"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Monday 12 November 2012

Good Comes Out Of Bad

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Basic Rights Are Inviolate":

The Municipal Act is fine in theory. But it remains largely untested. There is simply insufficient case history for lawyers threading their way through it. They must rely upon what a judge will/will not accept.
The same holds true with the SLAPP law. The Aurora case is setting precedents which other lawyers can track.
That leaves Evelyn's case about which I know nothing. But I suspect it is also in uncharted water.
In legal terms, being the fore-runner is not a great place to hold. It is dangerous and unpredictable.
Any town willing to take over from Aurora is welcome to do so. 

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Thargument appears to be from  someone with  an interest in the law. 
It's said  a person who acts as his own lawyer has a fool for a client. 
I was once asked by a lawyer, to provide documentation on  where I had obtained my legal education. 
Since I do not claim an education in  law I found the question odd. 
I have what every citizen should have; a well-honed understanding of my rights and obligations as a citizen and  the  limits of power  in a democratic system of government. 
Abuse  of authority. Abuse of public resources. Denial of Charter Rights. Defamation of a person's  character and reputation are not
allowed.
Long before the  modern plethora of  litigation, common law was the measure of decency and acceptable behaviour.
"Education" in the law  is the new card in the pack.
Precedents are the determining factor.   
Before the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, passed more than thirty years ago, none of the  abuses above were permissible within the law.
We do live in a civilized society.
The waters were thoroughly charted. 
Legislators didn't do that stuff.
It' s worth noting it didn't take long after the Morris  SLAPP litigation for another Mayor in the Region to follow suit. 
How quickly, the virus was able  to spread. 
The internet and Aurora's experience  brought a halt to the pestilence. 
Whether  the Mayor of Georgina will be called to account in a court of law seems  unlikely now.  
It will be two years before the electorate has an opportunity to pass judgement. . 
But thanks again  to the internet, it is not likely to be forgotten in the interval.
That's a good thing.        

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mayor Ford goes to Court tomorrow, this time for a defamation case brought against him.