texts: Which jurisdiction applies to copyright violations on the internet?

texts:
A person residing in country A takes a work by an artist in country B and puts it onto a website they own but which is hosted in country C which is intended for an audience of people in country D.

The artist in country B did not give permission for this and wants to pursue legal actions.

Which countries copyright laws apply to this case?

Let's assume that A, B, C and D all signed and ratified the Berne Convention, but their implementations in local laws differ in ways which are relevant to this case.


texts: How much must a prison inmate protest against the incorrect actions of prison officials that erroneously benefit the inmate?

texts:
Based (loosely) on  a recent event here in Ontario: https://www.thespec.com/news/crime/2020/08/18/do-not-approach-milton-prisoner-released-by-mistake-into-community.html
Sam has been correctly convicted of a serious criminal offence.  He's been sentenced to 5 years, all appeals have been exhausted, and he's 12 months into his sentence.
So he's surprised when the Correctional Officers tell him, one morning,  that he is to be released immediately.  Sam knows of no reason that he should be released.  He decides to just do as he's told, gathers his possessions from his cell and from storage, and is processed out the door, and walks away.
A few hours later it becomes clear that a different prisoner was supposed to be released.  Much confusion ensues, and authorities explain that they are "actively looking" for Sam.
To be clear, Sam did not take the place of another prisoner that was to be released.  He did not somehow arrange for an incorrect order to come to the prison.  Because of some purely internal Corrections accidental paper-work foul-up, the prison received proper instructions to release Sam specifically, and they did.
So, assuming that Sam is located quickly, has he committed any additional offence?  Should he have protested his release, and insisted on staying in prison?


texts: Can a tenant be held liable if they have shown intention to rent but pull out before signing a contract? (UK)

texts:
Scenario:

Alan advertises a room to rent in a joint tenancy property in which they are lead tenant
Zoe views the room and verbally expresses an interest in renting it
Alan passes on Zoe's contact details to the estate agent
The estate agent contacts Zoe by email, providing a draft contract and asking for further information in order to complete her details
Zoe provides the requested details, again by email
The contract is drawn up and the estate agents inform both Alan and Zoe that it is ready to be signed
A week later (having not yet signed), Zoe informs the estate agent that she no longer wants to take the room

Question:

In UK law, is it possible that the email correspondence between Zoe and the estate agent would provide strong enough evidence of intention for Zoe to be held liable for costs incurred by Alan and/or the landlord of the property as a result of her late withdrawal?

So far I have found guidance which states that a verbal agreement is rarely considered binding with respect to tenancy agreements, but no clear information about written agreement prior to signing or liability in such a circumstance.


texts: Can Congress, or any other body, subpoena the President's tax records?

texts:
President Trump's tax records, and the question of whether Congress can access them, have been on the news for years. In all this time, I've never heard any analyst debate whether or not a president is legally required to release his tax records.

In the past, many candidates released their tax records. Is this just a norm as opposed to a rule? Can Congress demand a president release his records? Is the NY attorney subpoenaing Trump's tax records under a different pretense? Is it part of their criminal investigation? Are the laws on this matter regarding private citizens different than for public officials?


texts: Can the "Promise of leaving country after studies", part of a student permit request be used to refuse a marriage?

texts:
This question concerns Switzerland, but I suppose this can apply to many countries with similar rules.
When a foreigner (non-CH or EU citizen) applies for a student (B) permit, this person has to provide a written formal commitment to leave the country once the studies are over.
If the person, during the studies, decides to get married with a Swiss citizen, and later on requests a B permit allowing the spouses to live together, could the previous commitment be a problem in any way ? For example, could the authorities refuse to recognize/perform the marriage because it would break such commitment ? Or, after the marriage, refuse the B permit usually provided to Swiss citizen's spouse, for the same reason ?
I did not find anything about this online. I know exactly what is required for the student permit application form, as well as for the marriage, but did not find anything that directly answers this question.


texts: When can employer change pay (increase or decrease)?

texts:
Question

Can an employer decrease an employee's pay whenever they want (unless otherwise agreed to in a contract)? Out of curiosity can an employer increase pay at any time? Does it make a difference if the person receiving the pay is a employee or contractor?

Background

I do work for a company that does not guarantee any hours. Nonetheless I've worked for them over a year and normally get several shifts a week. I believe I'm considered an employee because I receive T4. One day I was told that I can agree to a new contract at lower pay or have to return company assets. So basically I was given an ultimatum. I simply replied I'm interested in continuing working and they kept giving me shifts. Latter I learned that everyone else got to keep the higher pay. Is this legal?


texts: Immigtration:(I-130) Can I apply be sponsor for my mother(applying green card) while my husband is in debt?

texts:
Asking this for my friend:

I am a U.S. citizen, and I wanna apply green card for my mom (i-130). My annual income is about $32,000, which is good enough for sponsoring her, however, my husband is in debt to IRS(About $40,000 because of some business failure). If the debt remains unsolved, will it affect my eligibility of sponsoring my mom? Thank you!


texts: Lawful possession and transport of a firearm without a permit on foot in Florida?

texts: Lets say Bob goes out to the gun range with a friend. They drove to the gun range. Bobs friend has an emergency and leaves Bob stranded. Bob has no one to who can pick him up. Bob wants to go from point A (Gun Range) to point B (Home) on foot. Bob has a obvious gun bag in which he puts his weapons away. Is there any lawful way Bob can walk home with his guns without a concealed weapons permit in Florida?


texts: Can plaintiff and defendant both want the same thing (court order)

texts:
My friend recently sold his car to me and left the country (United States). We did not notarize the title and now (NC)DMV refuses to transfer the title to me. My friend is not coming back to the US to notarize the title.

I've consulted traffic lawyers, option 1, bonded title is way too expensive.

Option 2, I sue my friend and have the court order DMV to transfer the title to me. Is it possible since both my friend and myself just want the title transfered to me? It sounds crazy enough that it might actually work.


texts: If I consume cannabis and walk across the state line, can I get arrested?

texts: Cannabis is legal in some states. In others, not so much. So if I am in a state where cannabis is legal, smoke it and walk across state line, without taking any with me, just in me, can I get arrested for smoking it in a place that was legal?


texts: Law in fiction: acquittal of Moriarty in *Sherlock* TV series

texts:
[clarification: I'm posting this question here because it is arguably a better forum than scifi.SE]

In "The Reichenbach Fall" (Sherlock season 2, episode 3), Jim Moriarty breaks into the Jewel House at the Tower of London, the vault of the Bank of England, and Pentonville Prison. Of relevance here is the fact that he wants to get caught in the act (e.g., he deliberately stands unmasked in front of security camera, and then waits for the police to find him inside the locked-down Jewel House, sitting on the throne and wearing the Crown Jewels). At his trial, however, the jury unanimously finds him not guilty, and he walks free, much to everybody's surprise. Shortly after, he reveals to Holmes that the jurors declared him not guilty because he had his minions threaten them and their families with death and other horrible consequences, should they find him guilty. The whole chain of events is Moriarty's way of showing Holmes and Watson that he is beyond the reach of ordinary justice.

Question: in UK law, is the judge obliged to accept the jury's not-guilty verdict, even in cases where the defendant is so obviously guilty as in this episode?  More precisely, does the judge have the power to ignore the jury's verdict (on the grounds that the verdict is inherently incompatible with the available evidence) and start a retrial with a different jury?

This question, of course, presupposes that the judge either hasn't been threatened or has decided to maintain his/her integrity in the face of threats.


texts: Liability for property upkeep during inheritance

texts: Assuming a property was awarded by a general judgment from an inheritance estate, and assuming that the actual transfer of said property took several months from the time of the judgement, is there a clearly defined law or precedent concerning who would be responsible for the financial upkeep of said property during that waiting period (the person awarded property or the manager of the estate)?


texts: Is there a legal requirement for my hosting service to provide me with a copy/backup of my content?

texts:
If I have a provider hosting a forum service, and I want a copy of my forum database (actually to move to another service) is there a requirement that they must be able to provide me with my content back to me?

