At 10:51 pm +1100 13/3/07, Horst Herb wrote:
On Tuesday 13 March 2007 22:07, Richard Hosking wrote:
OK I
accept that the courts must be autonomous from Govt and society to an
extent to function correctly.
Because our legal system is based largely on precedent, it tends to
"drift" over time in a particular direction. This has had effects
on society which are not always desirable. For example, the effect
on obstetric and rural services has ben largely due to legal
drivers. Recent tort law reform demonstrates that this has been
generally accepted by Governments who have attempted to address
this to some extent. We should point out the costs of complying
with these court imposed standards, which will ultimately be borne
by the customer, in one way or another.
R
Always autonomous from government, but NEVER from society!
A few very basic principles apart (eg murder being condemned in nearly all
cultures, but manslaughter not necessarily always) , legal systems and laws
are nothing but reflections of cultural environments - which necessarily vary
over time. The quality of a legal system (measured as public perception of
it's validity or "justice") depends very much on how well the legal system
stays in touch with current ethical concepts and perceptions.
I have the strong feeling that our current legal system is getting out of
touch with public perception of "justice" at increasing speed. The
consequence of vociferous lobby groups putting pressure on legislative
bodies, and resulting political pressure affecting high courts.
Horst
I tend agree with Horst. My understanding is that our legal system
is more often criticized for being out of touch with community
standards and that reform is attempting to address this problem.
See: http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/recentpubs.htm for recent
and older documents by the Australian Law Reform Commission.
Passe privacy is at the top of the list - submissions are still
welcome until late 2007, though more weight will go to earlier
submissions in the context that these will feed ongoing consultation.
Ian.
--
Dr Ian R Cheong, BMedSc, FRACGP, GradDipCompSc, MBA(Exec)
Health Informatics Consultant, Brisbane, Australia
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(for urgent matters, please send a copy to my practice email as well:
[EMAIL PROTECTED])
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