I’m anything but a specialist in this area, but I thought it would be interesting to assemble some of the relevant documentation.

Treaties:

• Geneva Conventions:
  • Convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armies in the field (22 August 1864), BTS 1901/10, CTS 1942/6
  • International Convention for the amelioration of the condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field (6 July 1906), BTS 1907/15
  • Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (27 July 1929), CTS 1933/5, 118 LNTS 344
  • Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time

I can’t believe how quickly time flies. It seems like last year I was being interviewed for a solo librarian job at Field Atkinson Perraton (now Field LLP). I am sure that one of the interview questions was “What do you know about Y2k?” Since there isn’t going to be a computer problem like this again until 2038, I wonder how this last year of the 1st decade of the 21st century will be defined by historians.

Will it be defined by a decade issue like climate change or terrorism or genocide. Will it be something specifically . . . [more]

And thank you to all the loyal Slaw readers. See you next decade.

. . . [more]

and by Elon J. Griffith

David Mamet’s new play on Broadway is set in a law firm founded by two male lawyers, one white and one black, who are asked to represent a wealthy and famous white male accused of a raping an African American woman. However, the decision to do so is taken out of their hands by a series of unexpected events.

The play is a mystery, intended to both entertain and challenge the audience. At the same time, the play is also a conversation on the matter of race in America in the post Obama era. The . . . [more]

The shortest day of the year is perhaps a fitting day to remind you that we’re going to be taking it a bit easier at Slaw for the next couple of weeks. Posting will likely be less frequent, and probably nil on some days. The holidays also mean that there won’t be a guest firm blogger this month — we couldn’t get Claus and Co. to agree — and everyone else seems to have plans to be off enjoying themselves.

When we come back in the new year, we’ll be starting on an extended process of improving Slaw in a . . . [more]

Readers of Slaw may have come across the small volumes that have been published annually for over sixty years – the Hamlyn Lectures. They resulted from an application for directions before Mr. Justice Wynn-Parry of a Trust resulting from the Last Will and Testament of Miss Emma Hamlyn. They’re delightfully accessible general talks on various aspects of English and comparative law.

And the older volumes of the series are now available from the University of Exeter Law School website. CUP is publishing the current volumes.

Miss Hamlyn bequeathed the residue of her estate to her executors as . . . [more]

A number of people in Quebec were annoyed that the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a provincial law that prohibited people from getting their kids into English-stream public education by sending them first to an English-language private school. The form of protest was unusual – dressing up as SCC judges and demonstrating in the metro.

If the judges do ride the underground in real life, one suspects they leave their red gowns with ermine flashing at the courthouse. . . . [more]

What’s in a name? Apart from letters, I mean.

For me it’s sometimes annoyance and occasionally some delight. I’m talking about people’s names, of course. There are too many nouns for named things to be a useful category to talk about. And people come by the most interesting names, often with help from their parents, a feature things lack for the most part.

I’m not the only one who finds names interesting. Just today in the Globe, Judith Timson took time out from roasting Tiger Woods to stumble over the name of Mrs. Woods’ lawyer: Sorrell Trope. She . . . [more]

From today’s news of import (:-P)

Noisy British lover admits anti-social sex

LONDON (AFP) – A British woman admitted Tuesday breaching an anti-social behaviour order by having noisy sex.

Caroline Cartwright was served with a civil order over marathon romps with husband Steve, described in court as “unnatural” and “like they are both in considerable pain.”

…

And on Tuesday Cartwright pleaded guilty at Newcastle Crown Court to violating the order three times in April.

We must not, of course, conclude from this that the Caroline and Steve had sex only 3 times in April.

For those who must know, . . . [more]

Or perhaps, as I mentioned in a recent article, don’t have anything important on it when crossing borders. And take only an old laptop that you can afford to lose.

This incident has been mentioned in a few places. To paraphrase from a Wired post:

US citizen Lily Sussman took a vacation in Israel.

After pulling her aside for questioning, she was left alone. An announcement was made that Israeli security needed to blow up suspicious passenger luggage. They then put three bullets through her computer. . . . [more]

Thinking about signing the LCO’s “seasonal” cards last week and as I receive the e-cards with their good wishes (for winter, it seems, given their images), I’m prompted to consider what part these cards play today. . . . [more]

In case you overlooked it in our selected #slawca retweets from last week, the ABA Techshow 2010 schedule has been released. ABA Techshow will be taking place March 25-27, 2010 in Chicago. View the quick web version of the schedule (session titles only, speakers aren’t listed here) or download the PDF schedule and registration info. Keynote is Ari Kaplan: “The New Big Bang – The Convergence of Technology and Marketing”. Faculty from our Slaw community and the larger Canadian legal industry include:

• Joel Alleyne
• David Bilinsky
• Jean-François DeRico
• Peg Duncan
• Dominic Jaar
• Nils Jensen
• Steven Matthews
• Donna S.M.