Handakte WebLAWg refers to an entry by Tuning Spork (I know what a tuning fork is, but what is a spork?) on the way the Massachusetts Supreme Court, on November 18th, decided that the constitution of Massachusetts should be read to grant the same privileges to same-sex couples as to heterosexual couples.

bq. What the Massachussetts Supreme Court has done is to take the language of the People as it was (and intended to be) understood, and translated it into the modern colloquial usage.
Whether or not you or I support or oppose the legalization of gay marriage or civil unions isn’t at issue (I happen to support it) . The issue is: Who, in a republic of laws, not tyranny, writes the Law?

It’s a well-written piece, and with interesting comments. It should be mentioned, though, that the court at the same time granted a 180-day period for the legislature to pass laws, depending on its view of the matter.

The case reminds me of the time when the House of Lords found that a husband can be found guilty of raping his wife. Mind you, in that case the court was merely varying a definition of marriage from a 16th-century court case – it wasn’t redefining a constitution.

There are very few countries that permit same-sex marriage – according to a Canadian site only the Netherlands and Belgium. Registered partnerships have some similarities, but they are distinguished from marriage.

In the USA, of course, a marriage recognized by one state must be recognized by another. The Legal Reader reports on a challenge to an Iowa divorce of a civil union (Iowa itself doesn’t have civil unions). The divorce was granted by a county court on November 14th and is being challenged in the Iowa Supreme Court.

This is only for those who understand German. desbladet links to a comedy German lesson by Loriot (Vicco von Bülow), whose 80th birthday is sometime around now.

bq. SIE. Wir besitzen ein Kraftfahrzeug. Mein Mann faehrt mit der Bahn ins Buero.

bq. ER. Ich bin 37 Jahre alt und wiege 81 Kilo.

bq. SIE. Viktor ist fuenf Jahre aelter und ein Kilo schwerer. Sein Zug fahrt morgens um 7 Uhr 36.

bq. ER. Mein Onkel wiegt 79 Kilo. Sein Zug faehrt um 6 Uhr 45.

But I suppose Ionesco was earlier.

bq. Having learnt English from a conversation primer, The Bald Prima Donna’s Romanian playwright, Ionesco, wrote it primarily using ‘Effle’, that is, grammatically correct phrases which make little sense outside their textbook
context.

In connection with Loriot’s eightieth birthday, the Kamps bakery has been selling a cake based on a sketch of his, called the Kosakenzipfel (Cossack’s pyramid? by analogy with coconut pyramid).

LATER NOTE: In my haste to post a link on Ionesco, I overlooked the fact (see the comments) that whoever described the play The Bald Prima Donna in Cherwell seems to think Ionesco wrote in English and was satirizing the English upper classes. It isn’t so! He wrote in French. Here’s a slightly better account from Bristol University. While I’m at it, let’s acknowledge the translator, Donald Watson. And here’s something on the term Effle, conceding that Ionesco wrote in French.

From a U.S. or U.K. export I see that some people know how to put the apostrophe in it’s, but not elsewhere.

(The apparent bloodstains on the glass are probably the remains of text for Halloween that hasn’t been removed properly).

There are two good places on the Web to search for English translations of German statutes: the German Law Archive and Carob (not a blog) – at Carob, click on the words ‘German Laws’ at the top of the page.

You can’t rely on the quality of the translations. If a statute is not there, it’s worth trying a search engine – there are often new translations somewhere to be found.

Sometimes it’s worth having a translation in book form. My favourite translation of the Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) is by Simon Goren – latest edition 1994, covering the German text in January 1992. The University of Hull has some excerpts from an earlier (1975) edition with two co-authors.

I also have the Commercial Code and the Code of Civil Procedure translated by Goren. At one time it occurred to me to wonder if he was still translating, and I then found an obituary (pdf file by Kathleen Carrick:

Goren was born in 1913 and died in 2000. He was a Hungarian Jew who emigrated to Turkey, followed by Palestine, Israel, and in 1959 the United States.

bq. Born in Hungary, Professor Goren escaped the despotism of Nazi Germany
by immigrating to Turkey and then to Palestine, where he earned a Diploma of
Law from the British Mandatory Government’s Law School in Jerusalem. Simon
was a prosecutor and attorney in Israel until he immigrated to the United States in
1959. In the U.S. he became a librarian, obtaining his M.L.S. from Columbia
University in 1960. Simon’s first position in his new profession of law librarianship
was at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen, and Hamilton in New York
City. In 1964 Simon joined the staff at the Cornell University School of Law as
an assistant law librarian. After three years at Cornell, he was hired by the Western
Reserve University School of Law in 1967, where he served as Law Librarian and
Professor of Law until he retired in 1983. At his retirement, CWRU awarded him
the title of Professor Emeritus in recognition of his service and scholarship.

Click to enlarge.

Saddam dragged out of foxhole / Revolt against mulled wine ripoff

Saddam – No trace of remorse / Sex excesses – Lawyer led double life – arrest warrant

Passing a military equipment shop, I was surprised to see these offers on underwear for the German armed forces (both new and used). Click to enlarge and read.

Some pictures of something similar, showing the colour, are here.