Or if not, if the content is mine, do I have the right to scrape that forum for my data?

(no, the forum isn't Stack Exchange, btw, and it's not even for me - the question came up in chat and we weren't sure of the answer)


texts:
I have looked for this online, but have come up with inconsistent results. Here is one example from California:

  Tsukroff v. Hedgeside Property & Inv. Co., California Superior Court, Napa County, case no. 26-25117 (order dated 01/19/05) (unpublished)

Can anyone confirm if this is correct? Since courts differ in their rules from one state to another, please provide several examples. If Bluebook has a point of view on this, I'd appreciate it if you would share that as well. Thanks in advance.


texts: How closely must a lawyer follow a client's directives?

texts:
A plaintiff launches a lawsuit with a very complicated set of facts and law. The client says, "I want you to focus on issues X, Y, and Z, because those are the ones that I am most comfortable and familiar with, and forget about, or at least downplay other issues. The law firm replies, "there are plenty of other issues here that could generate a higher award if we delve into them. The law firm then proceeds to do so, at the neglect of the client's three main concerns.
Does the lawyer have the right to do this? How closely must the law firm focus on issues X, Y, and Z if the fee arrangement is 1) "straight fee," versus 2) "mostly contingency"?
(I would guess that the lawyer would have a greater right to underweight the client's preference if the client provided mainly the "opportunity" and counsel is taking most of the financial risk via contingency. Whereas, if it were "straight fee," then the client would be paying the lawyer to "ventilate" issues X, Y, and Z in court.)


texts: Are there laws prohibiting people from obstructing the view of an unmarked radar?

texts:
In Australia sometimes on the side of a straight stretch of road you'll see a car park parallel to the road. More often than not, these have radar that is used to catch people speeding.

The other day, my uncle said that there's no law stopping someone from parking in front of one of these unmarked radars because they are apparently done by contractors, not the police, and the contractor can just re-position. (He even joked that you could box them in with two cars.)

But I am wondering, is there any law in Australia about obstructing the view of an unmarked vehicle with radar? Would it be different if it was a police car?


texts: Its Wrong, But Is It Class Action Wrong?

texts: After viewing my receipts I noticed a company is charging it’s customers for extra items I assume by “accident”. When I go back the next day to confront them they apologize and are gracious enough to give a credit for the full ticket price. During one of these returns I watched 5 others that were there for the exact same thing I was and considering it wasn’t the first time for me I assume this must be happening a lot.  What I didn’t realize until my third trip is I wasn’t receiving the full amount back I had paid tax on the initial purchases but I was only receiving the price of the item. Technically it wasn’t a return because I hadn’t received the item but I still paid tax on it.  Based on the number of people I’ve seen this has happened to I can assume the actual amount people is much larger as I am not their very often and even though the amount is small for each person the sum would probably be much higher for the company. Is this a class action or just wrong.


texts: Copyright law for an author: Can a word be copyrighted?

texts:
So, in everything from World of Warcraft to Dungeons and Dragons, even Warhammer and an assortment of other games, both table top and computer based, there's Arcane magic. I've written a few books and, without thinking, I used the term Arcane to be the general name for magic practiced by witches and warlocks and prayer magic used by the clergy. I never thought about it until now, but is Arcane, or Arcane magic, a copyrighted word/phrase/term?

To clarify, the spells in my work aren't direct copies of any from those other games, it's simply the usage of what I at first considered a generic word. Could there be trouble down the line?

Examples of spells used in my work:
Portal magic to move across large distances,
"energy beams" for combat purposes, and
magical infusion.

Not entirely sure if this is the best place for this question, but I'm just wondering if there's any danger of it becoming problem down the line. Also, I apologize if I'm misunderstanding the usage of copyright, but as a relatively new author, I'm trying to make sure I'm not setting myself up for trouble in the future.


texts: Can I legally purchase ammunation with a mental health issue in north carolina?

texts:
Can I legally purchase ammunition with a mental health hospitalization in north Carolina?

I was hospitalized recently can I legally purchase ammo in North Carolina?


texts: Rights of UK police home visit, no warrant

texts: Police turned up at the door the other day and were unfortunately let in by my very distressed mother before I got to the door (I would have checked warrant, ID etc through door first). My brother and I went to help our mum and after we ascertained there was no warrant, or clear reason for entry, asked them to leave. They refused and we asked several more times, but still refused. With hindsight I should have called their superior but was wondering was that legal for them to remain in the property despite 2 occupants who would not have let them in asking them to leave? My mother is elderly and could not make that decision, in shock, herself rationally.


texts: Is there any remedy for unnecessary insult by police in the course of their lawful duties?

texts:
Following up on Are there any remedies for abusive or insulting behavior by agents executing a search warrant? the more subtle question needs the following elaboration:

My impression is that as far as the law is concerned there is no such tort as "maliciously making a mess" or "unnecessarily desecrating an individual or his property" in the course of a LEO's official duties.  But to any individual subject to such abuse the difference between a respectful and malicious search may be life-shattering.

To make it more salient let's consider a search warrant for some small amount of drugs issued on a residence.  Suppose the owner of the residence claims to be a devout Muslim and keeps a Koran in a prominent place.  He notes that the book is holy to him and asks the agents executing the warrant to don gloves before touching it.

A respectful searcher would comply with the request, putting on gloves before inspecting the book, and replacing it when done.
An indifferent searcher would rifle the book bare-handed and, perhaps, toss it aside hurriedly.
A malicious searcher might say, "Muslim, huh?  Well let me finish my bacon sandwich before I handle that."  He smears the pages with bacon grease, then throws the book on the ground and goes out of his way to trample it every time he walks by.

Is the law indifferent to the three scenarios?

Update: Because religion might have special protection under the law, here is a non-religious example:  I collect Legos and have spent thousands of hours building an enormous Lego city in my basement.  Here are the three alternatives in this scenario:

To inspect every concealable space the respectful searcher separates the structures to look inside, and then locks them back together.
The indifferent searcher pulls apart every structure as much as necessary to expose their internal spaces.  Because he exercises no exceptional care in how he breaks things it will take scores of hours to rebuild the city.
The malicious searcher brings a hammer and begins smashing the Legos with glee.  He frequently turns to the owner and asks things like, "So, you still don't want to tell me where the drugs are?  This Lego airport is next!"  The blocks are so broken that to restore the property the collector/builder would have to start from scratch.  Meanwhile, the searcher shrugs off the destruction saying, "Something could have been concealed in those little dimples in each block, so I had to break them all to be sure."

Update: The Lego example, third scenario, consists of destruction of property so might be more appropriate to the first question.  Since the purpose of this question is to focus on the "insult" piece here is another example: A retired cop recently claimed that he observed fellow officers, "Pissing and shitting inside suspects homes during raids, on their beds and clothes."  Obviously the property damage from that misbehavior is not worth suing over.  But one would hope that there is some adequate remedy at law for such gratuitously abusive and insulting behavior.

Further update: Andrew notes that this last example is just plain vandalism.  So let's walk it back a bit into the grey area where police in particular seem to run unrestrained: Suppose the police throw all the resident's clothes on the floor, walk through some spilled staining agents, and then stomp through the clothes repeatedly.  If they are called to account for it they say, "Oh, gee, sorry, we didn't notice the spilled dye, or the clothes on the floor.  Our job is to search, not to take care of peoples' property."


texts: Does a parent have any heightened duty of care to a grown child?

texts: In the US, does a parent have any heightened duty of care to a grown child than that of an adult stranger to another adult?


texts: What would happen if a heathcare provider attempted to bill for a ridiculous (billions) amount?

texts:
As far as I can tell, medical providers can perform a service, and then bill you for the cost of that service without telling you the price until you have already consented. There have already been questions about this. If you don't pay whatever price they invent, they can sue and will easily win a judgement against you.

