A judge reproduced a lawyer’s submissions almost word for word. Two Commonwealth traditions have quietly answered why that matters.
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The PM, the CJ, and other constitutional appointees are all guardians of the Constitution. If one falters, what happens? When a Prime Minister faces a suit in court, yet it is he who must pick the senior judges who will head the judiciary— he is immediately placed in an irreconcilable position of conflict. Three constitutional paths emerge from Malaysia’s deepest democratic paradox. What are they? There is no point in ...
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Malaysia's judiciary teeters on the brink. An institutional crisis looms—potentially as devastating as 1988's judicial catastrophe—threatening constitutional governance and the rule of law itself. Nine Federal Court judges departing within two years represents far more than administrative upheaval: it's a catastrophic haemorrhaging of judicial wisdom, precisely when institutional memory matters most. We should never have come to this pass. Left unchecked, this depletion spells disaster for the nation. Which path will Malaysia ...
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Within marble chambers where the scales of justice have trembled through tempest and calm, where in silent corridors, darkness once consumed light, where the sacred spirit of law endured its darkest winter— here lives a story of its struggle and its resurrection. The robe, once rent by a political blade, was rewoven with threads of courage; how the flame, once dimmed to dying ember, burns bright once more: luminous, defiant, and eternal.
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In 1988, a tremor rent Malaysia’s halls of justice: an institutional earthquake that cleaved its very bedrock. Constitutional pillars crumbled; and the Beacon that once burned bright for Justice flickered, and then, died. Sacred robes, woven with centuries of honour, lay torn in the rubble. The Unthinkable carved its wound into the very beating heart of the Constitution. Here sleep the lasting memories of those who fell, shields raised against the ...
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The answer is a ‘No’. Here are my reasons.
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Why not? Dancing is an expression of joy. A judge is human. Why should a judge be deprived of joy? Yet, whether a judge could dance publicly would depend on the occasion, wouldn’t it? Which side of the line did the CJ and the AG tread last week?
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Do you like the English language? Here are some of the most memorable lines written by judges. These exemplify how judges used their wit to decant humour, humanity and storytelling back into the law. I hope you like them!
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Are there sure-fire techniques that make it easier to succeed in appeals? Yes, there are. If appellate counsel don't practise the Rules of Minimalism, Detachment, or do not ask the right Questions of Law, they'd fail. If they argue at the Court of Appeal burdened with a blunderbuss, they'd fail - because they are kiasu: they shoot at any target, with everything they've got. Here are some techniques that ...
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The Malaysian Bar has preserved the traditions of the legal profession. Some of them are more than 500 years old. The Bar insists on keeping them. Why?
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