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What is a Son of a Bitch?
The Earl of Kent in Shakespeare’s King Lear (1603) refers to Oswald in Act II Scene II as,
…nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch.
Hardly a compliment. But is it defamatory?
According to Canadian law, it isn’t.
In Ralston v. Fomich Spencer J. of the B.C. Supreme Court stated,
The earliest mention of the term in the Oxford English Dictionary (Second Ed. 1989) Vol. 15, page 1008, is from circa 1330…
In my opinion the words “son of a bitch” by themselves are not capable of any defamatory meaning. They are peculiar, in that they take their meaning either from the tone of voice used or from whatever adjective accompanies them. They are a translucent vessel waiting to be filled with colour by their immediate qualifier. Thus, one has sympathy for a poor son of a bitch, admiration for a brave son of a bitch, affection for a good old son of a bitch, envy for a rich son of a bitch and, perhaps incongruously, dislike for a proper son of a bitch. Why right thinking people should dislike anything that is proper is rather a mystery unless proper is used to mean “real”, but I am confident that is the colour that adjective gives to the expression.
Some even think it’s a better alternative than other expletives. Roy Blount Jr. says in Equire,
“Son of a bitch” carries gravitas accumulated over centuries. An asshole is just an asshole, a hapless chump, a pointlessly obnoxious hindrance. An asshole can be an evil schemer, but he or she can’t be a worthy opponent. If an asshole gets over on you, you feel dumped on. If a son of a bitch beats you, you can live with it. You’ve probably learned something.
…We don’t need any more assholes. We need a son of a bitch.
h/t Duhaime’s Legal Dictionary, and a couple SOB law students that remain anonymous (for now)
What’s the Real Risk of a Terrorist Attack?
Putting things in perspective:
Courtesy of Jesus Diaz and Nate Silver.
Criteria for Body Scan Screenings
We seem to be getting mixed messages today about the use of body scanners in Canada.
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada conducted two Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) for the Canadian Air Transport Security Association (CATSA) to assess the impact of whole body scanners.
Assistant Privacy Commission Chantal Bernier said in a speech in Ottawa on October 30, 2009,
…we consider this technology to be inherently sensitive as it reveals an outline of the traveller’s body. Many people may perceive it as privacy invasive.
Pulat Yunusov has noted earlier that the personal privacy issues may not necessarily be as significant, given the low resolution and identity controls around the imaging.
Of greater concern is which individuals are selected for body scans. Bernier allayed these concerns as well in the same speech,
…the technology will be used only for secondary purposes, after an individual has already passed through the metal detector. What’s more, the scans will be voluntary, with passengers given the option of going through them, or having a physical pat-down.
Bernier repeated these criteria today in comments to the press, stating that it is only for those who have failed the metal detector test.
However, Rob Merrifield, Junior Transport Minister, stated in a joint conference with John Baird,
Travelers who are selected for secondary screening will be asked to walk through the wave scanner…
[emphasis added]
Although Merrifield did mention the alternative physical search, the metal detector is conspicuously absent – at least in media reports of the conference.
Removing the metal detector component of secondary screening makes the scans no longer voluntary. It also introduces a significant amount of arbitrariness and discretion into their use, making them subject to abuse.
Anyone compelled to go through a body scan without failing a metal detector test, or not informed of the alternative physical search if they do, should issue a complain while citing the PIA guidelines. At the very least, the Ministers should clarify what the criteria are for using the body scanners to avoid confusion among the public and by security officials.
Ministers of the opposition parties have noted that typically an issue like this would go before a Parliamentary committee, where such clarification would likely be sought.
But that’s right, we can’t do that because with have a Prime Minister that would prorogue politics over our safety.
Punishment or Rehabilitation?
We’re not sure which one this is.
One of The Telegraph‘s top funny pictures of the year:
Evelyn Border, 56, holds up a sign outside a Pennsylvania courthouse, admitting to stealing a giftcard from a nine-year-old child after she left it on a shelf in a WalMart store.
Canadian Troops Bear Greater Brunt than Americans, Afghans
David McCandless, a visual data journalist, provides the breakdown of soldier casualties in Afghanistan in The Guardian.
Canadians have suffered a disproportionately high number. In fact more than any other NATO party, or even the Afghan army:
Canadian forces are actually suffering the most. They’re mostly deployed in the southern Kandahar, which adjoins the province of Helmand, where the bulk of British troops are posted. Both are Taliban strongholds.
And, if wounded soldiers are factored in, a shocking picture emerges.
Info is beautiful 07 Photograph: Public Domain
This is probably why the Canadian government is not releasing its figures for wounded soldiers (It took a leak to the Canadian Press news agency to get the figures). (Important: these figures include all wounded, not just seriously wounded. The Canadian figures for 2009 are estimates. As ever you can check my figures and sources in this Google spreadsheet.)
All armies in Afghanistan
How do all these figures stack up compared to the other coalition forces taking part in NATO operations in Afghanistan?
Info is beautiful 08 Photograph: Public Domain
In a barely recorded statistic, the Afghan army and police force has suffered a shocking 4800 fatalities since 2006.
Looking at these figures, I became curious about the private security contractors active in Afghanistan.
A “Fun” Law Exam?
Can students enjoy exams just a little bit and is there ahything we can do to help? Or is an exam always an uncomfortable medical procedure and any effort to make it otherwise merely detracts from the seriousness of the exam itself?
The War on the Rule of Law
Olivia Ward of the Toronto Star says that history will judge the architects of the “War on Terror.”
As the second decade of a broken century limps into view, some in the United States and abroad are doing the math and demanding an accounting. They reject the argument that the horrific 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington excuse the shredding of the rule of law that came with the “war on terror.”
…
So the dilemma remains: can a country that has allowed the rule of law to be flouted continue as a credible democracy, setting an example to ordinary citizens and claiming the moral high ground in the international community?
“The fact that a huge slough of people were engaged in torture and conspiracy to torture, with impunity, says something about the rule of law in this country,” laments Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “If we think we need to torture someone for any reason we’ll do that. What does that say to any police precinct?”
Or to America: “I’m very pessimistic on what I considered an emerging sense of fundamental rights,” he says. “In some ways civilization has been set back at least 100 years.”
Law is Cool wins a 2009 CLawBie
The Canadian Law Blog Awards, or CLawBies, highlight great blogs by the Canadian legal industry.
This site has been fortunate enough to receive recognition from the awards in 2008 and 2007.
Once again, Law is Cool has made a strong showing in the awards. Thanks to everyone, and we do mean everyone, who helped make this possible.
3) Legal Culture Award – Law is Cool – Two of the fastest rising stars in Canadian legal blogging just happen to be law students. Lawrence Gridin and Omar Ha-Redeye lead an impressive group of contributors at Law is Cool, and are seeding the queue with more law student bloggers for the future. Bravo! Culture doesn’t happen without a little sweat equity. Runner ups: Precedent, Dynamic Lawyers Parody Videos
As always, we’re still looking for more 1Ls to join the team to keep moving the site forward in future years.
Awards
Partners
sLaw- The Court
- British Columbia (Ministry of Education) v. Moore: Comparing Approaches to Comparator Groups in the Context of Anti-Discrimination Legislation
- So You Got Punched By a Cop: Disciplinary Action or Civil Suit? Issue Estoppel in Penner v. Niagara (Police Services Board), 2010 ONCA 616
- The ‘Return to Unanimity’ in Insite and Division of Powers Jurisprudence: Chief Justice McLachlin’s ‘Oversight’
- UofT
- UofC
- UofA
- LexMonitor
- blawg