What would happen if Bill Gate's blood work provider went rogue and charged him 30 billion for a hepatitis test? Which law or laws would invalidate the bill on the basis of it being too high?


texts: Were the ten commandments the first laws of civilization?

texts: As the Ten Commandments were written in stone and writing had hardly developed anywhere else to that time, are those the first laws of civilization?


texts: Assisted by friendship, on friendship, or ...?

texts: let us say an attorney who is also a close friend of mine assist me just thanks to our friendship, without charging any fee. Question is, is there a way to refer to such kind of situation? Would you use something like assisted on a friendly basis, or in friendship?


texts:
I've read the definition of "personal data" and I still can't understand it clearly. For example I have a youtube account and create a comment, is this comment now considered my personal data? If that is true, then wouldn't any data that links to user in database considered his personal data?

Thank You!


texts: Does GDPR require consent for a processor to confirm or deny the existence of data?

texts:
Assume we have two separate lists of emails handled by two different processors. List A is gathered by company A in a way that the subject has given their consent for its processing for marketing purposes. List B is gathered by company B in a way that the user gives no specific consent for any marketing use.

If company A sends emails to company B, and company B responds with "yes, this exists in our database" or "no, this does not exist in our database" - does that require company B to gather consent from the subject?

I have been unable to find any information relating to this scenario in terms of what GDPR requires. I suspect it requires company B to get consent from its subjects, but I cannot find any specific support for this in GDPR.

EDIT: As people have pointed out in the comments, companies A and B are controllers here and not processors; excuse me for my misuse of the terminology.


texts: Is it against the EU freedom of movement for Italy refuse entry to an EU citizen with only an ID card flying from outside the EU/EFTA?

texts:
Apparently, as stated in Timatic, a database operated by IATA and used by airlines to establish whether a passenger can enter the destination country, Italy recently introduced a restriction that non-Italian EU/EFTA citizens can only use their national ID cards to enter Italy if having flown from an EU/EFTA country.

Italian citizens, meanwhile, can only use their IDs to enter if having flown from an EU/EFTA state, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Tunisia or Turkey.

Is this a violation of the EU freedom of movement directive, whereby a verified EU/EFTA national cannot normally be refused entry to any EU/EFTA state, and/or the international policy that a country should never refuse entry to verified citizens of their own?

UPDATE: Turns out this alleged quirk was merely misinformation from the Italian government. I learnt of it the hard way, by being denied boarding on a Pegasus flight from Istanbul to Bergamo (despite calling the border police in Bergamo, who sent a clearance message to Pegasus).

I then e-mailed my IATA contact and asked him to ask their Italian government sources to re-confirm this restriction. It was found not to exist whereby Timatic was corrected.


texts: Pipes Froze BC Condo Owner Blocked Furnace Vents

texts:
TL;DR: I live in a condo and a majority owner turned off the furnace which heats our crawlspace. Our pipes froze and I would like to explore legal actions to resolve this issue.

Hi Everyone,
I am in a rather precarious position and am seeking some opinions regarding potential legal actions surrounding some recent events at the condominium complex that I live in.

The Facts:

I am an owner (new owner) of one suite at this condominium complex (second floor of building) and am a member of the condo board
The condo complex is located in Alberta, Canada
The condo complex is 'unique' in that the entire ground floor is owned by one owner, who we will call "John"
The ground floor unit, owned by John, has a natural gas furnace which heats his units as well as a common crawlspace overhanging a parking lot
All other condo units contain baseboard heaters and wall air units; natural gas heating is much less expensive than electrical.
Our condo unit is one such unit on the second floor which overhangs this parking lot
The common crawlspace contains plumbing for our unit, as well as several other units on the second floor
Years ago, before we purchased this unit, John decided that he no longer wanted to heat the crawlspace for the second floor tenants, so he blocked off the vents leading to the shared crawlspace. John demanded $1000 monthly as payment for heating the crawlspace; at the time, this was refused.
Where we live in Alberta, the weather can reach -30C during the wintertime. Pipes can and will freeze.
Last week, our shower drain froze due to lack of heat in the crawlspace.
It is our understanding that John is a particularly difficult individual, and has been sued in the past (by our condo board) in order to receive condominium fees backpay which he had owed over the years.

My Next Step:

Start a dialogue with 'John'. Perhaps he can be reasoned with and will simply unblock the air vents.
Determine a fair rate for the condo board to pay John monthly to heat the crawlspace
Celebrate.

Questions:

1. What legal recourse can be pursued if John refuses to open up the furnace vents? The crawlspace is a mutually shared asset, and as far as I can tell, John is actively putting our building in danger by allowing pipes to freeze. This can lead to other issues as the pipes are located directly overtop of a parking lot.

It's also incredibly annoying. Our floor was 8C for all of last week, and our electricity bill just came in at $316 for the past month (for only two of us).

2. Are you aware of any similar cases? If so, can you please cite them? I could not successfully 'Google' any situations similar to this.

Thank you for your attentiveness :)


texts: GDPR - does it give the right to unnecessarily ask to be removed from a group?

texts: Can the users of a messaging group ask under GDPR the owners of the group remove them? Then rejoin to repeat (it leads to more processing of their data) if the messaging service provides a "leave button".


texts: Are all interview questions that don't apply to essential functions illegal?

texts: Let's say I want to assess how comfortable a candidate is with casual conversation, and if he would fit into our business culture. If I ask a question like "What kind of music do you like?", is that legal? The question is definitely not relevant to essential job functions, but based on how he answers I can assess how well he would fit in our company culture.


texts: What happens when 2 laws conflict each other?

texts: Let's say there is an accident and there is a law which says vehicles driving by an avenue has priority to pass, but there is another law which says vehicles driving by the right has priority to pass, what happens when 2 laws conflict each other?


texts: Which country's laws apply to a gambling website?

texts: I´m thinking of starting a Gambling site based on Steam Skins currency.  This would transfer to virtual currency and the skins deposited to private profiles. The problem here is that I wonder if I´m allowed to add card payment for this virtual currency. I´m aware that online gambling is illegal in most states and I need to have a permission, but here comes the question. I´m currently living in Mexico and I´m underage in this country and in United States (15 yrs old) and here in Mexico there is no problem about online gambling. So the servers would be in the US and the DNS is in US but I'm working from Mexico. Is it legal? Would it be legal if in the terms of use I ask the player he is not from US and also he is not underage in his country?


texts: How to find/choose a criminal lawyer in another state?

texts:
I am seeking an attorney, in a state other than my own (in the USA), to provide me with guidance in the area of criminal law.  (I have some specific questions.)  How might I go about finding such an attorney other than look at ads?  What might indicate a really knowledgeable criminal attorney?

First update: 1. What type of work experience might indicate a really knolwedgeable criminal law attorney. For example, one attorney has 10 years experience as an Assistant United States Attorney.  Is that a big plus or a Ho-hum?  (Such information is available on https://www.justia.com/lawyers.)
2. Is there any value to such designations as "super lawyer": https://attorneys.superlawyers.com/

Second update:
3. Super doctor/lawyer websites seem to be a scam, per these reviews:

https://www.propublica.org/article/top-doctors-award-journalist
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/top-doctor-awards-deserved-abc-news-investigation/story?id=16771628

Third Update:
4. One comment said there was a legitimate ranking site for lawyers:
https://chambers.com
Unfortunately, it seems not to rate criminal law attorneys: https://chambers.com/research/practice-area-definitions-usa
5. These two sites say that "super lawyer" sites are a scam:
https://www.larrybodine.com/lawyers-cheering-the-uncloaking-of-bogus-accolades
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article
Fourth Update:

6. This site rates attorneys and seems legit:
https://www.avvo.com/


texts: Is a terms & conditions generator good enough for my website?

texts:
I am currently in the process of setting up a website which will include affiliate links to vendors for various products.

