’est le père biologique que du plus jeune de ceux-ci, les trois autres ayant chacun un père différent. Jusqu’à ce moment, il avait toujours agi et été connu de tous comme étant le père des quatre enfants qui, en date du jugement, étaient respectivement âgés de 16, 14, 12 et 9 ans. Il était aussi inscrit à titre de père sur le certificat de naissance de chacun d’eux. Dans un tel contexte, quelle est l’obligation alimentaire de monsieur envers les trois enfants dont il n’est pas le père biologique? . . .

Clicklaw Blog
JESS – A Virtual Assistant for BC Supreme Court Matters
JESS, the Justice Education Society’s electronic diagnostic tool, is now available on the BC Supreme Court website. Self-representing litigants dealing with civil, family law and criminal matters now have access to personalized free legal help via online chat and over the phone. . . .

University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog
Roundup
1. The Globe and Mail wonders why our judges don’t speak out the same way their American counterparts do. 2. Who inveneted the Smiley face? 3. I wonder if the new tough on crime agenda by the federal Conservatives covers this horrific crime? . . .
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*Randomness here is created by Random.org and its list randomizing function.