Vexatious litigants

Blogger and barrister Stephen Warne (see failure to call witnesses) writes The Australian Professional Liability Blog. It's a wealth of posts both entertaining and informative.His blog brought to our attention the remarkable man Brian William Shaw. I don't dare say anything further about Mr Shaw for fear I'll be added to the long and distinguished …

Continue reading Vexatious litigants

Good fences make good neighbours

Edit: For a recent example of an incident blown out of all of its original proportion (there have been many, but they rarely make the authorised reports) see the injunctive proceedings of Nadanic v Fotopoulos [2009] VSC 554.This familiar phrase, which is often misunderstood, was first coined by Robert Frost in his poem Mending Wall. …

Continue reading Good fences make good neighbours

Kettling human rights

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about public nuisance. I guess your experience is similar to mine: we're seeing more common law offences in summary proceedings in the wake of the amendments to permit their summary determination.The recent G20 summit in London highlights some of the powers provided by the common law — and …

Continue reading Kettling human rights