Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Of Bridges, Boats, and the Constitution

Sometimes, one gets to wonder why the Constitution has to be followed so closely. And instance in point: when building the Confederation bridge to Newfundland, (or was it PEI?) they had to change the Constitution so that it wouldn't inconstitutional. That's because one of the conditions of entry of that province into the Federation, back in the day, was that the federal govt had to maintain a naval service between the mainland and the island. And then they were getting rid of it by building the bridge, hence an amendment.

and I kept wondering... would it be so horrible if they left the constitution as it was?

Ah, the things you learn!

Friday, October 12, 2007

willfully blind

Ever felt your sense of reason slowly creeping away?
All the time! you might say.
No, I mean reason as in common sense.
That's how I feel, being in Law. An all new outlook on Life, the Universe, and Everything.

The other day, a friend of mine told me that there was a guy in Germany who wanted to have a chimp declared a "person". And the only thing I could say was: "so? what's the big deal?"
I could imagine his expression. There was an "Are you nuts!?"-like silence for a fraction of a second.

It's quite amazing how they get you to think only by the Code.

Law isn't necessarily justice. They made it quite clear the first week. I don't quite remember how they did it, but they did it.
There was a mention of law not = justice, and then they went on a definition of the kinds of justice, being distributive or commutative, and that was that.