No understanding of the past is complete without an understanding of the legal battles and struggles that have done so much to shape it. Inside a survey of world history's greatest trials are the key insights to critical issues we still talk about today, including freedom of speech, the death penalty, religious freedom, and the meaning of equality. Join Professor Linder for these 24 lectures that investigate important legal cases from around the world and across the centuries. From the trials of Socrates in ancient Athens and Thomas More in Henry VIII's England to the Nuremburg Trials in the wake of World War II and the media frenzy of the O.J. Simpson murder case, you'll discover what each of these trials has to teach us about ourselves and our civilization. Professor Linder takes you back in time to revisit some of history's most famous trials from fresh perspectives that ground them in the evolution of human ideas of law and justice, including the Salem Witch Trials, and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. You'll also encounter less familiar (but equally important) legal battles, including medieval trials by ordeal and the Trial of Giordano Bruno, which would impact the later trial of Galileo. For years, Professor Linder has studied the fascinating intersection between history and jurisprudence. Now he's crafted these lectures to share that fascination with you.

"There is little dispute that the Internet should continue as an open platform," notes the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Yet, in a curious twist of logic, the agency has moved to discontinue the legal regime successfully yielding that magnificent platform. In late 2010, it imposed "network neutrality" regulations on broadband access providers, both wired and wireless. Networks cannot (a) block subscribers' use of certain devices, applications, or services; (b) unreasonably discriminate, offering superior access for some services over others. The Commission argues that such rules are necessary, as the Internet was designed to bar "gatekeepers." The view is faulty, both in it engineering claims and its economic conclusions. Networks routinely manage traffic and often bundle content with data transport precisely because such coordination produces superior service. When "walled gardens" emerge, including AOL in 1995, Japan's DoCoMo iMode in 1999, or Apple's iPhone in 2007, they often disrupt old business models, thrilling consumers, providing golden opportunities for application developers, advancing Internet growth. In some cases these gardens have dropped their walls; others remain vibrant. The "open Internet" allows consumers, investors, and innovators to choose, discovering efficiencies. The FCC has mistaken that spontaneous market process for a planned market structure, imposing new rules to "protect" what evolved without them.

The End of the Charter Revolution explores the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, beginning with a general background history, followed by a survey of the significant changes brought about as Charter decisions were made. The book covers a series of specific cases made before the Dickson, Lamer, and McLachlin Courts, before providing empirical data to support the argument that the Charter revolution has ended. The Supreme Court has without question become "a national institution of the first order," but even though the Charter is a large part of why this has happened, it is not Charter decisions that will showcase the exercise of this power in the future.

"[W]hen precisely does a duty to consult arise? The foundation of the duty in the Crown's honour and the goal of reconciliation suggest that the duty arises when the Crown has knowledge, real or constructive, of the potential existence of the Aboriginal right or title and contemplates conduct that might adversely affect it." Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, Supreme Court of Canada, Haida Nation v. British Columbia, 2004. Canada's Supreme Court has established a new legal framework requiring governments to consult with Aboriginal peoples when contemplating actions that may affect their rights. The nature of the duty is to be defined by negotiation, best practices, and future court decisions. According to Professor Newman, good consultations are about developing relationships and finding ways of living together in the encounter that history has thrust upon us. Professor Newman examines Supreme Court and lower court decisions, legislation at various levels, policies developed by governments and Aboriginal communities, and consultative round tables that have been held to deal with important questions regarding this duty. He succinctly examines issues such as: when is consultation required; who is to be consulted; what is the nature of a "good" consultation; can consultation be carried out by quasi-judicial agencies and third parties; to what extent does the duty apply in treaty areas; and what duty is owed to Métis and non-status Indians? Professor Newman also examines the evolving duty to consult in international law, similar developments in Australia, and the philosophical underpinnings of the duty.

The creator of Perry Mason's Edgar Award-winning account of miscarriages of justice, wrongful convictions, legal battles, and landmark reversals. In 1945, Erle Stanley Gardner, noted attorney and author of the popular Perry Mason mysteries, was contacted by an overwhelmed California public defender who believed his doomed client was innocent. William Marvin Lindley had been convicted of the rape and murder of a young girl along the banks of the Yuba River, and was awaiting execution at San Quentin. After reviewing the case, Gardner agreed to help-it seemed the fate of the "Red-Headed Killer" hinged on the testimony of a colorblind witness. Gardner's intervention sparked the Court of Last Resort. The Innocence Project of its day, this ambitious and ultimately successful undertaking was devoted to investigating, reviewing, and reversing wrongful convictions owing to poor legal representation, prosecutorial abuses, biased police activity, bench corruption, unreliable witnesses, and careless forensic-evidence testimony. The crimes: rape, murder, kidnapping, and manslaughter. The prisoners: underprivileged and vulnerable men wrongly convicted and condemned to life sentences or death row with only one hope-the devotion of Erle Stanley Gardner and the Court of Last Resort. Featuring Gardner's most damning cases of injustice from across the country, The Court of Last Resort won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Originating as a monthly column in Argosy magazine, it was produced as a dramatized court TV show for NBC.