I've been looking into the privacy policy and terms & conditions that i'll need and i've come across services that will generate ones for you for a small fee. My concern is that these will be too generic, particularly with my site having many links to other sites and the affiliate nature of these connections.

So my question is, if these aren't enough where can I go to get something appropriate for my site?

Thanks


texts: Do they open the Bible during the court process?

texts: Is the Bible being opened during the process in any state in USA in order to recite a quote from it or whatever? Do they swear on the open Bible or closed?


texts:
I created a comics/cartoons Facebook page a few time ago, and I also published my work on reddit. And I made a humoristic comic featuring Spider-Man and Deadpool (two characters owned by Marvel Comics for those who know). (you can find it here: https://www.reddit.com/user/yacinem98).
But someone there told me that it was plagiarism to use these characters (especially if I put the "Original Content" tag over the image with my signature).

So I'm asking if this work is considered as a parody/satire or plagiarism?

I also made humoristic comics featuring characters from Star Wars and others from Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball Z manga but hesitated to publish them due to this. (as the person who warned me told me that big companies owning these characters won't let it slip if my comics make it big)


texts: Is store liable for "abandoning" my laptop left for repair?

texts:
I dropped off my MacBook Pro for repair at the local Apple Store, letting them know I wouldn't be in town for another 3 months-ish.

After a month, they started contacting me via email and phone to tell me it's ready for pickup. In response I called the Apple Store to notify them again that I wouldn't be in town until thanksgiving week.

Now, during Black Friday I tried to pick it up and they told me they abandoned it and it is already recycled. The manager let me know there isn't much they can do. They were super friendly and very sorry, but for some reason they didn't have any notes that I'd come pick it up again.

Is there anything I can do to get some sort of compensation?


texts: Would a parking policy which is not posted be contestable in court?

texts:
The fine is small, it's more the principal.  I recently moved to a new neighborhood.  My side of the street has parking, and there are cars regularly parked all along it, at all hours of the day.  There are no signs posted regulating parking on this side of the street in any way.  Last night I was given a ticket for being parked on the street between 2-6am.  I looked up the code for the neighborhood, and the policy is definitely on the books.  My argument with this (besides the fact that it is a stupid law), is that I don't understand how they can enforce an un-posted policy. I would understand the implicit expectation of behavior if I, for example, parked on my neighbors front lawn.  However, I feel this is different.  I've never heard of this type of policy, and everywhere else I have lived, parking rules (ex. snow routes, parking stickers, etc) were always explicitly posted.  Is ignorance a reasonable defense in this particular occasion?
-------------------Update----------------------
So now that I've been here a couple years, I've learned a couple of things.  There are one or two signs floating around the entrances to the town.
18pt font and impossible to read.  Most likely intentionally
Here is what you see coming into town.  Small sign above sign with a hand print on it.
Here is what you see from 15 feet away
I wasn't able to read the sign from my vehicle even once I knew where it was.
I also learned from the locals that this was just the local police hustle for people from out of town.  I got about half a dozen more tickets, in the next six months, never paid them and the police just gave up, and found someone else to pester.


texts:
Suppose the following facts:

Alice contracts to buy a car from Bob for $10,000, in a negotiated and relatively simple written contract between competent parties.
Alice takes the car.  Edit after Mowzer's answer: Assume Alice has taken full legal possession of the car, which Bob permitted based on her contractual promise to pay $10K.
Alice does not pay.
At some point thereafter, Alice crashes it or it is otherwise destroyed so the car can't be returned.
The destruction was not due to any negligence or tort on Bob's part nor any defect in the car.
Bob would rather have the $10K than have the car back anyway; that's why he sold it.
Bob sues Alice for breach of contract, alleging the facts above.
At trial, Alice does not dispute the basic facts about the contract or what happened.
The jury awards Bob $5,000 on his breach of contract claim.

As a second example, consider the following fact pattern (if commenters think this is sufficiently different, I can make it a separate question; otherwise it seems likely to be labeled a duplicate):

Downtown League (DL), a popular non-profit, hires Candace, an out-of-state singer, to perform at their gala fundraiser event for $10,000; $100 due and paid at signing and the rest due 20 days after the event.
Downtown League is in charge of all promotion and ticket sales; Candace only has to show up and perform.
The gala event doesn't sell nearly as many tickets as was anticipated, despite a last-minute push to get people to show up and buy tickets at the door.  The bad weather doesn't help.
Candace shows up and performs for a small audience, fulfilling her part of the contract.
Downtown League realizes they cannot both pay Candace and have a successful fundraiser.
Downtown League does not pay Candace.
Candace sues for breach of contract and Downtown League doesn't dispute the facts above.
Candace sues in the jurisdiction where Downtown League is headquartered and where the event was held, to resolve any questions about jurisdiction.
The jury finds Downtown League to be in breach of contract.
The jury awards Candace $4,900 in damages on that breach of contract.

Is the jury just allowed to do that, effectively changing the price agreed to?  What would happen next, if anything?  Are there clear precedents/sources that bear on this?

Assume a trial court with no relevant cap (i.e. the jury could have awarded $10K or more if they wanted to).

The essence of the question is that Bob/Candace fulfilled his/her obligations under the contract, and Alice/DL did not.  The juries appear to have changed what Alice/DL's obligations are under the contract (e.g. because they're sympathetic to defendants Alice/DL or because the defendants have painted plaintiffs as selfish for even trying to enforce the contract, etc.) and want to give defendants better deals than they originally signed.  Can they do that, and arbitrarily change the terms of the contract after the fact?  If they do, what happens next (if anything)?


texts: Do by-laws and/or articles of incorporation of a non-stock corporation need to be filed every year?

texts:
I'm part of a group that is trying to organize as a non-profit in Virginia, and we are trying to figure out when the articles of incorporation and/or by-laws need to be filed (original/updated) with the SCC and IRS.

We're specifically thinking about whether we should put as little in them as possible and document them elsewhere so if they do need to be filed then we don't have to re-file every update.


texts: Campaign sign on Zoom virtual background in town council meeting

texts:
As an energetic new member of my towns democratic party forum I was enthusiastic to join tonight's council meeting. I was fussing with zoom virtual backgrounds during the meeting and a political sign of the party I support quickly flashed up. I was met with some quick condescending remarks and that I should be banned from the meeting and removed from joining future meetings.
Question. Is this alright and the appropriate action for the council to take? If I wore a political shirt to an in person meeting would I be removed? Perhaps a hat or a pin? Mind you, I closed the meeting immediately before I was removed by the admin, but looking back on it, I can't tell if what I did was wrong.
Was what I did against law. Or is this protected by my first amendment rights? I cannot find a solid answer in my research. Most answers are around election day laws and campaigning at the polls or driving people to polls.
Thank you! I love discovering different stack exchanges. This one is great!
Cheers,
An energized and curious NJ voter


texts: Which comes first: contracts or subpoena orders?

texts:
Example scenario

If I am a reporter and I write an article from a source who did not want to disclose his identity and I signed a contract to never disclose his identity. But the court now demands that I release the identity of this source. Which must I follow? The contract or the subpoena?


texts: Section 21 notice if the tenant doesn't have a valid address for the landlord

texts:
I have been given a section 21 notice but I don't have an address in England and Wales to which I can service documents to, as specified by section 48. Does this invalidate the section 21? The agent dissolved half way through the tenancy. The address specified in the contract for which to serve notice etc, is an address abroad. Obviously a mistake made by an incompetent letting agent. I have only just fouund out I could have been witholding rent all this time... but too late for that.

