Courts and judiciary

Quotable quotes: Sun Tzu

German World War I observation post disguised as a tree. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you know the enemy and know yourself you will never be defeated.

To win you must plan your victory and know the tactics of your enemy before doing battle.

To win without fighting is best.

Do not act if there is nothing to gain and do not fight if you are not in danger.

A quick victory is best.

Your skill must be one of making your enemy act by creating a situation upon which he is forced to act.

In battle use orthodox tactics to draw your enemy to you and use unorthodox tactics to defeat him.

Avoid your enemy when he is alert and strike him when he is unaware.

Never completely destroy your enemy and when he is trapped allow him a way out.

Genius is the ability to win by being flexible according to the tactics of your enemy.

Quotable quotes: Lawrence Collins

Supreme Court, formerly Middlesex Guildhall, Parliament Square, London (Photo credit: mira66)

Assume nothing.

Lawrence Collins (Lord Collins of Mapesbury, former Justice of the Supreme Court)

The Judiciary

Image via Wikipedia

Much is made of the quality of the judiciary in this country.

There is however no greater compliment that you can give to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court Judges than to say that if you are ever with a spare moment, you should read one of their Judgments in their entirety.  The intellectual prowess needed to draft some of these is simply exceptional and takes a remarkable amount of skill. Lord Denning would have been proud.

For a flavour of some of their speeches, see the following keynote speech by the Master of the Rolls at the recent Expert Witness Institute Conference 2011:

http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Speeches/mr-speech-ewi-lecture-05102011.pdf

The golden threads of English Law

Image via Wikipedia

Over the last few days much has been made of the acquittal of Amanda Knox.

Some have vilified her; some have called her an innocent who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Whatever the justification of these name callers (whether they be pro or anti Knox), the case reiterated the fundamental principle to my mind of the so called golden threads of English law (it is irrelevant that the case was Italian) that:

1 you are innocent until proven guilty;

2 you are entitled to be tried by a jury of your like minded peers; and

3 let Justice be seen to be done.

Related articles

• Italy still smarting over Amanda Knox acquittal (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Father: Amanda Knox taking things day by day (abclocal.go.com)
• Amanda Knox “running on adrenalin” (cbsnews.com)
• Amanda Knox Conviction Overturned (jonathanturley.org)