Comprehensive trusted guide written in plain language. Full of examples and easy to understand explanations of complex issue. A favourite resource for property managers, strata council members and lawyers.

More than a quarter of a century has passed since Canada promised to recognize and respect the rights of children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ratification of the Convention cannot, however, guarantee that everyone will abandon proprietary notions about children, or that all children will be free to enjoy the substance of their rights in every social and institutional context in which they find themselves, including—and perhaps especially—within families. This disconnect remains one of the most important challenges to the recognition of children’s rights in Canada. The authors argue that social toxins are as harmful to children’s independent welfare and developmental interests as environmental toxins, and that both must be eradicated if Canada is to fulfill its commitments under the Convention. They also argue that if Canada wishes to ensure the substance of the rights outlined in the Convention are socially guaranteed, an attitudinal or cultural shift is required concerning the moral and legal status of children. This revised, expanded, and updated edition of the bestselling Challenge of Children’s Rights for Canada will be of interest to academics, policymakers, parents, teachers, social workers, and human service professionals—indeed to anyone who cares about and for children.

Gives you the scoop on how the Court reaches its decisions Get involved and track a case through the system This fun and easy guide demystifies the federal court system by describing what kinds of cases the justices hear, outlining how cases reach the Supreme Court, clarifying legal terms, and explaining how the Court arrives at its decisions. You'll discover how to get inside the Court yourself and investigate both the key issues and the players involved. The Dummies Way * Explanations in plain English * "Get in, get out" information * Icons and other navigational aids * Tear-out cheat sheet * Top 10 lists * A dash of humor and fun

"Everyone of us is under the omniscient magnifying glass of the government and corporate spies... . How do we respond to this smog of surveillance' Start by reading Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance by Heidi Boghosian"--Bill Moyers "With ex-CIA staffer Edward Snowden's leaks about National Security Agency surveillance in the headlines, Heidi Boghosian's Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance feels especially timely. Boghosian reveals how the government acquires information from telecommunications companies and other organizations to create databases about 'persons of interest.'" -- Publishers Weekly "Heidi Boghosian's Spying on Democracy is the answer to the question, 'if you're not doing anything wrong, why should you care if someone's watching you''"-Michael German, Senior Policy Counsel, ACLU and former FBI agent Until the watershed leak of top-secret documents by Edward Snowden to the Guardian UK and the Washington Post, most Americans did not realize the extent to which our government is actively acquiring personal information from telecommunications companies and other corporations. As made startlingly clear, the National Security Agency (NSA) has collected information on every phone call Americans have made over the past seven years. In that same time, the NSA and the FBI have gained the ability to access emails, photos, audio and video chats, and additional content from Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, YouTube, Skype, Apple, and others, allegedly in order to track foreign targets. In Spying on Democracy, National Lawyers Guild Executive Director Heidi Boghosian documents the disturbing increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties, and to the future of democracy itself. Boghosian reveals how technology is being used to categorize and monitor people based on their associations, their movements, their purchases, and their perceived political beliefs. She shows how corporations and government intelligence agencies mine data from sources as diverse as surveillance cameras and unmanned drones to iris scans and medical records, while combing websites, email, phone records and social media for resale to third parties, including U.S. intelligence agencies. The ACLU's Michael German says of the examples shown in Boghosian's book, "this unrestrained spying is inevitably used to suppress the most essential tools of democracy: the press, political activists, civil rights advocates and conscientious insiders who blow the whistle on corporate malfeasance and government abuse." Boghosian adds, "If the trend is permitted to continue, we will soon live in a society where nothing is confidential, no information is really secure, and our civil liberties are under constant surveillance and control." Spying on Democracy is a timely, invaluable, and accessible primer for anyone concerned with protecting privacy, freedom, and the U.S. Constitution. Heidi Boghosian is the Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. She co-hosts Law and Disorder, broadcast on WBAI-FM in New York and over forty stations nationwide. She is based in New York City.