If I want to demand to know the address of my landlord, I can wwrite to him abroad, but I won't be able to claim proof of receipt for letters abroad... and sending recorded delivery abroad is exepensive so would rather not do that. So how can I reliably ask for his address? It's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario.


texts:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fired-attorney-sidney-powell-back-advising-trump-chart/story?id=74823842&cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_hero_hed

Trump and Powell met in the Oval Office Friday night, ABC News has
confirmed, and were joined by Trump's former national security
adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has been publicly
prodding Trump to take unprecedented steps to seize a second term --
including declaring martial law and ordering the military to oversee
new elections in the battleground states that Trump lost.

Does POTUS have the authority to

declare martial law and

order the military to oversee a new election in battleground states?

I am not a lawyer and would appreciate a high school level explanation and then maybe a explanation for lawyers.


texts: Does handing keys to police under duress constitute consent to search?

texts:
Suppose a police officer demands, through a closed window, to search your car or dwelling.  Knowing your rights you say, "I do not consent to a search."  The officer then declares, "I don't care whether you consent, I am going to search, and if you don't open this door, I will break the window to get access."  You know two things:

There's no reason for the officer not to make good on his threat.
Regardless of whether he has probable cause, you're going to have a broken window if he does, and you will probably never be compensated for that.

If at that point you open the door, or give the officer the keys, even while saying, "I do not consent to your search," does that provide any basis for a future claim that you did consent to the search?  Or can you always say, "I complied under duress and protest" to have the search ruled non-consensual in any judicial proceeding?

I suspect the answer is that latter, but I'm wondering: is there any case law to support that answer?  (Or is there any case that refutes it?)


texts: US Office of Biometric Identity Management: statutory and regulatory authority?

texts:
The US records fingerprints of foreign visitors using a system formerly called US-VISIT, now known as the Office of Biometric Identity Management.  One might think that this is done under the authority of 8 USC, Chapter 12, Subchapter II, Part VII, Registration of Aliens.
However, a closer look shows that Title 8 and associated regulations do not describe the operation of OBIM.  For example, at 8 CFR 264.1(e)(2), fingerprinting is waived for essentially every nonimmigrant who remains in the US for less than a year:

(e) Fingerprinting waiver.
(1) Fingerprinting is waived for nonimmigrant aliens admitted as foreign government officials and employees; international organization representatives, officers and employees; NATO representatives, officers and employees, and holders of diplomatic visas while they maintain such nonimmigrant status. Fingerprinting is also waived for other nonimmigrant aliens, while they maintain nonimmigrant status, who are nationals of countries which do not require fingerprinting of United States citizens temporarily residing therein.
(2) Fingerprinting is waived for every nonimmigrant alien not included in paragraph (e)(1) of this section who departs from the United States within one year of his admission, provided he maintains his nonimmigrant status during that time; each such alien not previously fingerprinted shall apply therefor at once if he remains in the United States in excess of one year.

I can attest from personal experience that people falling under paragraph (1) are not fingerprinted at the border.  However, despite paragraph (2), most other nonimmigrants are fingerprinted at the border.
Under what authority is that fingerprinting performed?


texts: What can I do if police did not record video in car dashcam for a traffic ticket in NJ, USA?

texts:
Are police required to record in car dashcam video for traffic tickets in NJ, USA? A town in NJ said not all of their police cars record video.

Is there any way to find out if they aren’t telling the truth? Can I contact the police chief, mayor, or municipal judge?

How can I defend myself in court trial if the judge always believes highly credible police officers over defendants if I don’t have video?

Edit:

  C.40A:14-118.1 Municipal police vehicles to be equipped with mobile
  video recording system.
  1. Every new or used municipal police vehicle purchased, leased, or otherwise acquired on or after the effective date of P.L.2014, c.54
  (C.40A:14-118.1 et al.) which is primarily used for traffic stops
  shall be equipped with a mobile video recording system.

https://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/courts/assets/municipal/legis/pl2014_c54.pdf


texts: Can I name a business (restaurant) after a fictional character (Jughead Jones from Archie Comics)

texts:
I'm far from ready to start a business at the moment, but I'm definitely considering it and working towards being more ready. That being said, I'm mostly considering starting my own restaurant, and I'm thinking of naming it "Jughead's Malt Shop", "Jughead's Diner", just "Jughead's" or something very similar (I can format it in a different fashion, such as Jug Head's, if that helps the legality of this). I'm worried about the Jughead part of the name mostly - the name would be inspired by a very iconic comic book character that's copyrighted by Archie Comics. They would most likely never become aware of the business and seeing that they don't publish comics in my country and haven't done so since 1997 they might not even care...but I don't want to take my chances.
(I'm based in Finland - I feel as if this might be very useful information)
(Jughead's Diner might be the worst name out of those three to choose because it's both the most boring one as well as the title of a comic book that has been published)


texts: What is the canonical ruling on why the rulings of a supreme court cannot be appealed?

texts:
I am essentially asking for quote that I know exists but cannot remember.

A Law Lord from the British House of Lords either made a remark or an actual ruling on the subject of whether a ruling from a final court could be appealed. It was something like "otherwise, nothing would ever be settled and there would be no finality".

I'm sure I read it in some kind of "intro to law" book.


texts: Can a single attorney draft a "Default with Agreement" Divorce?

texts:
A hypothetical couple decided to amicably end their marriage. They live in California and they do not have kids. They maintain their financial lives separately, do not own any shared property and have utmost  clarity on their financial delineations.
They decided that "default with agreement" is the type of divorce that they would like to pursue.
Neither of them want to spend time filling out the forms and googling answers. They would rather have an attorney do this for them since they are both are very busy with their lives.
They learned that a single attorney cannot represent two parties in a divorce process in CA.
What are their options?
Summary:

Amicable divorce
No kids, no mortgages, one insignificant shared account
Clearly delineated financial lives
They do not qualify for Summary Divorce because of the value of the assets in their community property as defined by Law
They are on the same page with the divorce agreement

How can they delegate handling the paperwork and the process to someone else?  Does it even need to be an attorney?


texts: Company retained my card details after payment completed and suffered a breach. What are my options?

texts:
A mortgage broker company had a severe systems breach. A lot of information on their clients has been divulged due to the nature of mortgage applications.

After the breach, when the company was questioned about what information was actually in the breach, it was found that full card details were retained for a payment made, and not destroyed afterwards.

A formal request was made as to the reason the card details were retained. A letter has been sent apologising for the delays in processing the request. It has a lot of fluff about how to stay secure, what they have done since, and apologising for a late reply due to the large number of requests (My original request was more than 30 days before the letter). It specifically doesn't answer the question of why my card details would have needed to be retained, nor does it admit explicitly that they should not have been.

Instead, the letter includes an offer of £100 in "apology", and comes with a form requesting the £100 that will "be final settlement of any and all claims I have out of or in connection with the matters referred to ... [in this letter]"

This to me seems a clear "get out of jail for £100" attempt, relying on the fact that next steps and severity aren't known. I am a software engineer and I know from that angle how strict GDPR is, and I also know that this mortgage broker company have been the "recommended" broker for our new housing estate of nearly 200 homes.

So I am curious as to what a next step could be. It seems that taking the £100 would be foolish, knowing how strict the GDPR rules could be, but I am somewhat out of my depth on next step. Could I write to the company pointing out that they still haven't answered my query as the first step and force them to concede specifically that it was not necessarily held? Is further compensation unlikely and should I simply accept the offer?


texts:
TikTok, previously known as Musical.ly, is a for-profit app that runs on IOS and Android which allows it's users to upload short videos at includes a backtrack. The app was launched in 2017.

Kesha Sebert is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and actress, who on August 7, 2009, released the song Tik Tok, which went on to be a "chart-topping" song, and to date has sold 25 million copies.

