From BBC News: in a reshuffle, Lord Irvine has retired, and Tony Blair has not appointed a new Lord Chancellor. Instead, he has created a new department of constitutional affairs:

bq. The end of the post of lord chancellor – a title older than that of prime minister – brings to a close a very long chapter in British history

The office of Lord Chancellor destroyed any idea of separation of powers: he was a minister (executive), in the legislature (speaker of the House of Lords) and also in the judiciary (head of the House of Lords as a court). When sitting on the woolsack in the House of Lords, if he needed to ‘change hats’ and speak as a minister, he used to get up and walk a few steps to one side, rather like some impressionists. Continue reading →

From BBC News: in a reshuffle, Lord Irvine has retired, and Tony Blair has not appointed a new Lord Chancellor. Instead, he has created a new department of constitutional affairs:

The end of the post of lord chancellor – a title older than that of prime minister – brings to a close a very long chapter in British history

The office of Lord Chancellor destroyed any idea of separation of powers: he was a minister (executive), in the legislature (speaker of the House of Lords) and also in the judiciary (head of the House of Lords as a court). When sitting on the woolsack in the House of Lords, if he needed to ‘change hats’ and speak as a minister, he used to get up and walk a few steps to one side, rather like some impressionists. Continue reading →

Word division does not play the same part in English as it does in German. German words are very long. Germans learn at school how to divide words. English (and American too, I imagine) children do not learn the rules of word division. We do not divide words in handwritten texts – it looks really odd in English.

I first encountered word division when I used a typewriter. I have given it up now. I prefer a ragged right margin. Many lawyers, English and German, like to justify both margins (Blocksatz). Then, especially in German, you get ‘rivers’ making the page look torn apart. When I overwrite a client’s file in English, I preserve the justification but turn off the automatic word division. Continue reading →

Word division does not play the same part in English as it does in German. German words are very long. Germans learn at school how to divide words. English (and American too, I imagine) children do not learn the rules of word division. We do not divide words in handwritten texts – it looks really odd in English.

I first encountered word division when I used a typewriter. I have given it up now. I prefer a ragged right margin. Many lawyers, English and German, like to justify both margins (Blocksatz). Then, especially in German, you get ‘rivers’ making the page look torn apart. When I overwrite a client’s file in English, I preserve the justification but turn off the automatic word division. Continue reading →

From a circular:

bq. The Jean Monnet Center has revamped its European interest links.
Our links are organized in a two tier manner:
Weiler’s Web lists Joseph Weiler’s personal Top 10 list of European
research interest links. This list, like Top of the Pops is fluid and subject
to challenge and persuasion. European Interest Links on the Jean Monnet
Home Page Tool Bar lists in a more systematic and comprehensive
fashion the links found most useful by the Jean Monnet Center community. Continue reading →

From a circular:

bq. The Jean Monnet Center has revamped its European interest links.
Our links are organized in a two tier manner:
Weiler’s Web lists Joseph Weiler’s personal Top 10 list of European
research interest links. This list, like Top of the Pops is fluid and subject
to challenge and persuasion. European Interest Links on the Jean Monnet
Home Page Tool Bar lists in a more systematic and comprehensive
fashion the links found most useful by the Jean Monnet Center community. Continue reading →