Can mass civil disobedience unseat a tyrannical government?

Whether mass civil disobedience can unravel a tyrannical government  is a difficult question to answer.  History reveals movements that have succeeded gloriously, or have failed miserably. A tyrannical government would be unfazed by any kind of disobedience. That is one aspect Much also depends on the location of the movement: what works in New York, London or ...

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Do lawyers obey the law?

Do lawyers obey the law? They must. You cannot argue in court about the rightness of a legal principle unless you are prepared to acknowledge its rightness. And obey it. But as there are bad doctors and bad engineers, some bad lawyers, and some bad judges (one hopes a small number) twist the law beyond recognition. That is ethically ...

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What is the difference between ‘evidential burden of proof’ and ‘legal burden of proof’?

At first sight, these two concepts seem identical. They are not. If you wish to make litigation your career, you need a sound understanding of these concepts. It is not that difficult, really.

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Is the ex-Chief Justice right? Should the AG be appointed from the Judicial & Legal Services?

In an article entitled, ‘Is the new AG choosing his briefs like a private lawyer? [26 June 2018]’ the ex-Chief Justice, Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamed, suggests that the current Attorney General is unsuited to his job. He says, ‘When Thomas accepted the post of Attorney General, like it or not, by law, [he] is also the public ...

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Our execrable Education System

Long ago, Lat drew a cartoon. It compared a study on mosquitoes carried out by a foreign scholar and a Malaysian one.  The foreign scholar is shown with a stack of books (volumes 1 to 5).  The Malaysian scholar has a wafer-thin manuscript with an arrow that says: ‘Ini adalah nyamuk.’  Do you remember that? ...

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The call of the legal profession

I was once asked to answer three questions at once.  I think it was on Quora. Since then a lot of people have expressed interest in the questions and the answers I gave. I reproduce them here: Q-1:          How difficult is it for a lawyer to set up his own firm? Q-2:          How do lawyers advertise their services? Q-3:          ...

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