Although, the app Tik Tok does not profit from merchandise sales, could they be in violation of the song Tik Tok's trademark since it's still profiting?


texts: How do I read an Australian case citation and find the text of the judgement?

texts:
I want to know more about a particular case. I've seen it referred to a couple of different ways:

Tame v New South Wales [2002] HCA 35
Tame v New South Wales (2002) 211 CLR 317

How can I access information about these cases?


texts: What is the point of having a witness sign something?

texts: On some documents they require a witness to sign. What is the point of this? Just added security that it's less likely 2 people would lie?


texts: If the damages from a lawsuit force the defendant into bankruptcy, are they forgiven?

texts:
Say Bob throws a pool party, and because he's secretly homicidal, he decides to poison the pool water, and many of his guests end up in the hospital. He hires a good lawyer to defend him in criminal court, and so while charges are pressed by a number of his guests his case doesn't make it to trial. However, he's sued in civil court and found to owe medical fees and compensation equalling $50,000 per guest, for 40 guests, for total damages of $2 million. Bob earns roughly $45,000 per year, and so paying back these damages would take him 45 years, therefore he decides to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Is he still required to pay back his $2 million in debts? What about the guests, do they simply not receive their compensation? What if they depend on this compensation to pay medical expenses?


texts: Are 802.11 jammers illegal to own in Taiwan?

texts:
Are 802.11 jammers illegal to own/use in Taiwan?
A layman term for a device like this is "wifi jammer". These are illegal to use in the USA.


texts: If a petition is dismissed without prejudice can it be refiled?

texts:
If the rules and laws of a court allow a party to bring a petition, and that petition is dismissed with an explanation but with no mention of "prejudice," can the petitioner refile what is substantively the same petition with the same court?

I.e., can one file a new petition requesting the same action even if the facts underlying the matter have not changed (but, perhaps, the petitioner learned enough from the original dismissal to file a more effective petition)?

Or must one always use the appeals process for the court if one wants "another shot" at what is substantively the same matter?

(An example I'm looking at right now is a PA 506(B)2 Petition.  Naturally the Rules don't address this question, and at least here court officers never answer substantive questions regarding rules or process!)


texts:
If I write a book and I cite the works of other authors, what are the legal requirements for the citation? For example, I want to take about 1 or 2 sentences verbatim from the book titled 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People'

I assume that I have to include the name of the author and the name of the work, which I am citing. What else must be included?


texts: What if I'm convicted for defamation that turns out to be true?

texts:
Suppose someone sues me for defamation and I'm pronounced guilty, and I serve time in prison.  Then after my sentence is complete it is discovered that the defamatory statement I made was true?

Am I guilty of defamation if I make statements that I don't know are true, but which are true?

And in both cases: If I am accused of defamation and my statements are found to be true, is my accuser himself guilty of defamation?


texts: In the state of Arizona, how do funeral homes create a new death certificate and register it?

texts:
My question pertains to law in the United States.
My mother died 2 months ago.
The police came and took her body away.
The medical examiner's office did an autopsy, etc...
I have paid the state of Arizona more than $150 for copies of death certificates.
I first ordered a certificate almost one month ago.
The state of Arizona will not give me the death certificates.
Initially, the state told me that all of the paper-work was correctly filed.
Recently, the state told me that the death must be "registered" by a funeral home before any death-certificates can be issued.
There is no funeral home. There will never be a funeral home.
I was the one responsible for collecting my mother's remains and burying her.
Arizona Law says something like:

Within seven calendar days after receiving possession of human remains, the responsible person who takes possession of the human remains shall:

Obtain and complete the information, including the social security number of the decedent, on the death certificate required pursuant to this chapter and rules adopted pursuant to this chapter.

Provide on the death certificate the name and address of the person completing the death certificate.

Submit the death certificate for registration to a local registrar, a deputy local registrar or the state registrar.  The funeral establishment or responsible person may submit the death certificate by electronic means in the format prescribed by the state registrar.

However, I do not know what a certificate of death looks like.
I also do not know what information is required on the certificate.
If you were a funeral home in Arizona, how would you make one?
What information would be on it?


texts: Naming a product using the first letter of a persons name?

texts:
I was thinking about naming our products using the first letter in a cause or person that we'd like to bring attention to.  For our first product I was thinking FS R, with the last letter being the first letter in the name Razia Jan.  I'd choose her based on her humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.

Do we run into any copyright or other legal issues for linking the product name to something like this that promotes global awareness?


texts: What basis would a school have to suspend for bullying?

texts: Say a student was insulting another or some individual. If the remarks aren't categorized as a death threat, would the "bully" be suspended? Also, what if this was a case of Cyber Bullying, where the problem didn't occur on school grounds? Does a school administration have the jurisdiction to punish students who make insulting remarks on the internet?


texts:
My question is to do with the case Nettleship v Weston  - I am having trouble agreeing with Denning's judgement in that a learner driver is required to drive the standard of a reasonably competent driver. Surely the learner driver is not up to the standard of a competent driver (and is still learning to drive), hence the term learner driver, and not qualified/competent driver. Why is this so?

Denning also mentions that the required standard of care is 'independent of the idiosyncrasies of the particular person whose act is in question'. If that particular characteristic of the person whose act is in question is the fact that they are a learner driver, surely this cannot be held against them?

Any help is appreciated! thank you!


texts: Do landlords in Texas really have a duty to mitigate?

texts:
Texas State Legislature has the following Statute on the books:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PR/htm/PR.91.htm

Sec. 91.006. LANDLORD'S DUTY TO MITIGATE DAMAGES. (a) A landlord has a duty to mitigate damages if a tenant abandons the leased premises in violation of the lease.
(b) A provision of a lease that purports to waive a right or to exempt a landlord from a liability or duty under this section is void.

However, I spoke with a number of corporate landlords in West Campus, Austin, TX, and at least a quarter of them seem to be very surprised about any such law.
Those surprised landlords do, however, seem to admit both of the following:

that some of their tenants did most likely already remove all of their belongings about mid-May and possibly already returned the keys prior to the standard July 31 move-out date (end-of-July move-out (and mid-August move-in) are standard amongst most apartments in the area)

those same tenants that have officially moved out are still happily paying rent (having clearly declared such an intent when returning the keys), and are not specifically interested in subletting (possibly because of the hefty penalties as below).

Thus, the aforementioned landlords do not entertain any sublet requests from the walk-ins interested in a summer sublet, unless a prior contact with an existing tenant was made by such a walk-in.
Is this legal?  Doesn't this have the effect of the tenant effectively waiving their rights, which explicitly aren't supposed to be waiveable? Or, alternatively,

can a contract really be drafted to such an effect that removing all personal effects from the room is not deemed abandonment and does not violate the lease as long as "rent" is paid?

can a landlord refuse to accept keys prior to the end of the lease term, or, if keys are nonetheless submitted to landlord's possession, pretend that the keys are merely submitted for safekeeping, even when it's perfectly clear that keys were submitted at the end of the Spring term in mid-May, and the tenant will not be staying the rest of the lease until end of July?

I've also noticed that at least some landlords have substantial penalties should one wish to argue abandonment (at which point "rent" becomes "damages"):

accelerated rent (which is a favourite pastime for rental agreements in Texas, even though the legality of it is unclear);

subletting fees, equivalent to as much as 85% of one month's rent, and payable regardless of the outcome of the subletting.

