Monday, September 27, 2010

No Comment Monday

I'd love to comment on this case, but frankly, I'm bloody terrified of the risk.

Which tells you a lot about the kind of "Republic" we live in, doesn't it?
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4 comments:

  1. AitorSeptember 27, 2010 at 10:13 PM

    Caulfield, forgive my cowardice, but I'm afraid I have to remove your comment. Please don't be offended, it's just how Ireland is. As an example - if you look at the Jay Leno clip on my blog, you'll hear the comments made by Jay at the end with a word beginning with d and a word beginning with m - the Irish broadcasters can't repeat those words, or else they could be sued for defaming Biffo!

    ReplyDelete
  2. caulfield-the-yankSeptember 28, 2010 at 1:26 AM

    No offense taken. Though for a moment I thought you were afraid that Paul Bradford might sue you. (No one who who did not see my original comment would get that joke.)

    (By the way, could A maintain a suit for defamation against B, if B suggests, either unreasonably or just incorrectly, that a comment made by A about C was, in B's opinion, defamatory? "How dare you call me a defamer! You will hear from my solicitors!" Where would such madness end?)

    Well, in any case, I am sure that even in the "Republic" of Ireland, it would not be defamatory for me to say that I read what the Independent said Lucinda Creighton said, and what the Independent explained (no doubt after running it by its solicitors) were the allegedly factual bases and/or context for her remarks, and, on the abstract legal issue presenrted on the alleged facts as thus reported (which we do not assume to be true, but treat as such solely for the sake of argument), I do not see how what Creighton said -- to the extent it was reported in the Independent -- was defamatory.

    I will not be offended if you feel you must delete some or all of this comment, though I wiould be happy if, even if you do, it provoked some further thought on the question of how far the law of defamation can be taken in Ireland.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AitorSeptember 28, 2010 at 9:25 AM

    Hi Caulfield,

    Thanks for being so understanding. I was mainly following the lead of politics.ie where they took down the Nama thread after this case broke into the news. Given they seem to understand the legal ramifications better than I, I thought it was prudent to follow their lead.

    However, I have now hired my own team of crack legal eagles, and having reviewed your comment, they have decided that it is acceptable. I will, however, have to ask to sign this waiver.

    Just sign here....

    Here....

    And initial here...

    And in case you are still wondering, yes, defamation law has gone wayyyy too far in Ireland. As you say, hopefully Lucinda's case will develop some debate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. caulfield-the-yankSeptember 28, 2010 at 1:01 PM

    Ha ha!

    Way back in the day, I was slightly acquainted with David Friedman (son of Milton Friedman). In that pre-Internet age, and in a slightly different context, he would sometimes bring an argument back to reality by saying, "But there just isn't enough small print in the world!"

    (Yes, I realize that, under the guise of humbly attributing credit for a remark, I have actually engaged in gratuitous name-dropping.)

    ReplyDelete

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