The Legal Research Society

Every Friday demonstrators throng the streets of Bilbao in the Basque country (Euskadi Herria), asking for Basque political prisoners to be returned to the prisons in Euskadi. The protesters, led by relatives of the prisoners, want more than 700 imprisoned Basque Political Prisoners transferred to the prisons in the Basque region. Some of the prisoners are as far away as the Canary Islands, with others held in Madrid and in southern Spain. Their families say that the situation places an unfair burden on them, forcing them to travel hundreds of kilometres to visit their relatives. In last twenty years more than 25 relatives were killed on the Spanish roads in their way to visit them.

This is a statement from Texas Governor Rick Perry: 230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas. The emphasis is mine. What was he responding to? Well it was this call for a moratorium on the death penalty from the European Union: The European Union is unreservedly opposed to the use of capital punishment under all circumstances and has consistently called for the universal abolition of this punishment. We believe that elimination of the death penalty is fundamental to the protection of human dignity, and to the progressive development of human rights. We further consider this punishment to b

Frank Pasquale of concurring opinions has a fascinating post on Rick Falkvinge, head of the Swedish Pirate Party . You might be forgiven if you thought a Pirate Party was a bit comical, but it seems their positions are surprisingly thoughtful. They advocate a reform of copyright law, arguing copyright laws today "restrict the very thing they are supposed to promote." I think that's exactly right in some cases, as copyright protection should not provide an endless revenue stream. Mickey Mouse should not dictate the life of a right. It should reward creators for their original creations, not create endless monopolies. As they argue "a five years copyright term for commercial use is more than enough". They also advocate a respect for the right to privacy, and tie in such advocacy to recent European history, "We Europeans should know better. It is not twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and there are plenty of other horrific example sof surveillanc

Until the sun comes back out and upon reading SNP’s White Paper, the LRS would like to recommend more light summer reading. Although it represents a change of topic from the previous post, the piece Angler the Cheney Vice Presidency on US Vice President Dick “Shooter” Cheney, written by Pulitzer Price winner Barton Gellman and his colleague Jo Becker, both Washington Post, is a fascinating read and offers an intriguing insight in the work and mind of the man who has been tagged the most powerful Vice President in modern times. I found the part on the environmental policy particularly fascinating. You can read the four-part piece here http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/?hpid=specialreports

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s nationalist First Minister, today launched a White Paper (available here ) regarding Scotland’s constitutional settlement. As expected, the national discussion that is proposed includes the thorny question of Scottish independence. The First Minister proposes that a referendum should end the union between Scotland and England. Given that the majority of Members of the Scottish Parliament are opposed to independence, it is unlikely that a proposed referendum on independence will see the light of day (see the reactions of other parties here ). Still the SNP executive is adamant that the discussion shall be had. The White Paper recalls that the revived Scottish Parliament is now almost ten years old. It is argued that devolution has borne fruit; the people of Scotland are invited to discuss the pros and cons of taking devolution further - ‘further devolution could...provide greater coherence in decision-making and democratic accountability for delivery of policy.’

"What it comes down to is this: If Petraeus succeeds in Iraq, and a Republican wins in 2008, Bush will be viewed as a successful president. I like the odds." These are the words of visiting Harvard Prof. William Kristol, editor of the Conservative Weekly Standard and chief of staff of former Vice President Dan Quayle, printed in the Washington Post three weeks ago. Although this blog is aimed at legal research, I found the article rather amusing and entertaining in spite of it sober contents. Kristol asserts that Bush’s tenure as president is likely to be a successful one, and hails, among other things, the appointment to the Supreme Court of John G. Roberts and Samuel Alito, the narrowing of the huge budget deficit (that Bush himself created) and the lack of any terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11. While Kristol is right in the latter point, and Bush to some extent deserves credit for it, the question of with what means and losses this aim has been achieved remains