Doesn't such excessive penalties effectively force scared tenants to pretend that they're staying over the summer until the very end of the lease, even if they're leaving two and a half months early in a relatively cold market?


texts: Why is signature used to sign contracts and not fingerprints?

texts:
Personal signature is used to sign contracts. However it is impossible to prove the veracity of a signature, i.e. graphology is not scientific (see http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-07238-000)

Why are signatures widely used when one could use fingerprints to "sign" contracts?


texts: Does AGPL 3 requeired to give free services

texts:
I found the following lines about AGPL3 and I am not sure about the correct way to interpret it.
Does AGPL3 oblige me to give my cloud services that connected to the app for free or is it only the source code of it.
They write the word source all the time and it sounds to me like it does not have to be the word source code and could be the actual service.
Source one gnu

access to copy the Corresponding Source from a network server at no
charge.

e) Convey the object code using peer-to-peer transmission, provided
you inform other peers where the object code and Corresponding Source
of the work are being offered to the general public at no charge under
subsection 6d.

by providing access to the Corresponding Source from a network server
at no charge,

Source two synopsys

[I]f you modify the Program, your modified version must prominently
offer all users interacting with it remotely through a computer
network…an opportunity to receive the Corresponding Source of your
version by providing access to the Corresponding Source from a network
server at no charge, through some standard or customary means of
facilitating copying of software.

Example:
I use app on the mobile with AGPL3.
This app is using google Firebase cloud that cost me money each month to use.
Do I need to provide this service for free, or am I allowed take money on it every month to for maintenance of the application.
Share the code that I put to the cloud I understand that I need, but can am I allowed to charge the users for the service of using the cloud.


texts: Is a contract allowed to have illegal / unenforceable clauses?

texts:
My understand of contract law in general, is that an illegal or unenforceable clause does not render the whole contract void, but rather that specific clause is essentially stricken out, as if it did not exist.
So, if an employment contract has a clause which said ‘in order to resign you must kill a man’ that clause would not apply, because it would require illegal behaviour.
Or, in a legal system which had a maximum one month notice period, a clause which required three months notice would not be enforceable. So an employee could still give one month of notice.
And any other conditions of the employment contract (working hours, location, etc.) would still apply.
My question is, could a company still keep illegal/unenforceable clauses in its contact, knowing full well these are indefensible in court?
If it matters, let’s suppose the illegality of the clause has been determined before both parties signed.
Jurisdiction: answers from any are welcome, I am especially interested in the U.K. and Germany.


texts: Can a court rule on a contract created by laws outside its jurisdiction?

texts:
Suppose a contractual obligation is formed under EU law (e.g., by consumer protection laws).  Now suppose that the parties to that contract (a buyer and a vendor or manufacturer) have agents in a non-EU country (say in Asia).  Should they be able to adjudicate the contract under the local judicial system, even though the local system's laws create no such contract?

Update: Answers concerning the rest of the world, besides the US, would be much appreciated.


texts: When is "reasonable" not implied in a contract?

texts:
Note: The question is related to UK law, but I'm also curious if there's a "more general" rule here.

Somewhat related to my other question, the answer provided states that it's implicit in every contract that parties should act reasonably (which, honestly, makes a lot of sense).

However, I was reading the Guidance on unfair terms in
tenancy agreements and this grabbed my attention (clause 4.6, page 49):

  Where a precise amount cannot be stated, it should be clear how it
  will be set. On occasion, it may be enough to say that it will be
  reasonable. This applies only where the basis of the charge is fairly
  obvious to the tenant, for instance where there are identifiable and
  verifiable costs that have to be covered, but they should not be
  exceeded.

If I understand this correctly, there are cases where just stating that the amount will be reasonable is considered fair - this strikes me as odd since I'd assume "reasonable" would be implied anyway.

I understand explicit is always better than implicit, but I was just curious how would a clause that doesn't imply the amount will be reasonable look like?


texts:
Reading Crown Proceedings Act 1950 I came across a use of the phrase "apart from this section" which I can't make much sense of:

  14 Method of making Crown a party to proceedings

  (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and any other Act, civil
  proceedings under this Act by the Crown may be instituted by—

  (a) the appropriate government department in its own name if the department
  has power to sue apart from this section;

  (2) Subject to the provisions of this Act and any other Act, civil proceedings under this Act against the Crown shall be instituted against—

  (a) the appropriate government department in its own name if the department may be sued apart from this section;

What is the purpose/meaning of the bold phrase in there? Would the provisions have a different meaning if that phrase was omitted?

So far my interpretation is that the cited provisions only apply if any piece of legislation other than this section provides that the government department can sue/be sued. That said, the government department would not be able to sue/be sued just by virtue of section 14 unless other statute allowed so. But the thing is: section 14 on its own does not grant any government department the ability to sue/be sued. Therefore such ability can only be granted by another piece of legislation. Why would then "apart from this section" be necessary there?


texts: How do professional sports leagues in the U.S. avoid anti-trust action?

texts: The National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) are, essentially, professional sports monopolies. How have they avoided anti-trust action by the federal government? (Or have they?)


texts:
As the title suggests, if you delete your account on social media/dating websites and there are personal/private chat messages there.
Under GDPR, would these have to be deleted by the controller?
So for instance, if a site has a 30 day ‘cooling off’ period when you delete your account in order to retrieve your account, should the controller also delete the messages after the 30days from their servers, to the extent they can’t be retrieved/looked at by them?
Or would they still be retained due to the ‘recipient’ still having them?


texts: Not getting refund of my money from JobsInDubai.com

texts:
I have registered an account with JobsInDubai.com and paid 92$ to them on 2015, which they assured that is a refundable amount. And they said I can request for the refund after 6 months if I don't like their service. After the 6 months, I have send email requesting for refund. But they simply asked me to send the mail to another department, then asked to wait for their call, and some blah blah stuff.

Since I got busy, I didn't bothered to ping them again and again. And this January 2017, I have mailed them again. A couple of months ago, I have mailed them again asking why they delayed it and requested to refund it at the earliest. Then they said that the company is under new management(June 2016 onwards) and they need to verify whether am eligible for the refund. They said the refund will be initiated only for those payments made before June 10th 2016. I have send them proof stating that I paid on March 2015. But till now I have not received the refund!

Whenever I call the customercare, they apologize for the inconvenience and asked me to wait as they have notified the refund department. But no response. So what am I supposed to do now? Am from India. So do I have to file a consumer complaint in the Indian Consumer Court? The JobsInDubai.com has its headoffice at Canada.


texts: Reading comprehension for law: source material

texts:
I have no legal training, but suddenly find myself, as a part of my duties, asked to read legal documents, -- principally regulations, draft regulations, and tribunal outcomes -- in a nominated non-executive and observer role (in international law, to the extent that this is relevant).

The purpose of this activity is mainly to look for trends, ambiguities, possible policy matters, the general "lie of the land" in some area, finding important issues among a great volume of material, and so on.

One area where I have found some weakness is in reading comprehension, particularly in he-said/she-said tribunal reports. I sometimes read too quickly, often with excessive emotional involvement and this can cloud my understanding. On later readings I sometimes find I've got quite the wrong end of the stick.

I know I can read these things correctly and carefully, but need some kind of drill, or exercises to avoid bad habits, such as rushing, allowing personal opinion to interfere too early, or "taking sides".

It strikes me that this must be a fundamental, entry-level skill for legal courses and so that there is probably training material out there. I've found a great deal of very easy stuff aimed at high-school kids, and some example LSAC reading comprehension tests which are also rather easy but probably strenuous enough to be doing some good. http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/prep/reading-comprehension

Is there a source for more of such material, or something slightly more advanced, some kind of Bumper Book of Reading Comprehension Worked Examples for Grown Ups or some other way, in spare time, I could work at this skill. Existing legal students must have a great many techniques for working on this skill?


texts: Is is possible to be prosecuted for lying about race on the US Census?

texts:
Lying on a US Census is a federal crime.  But according the US Census online docs about race:

  An individual’s response to the race question is based upon self-identification. The Census Bureau does not tell individuals which boxes to mark or what heritage to write in. ...
  The racial categories included in the census questionnaire generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race item include racial and national origin or sociocultural groups. People may choose to report more than one race to indicate their racial mixture, such as “American Indian” and “White.” People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race.

