In England and Wales (and I suppose the rest of the UK), the legal year starts on October 1st. Here are the term dates for 2003-2004:

Michaelmas 1 October 2003 – 19 December 2003
Hilary 12 January 2004 – 7 April 2004
Easter 20 April 2004 – 28 May 2004
Trinity 8 June 2004 – 30 July 2004

Between the terms there are court vacations (yes, the same term the Americans use for ‘holiday’).

The start of the legal year is marked by the Lord Chancellor’s breakfast. The judges used to walk 2 miles from Temple Bar to Westminster Abbey, but now they go by car. There is a 45-minute religious service at 11.30. The following ‘breakfast’ is so called because they used to fast beforehand. The judges have always dressed up in full rig. Many of them have ceremonial dress as well as everyday dress; for instance, full-bottomed wigs (Allongeperücken) are only worn on occasions like this). I have always wanted to stand at the pavement with my camera on this occasion. A BBC news report gives some impression of the usual get-up and the plain morning dress chosen by Lord Falconer this year, with photos of Lord Falconer and Lord Irvine on this occasion.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

bq. The lord chancellor is one of Britain’s most elaborately costumed officials, but Falconer’s predecessor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, also sometimes dispensed with some of the job’s more antiquated trappings.
He appealed successfully to be allowed to wear ordinary trousers, rather than tights and breeches, in Parliament. And he ended the tradition of walking backward before the monarch at the state opening of Parliament.

(Via UK Criminal Justice Weblog)

Inter alia is good today. It announces Say What?!, a ‘weblog of classic humour from U.S. district judge Jerry Buchmeyer’.

bq. Since 1980, U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer has entertained lawyers far and wide with his “et cetera” column in the Texas Bar Journal. For this page, we’ve reached into the vault to bring you classic material spanning two decades of courtroom humor — most of which comes straight from actual depostions and trials. We’ll post a new laugh each day, and new articles each month.

Here’s a sample:

bq. April 1990 – Recalling & Recollecting
This excerpt comes from Judge Frank Andrews of Dallas (116th District Court) and from a trial in his court:

bq. Q. (By Mr. Flint) Mr. Tipton, is there any disagreement to your knowledge between the parties as to what portion of Mrs. Williams’ body or what part of her body or cell structure or whatever is injured?
A. I don’t recall.
Q. Would that be helpful to your recollection if you did recall?
Mr. Kizzia: Excuse me, I object to the question as ambiguous. It doesn’t make sense. It’s unintelligible, really.
The Court: (wisley) Sustained

Inter alia has found another German law blog: Jurabilis, by Alexander Hartmann. Inter alia says he is a ‘Berlin law graduate’, but the information seems hard to find. The blog is nearly all in German, but at least one entry is in English.

Denise Howell’s Blog of the Day (via evhead.com) is Public Defender Dude. The first post , on August 6th, describes what public defenders do and sums up:

bq. The best thing about our job is that we get to tilt against windmills. We fight the power. Everyone is against us: DAs, Cops, and DAs with robes (ie – many of the Judges). Even bailiffs, court clerks, court reporters and other court staff don’t like us frequently, but few show greater disdain for us than many of our clients. They save some of their best invective for us: public offenders, public pretenders, dump trucks, wanna be DAs, etc…. The fact is, most people don’t appreciate something that is given to them for free. Legal services are no exception. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve represented someone on a serious case and they bring in some worthless lawyer to take over the case just because that lawyer is a “paid” lawyer (as if we do this for free). In the end, most of my clients end up regretting their decision.

LLRX.com is updated only occasionally now, most recently on 29th September 2003. There is an update to the English-language introduction to the Swiss legal system, which means the original file with changes highlighted. Excellent material (the English is not by a native speaker).

I was doing some investigation on whether there is an English word for Kniebeuge, the hollow behind the knee (see earlier entry on Ellenbeuge) when I came across a 2001 article by John Derbyshire in National Review Online on the topic of Anglo-Saxons and their inability to speak foreign languages.

The article was inspired by a reader’s comment, when Derbyshire recommended a German website:

bq. Read German, you say? You forget that I am an American. The Germans will damn well speak English, if they want to be understood. … We neither have the time, nor see the need, to learn languages that are destined to go the way of Latin and Sanskrit. We have people to do that for us, should the need arise…

Derbyshire has encountered, at school and later, French, German, Latin, Russian, Cantonese, Cambodian, and Mandarin.