Which makes it sound as though everybody in the US can put in, say, Alaska Native, on the grounds that self-identifying is a choice, without lying or committing a crime.

(Imagine the top TV show in the US was a revival of Nanook of the North, with a terrific charismatic cast, and which promoted "the eskimo way", (akin to the "the cowboy" way in singing cowboy westerns), which advocated that if you followed "the eskimo way", then you too were an eskimo.  And alienated Americans resonate with this, as they have with so many fashions, fads and creeds, that that's what they wished themselves to really be.)

Is it possible to (unlawfully) lie about one's race given the current US census race categories?  In other words, has the 2018 govt. any power to prosecute for lying about race on a census?

If there are no lies, what purpose is served by having such a definition?
What's the value (who benefits) in making what used to be a fuzzy but more or less factual item about national and ethnic origins into a belief-based one, in effect making race into a religion.

This is a spin-off of What are the political benefits and inversely disadvantages, if any, of individually self-identifying as “white” in the United States?.


texts: What tests would apply to a claim of "Force Majeure" / "Act of God"?

texts:
Question
Is there a legal test or standard that would apply to help figure out if Force Majeure applies or not?
A test that would determine if a company is trying to escape an unfortunate contract out of convenience, or true inability to fulfill obligations?
Or can a company simply "declare" Force Majeure and cancel contracts they don't like?
Background
A company has a multi-year contract with a service provider.
Yet, the provider is seeking to cancel the contract early, citing Act Of God / Force Majeure due to the Covid Pandemic.
Admittedly, the pandemic has increased their costs and made their work more difficult.   But it is unclear that it is bad enough to invalidate a contract.  The change in circumstances might make contract unprofitable to them, or inconvenient to carry out.  But that is always a risk of contracts, right?
As evidence that the contract should still be in place and enforceable, the company got bids from competitors who offered similar prices (sometimes even slightly cheaper), and a new multi-year term starting now (when the pandemic risks are now well known and obvious)
Thoughts
I believe that if another company can offer a similar service at a similar price, then the contract is still enforceable.I believe that "Force Majeure" would require that No Reasonable Company could possibly be expected to fulfill the terms of the contract under unforeseen circumstances.
But, that is just my opinion.


texts: Can one create a computer program that enhances the usability of third party websites?

texts:
Can someone create such a program that enhances third party services?

A few examples would be:
- A program that embeds a website within itself and modifies its interface.
- A program that makes adding content to certain sites easier (e.g. streaming to Youtube, Twitch etc')
- A program that enhances multiple websites by adding useful buttons etc' to sites.

All I want to know is whether this is against the law.
An important thing to say is that it will be made clear to the users of the program that modifications were made to the site / service.
Logos / design etc' will all remain intact.

And if it matters - there's a program called "Franz" - which gathers plenty of web chat programs into one, by simply embedding those sites into it.
It reads the data from every service in order to display notifications etc'.

Is that program doing anything wrong?

Thanks in advance.


texts: When, precisely, do speed limits change?

texts:
When do speed limits change? According to here it occurs at "the exact point of the sign", however this is not very precise. Is it when the front of the car passes the point or the rear of the car passes? For example if there was a change from 30 to 25 and you were driving 26 mph when your front passes the sign, but 25 when your rear passes the sign, could you get a ticket?

I understand that this is never a practical concern for most cars. But say you have a huge big rig or something.


texts:
Edit: this is a 12 month tenancy agreement within a resident landlord property and is therefore outside of The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.

This is an early termination clause in a 12 month tenancy contract and I wanted to know whether it means that the minimum length of the contract is 8 months or 10 months. I won't prejudice your answers in any way but in essence do you get the sense from the way it is written that either:

1) tenant who wants to terminate at 8 months can give notice 2 months previously to then pay 8 months worth of rent

2) the tenant has to give notice for terminating the contract after the 8 months so that the minimum term is 10 months worth of rent

"In the event that the Tenant shall desire to terminate the tenancy hereby created at or at any time after the end of the first eight months thereof he shall give the Landlord not less than two months’ notice in writing of such desire and shall up to the time of such determination pay the
rent and observe and perform the agreements and obligations on the tenants part."


texts: Misleading use of the word "free" in the name of a product

texts:
Recently I received an email from crazydomains.com.au saying "Free Website Builder will Auto Renew in 1 day". Free website builder is indeed the name of this product. I have never used or wanted to use this product, but it was tacked onto my purchase of a domain name, and since it was seemingly free, I did not really care.
The next day I was charged 54 australian dollars for it. Is it legal in Australia to name a product as "free" when it is not free, and if not, what course of action might one take against a company that behaves in this way?


texts:
Set Up: A unilateral NDA is created in the state of Rhode Island between a Receiving Party and a Disclosing Party. This is a basic patent NDA that grants the Receiving Party the ability to see the un-patented information, which is labelled as confidential. As confidential information, the NDA states the Receiving Party is not allowed to disclose this information (be it intentionally or unintentionally) until the agreement expires nor is it allowed to patent the information.

In said NDA, there is a clause that states (in legalese), "If the Receiving Party is to violate the Agreement by selling any confidential information mentioned in the Agreement, or use the confidential information to develop their own working device, all assets generated as a result of the confidential information (i.e. money gained by building and selling the device) shall become the property of the Disclosing Party."

There is no clause in the NDA that states anything like, "the NDA is invalid if information labelled as confidential is leaked by the Receiving Party." The NDA only says that the Receiving Party shall be prosecuted for a breach of contract. In more severe cases, the clause from the previous paragraph (second paragraph) will be used to compensate the Disclosing Party.

Question: Can this clause be upheld in court? Would the clause actually enable the Disclosing Party to seize any assets the Receiving Party had generated with the confidential information, assuming both parties signed on and that the courts were able to quantify the net worth of all assets generated by the leaked confidential information? Thank you.


texts: Minecraft - must you accept EULA if you write your own server software?

texts:
Note: This question is just for my curiosity

So from what I know, it is 100% legal to write your own Minecraft server software that is interoperable with the Minecraft client. This can be done by reverse-engineering the protocol, without looking at Minecraft's server code.

So in this case, must you still abide to the EULA (end-user license agreement) of Minecraft server's? The  Vanilla server software require's you to accept this by typing "true" in a text file, but this doesn't apply with custom server software.


texts: How do I report Child Labor Law violations in California?

texts:
I live in California and once a week I see a gardener mowing the neighbors' lawn. He may be here legally or illegally (as millions are) and that's a different issue.

The issue is that he has a kid with him every time. The boy is maybe 13 or 14. He deserves an education that is not limited to how to mow a lawn. In other words, he should be in school.

I called the police. They don't want to deal with it and referred me to Child Protective Services. I called them too and they don't want to deal with it. They said I should find out where he lives and what school he should attend, and then report him to the school.

I work full time and don't have time to follow this guy around and watch him and his slave child do yard work. I don't speak Spanish otherwise I would start engaging in a conversation and ask him outright where he lives, and maybe pretend to be interested in hiring him so I could get his info.

Isn't there any agency that I can contact that will actually take some action?


texts: In Germany, are doctors within the same institution able to access any patients' medical records?

texts:
I have a friend living in Germany who is seeking therapy in her small town. However, a problem that she is facing is that all of the psychological/psychiatric institutions in her town are managed by the same company and have access to the same patient databases. In particular, one of these is the psych ward at the hospital where were mother works, and her mother routinely accesses other patients' records including hers (for instance, she found about some lab tests that she had gotten and picked up the results for her). This severely limits what she can safely share with a therapist, because there are certain things that her family has told her they want her to keep quiet about.
To me, this seems brazenly illegal and a huge breach of confidentiality that basically makes therapy useless. However, I live in the US and have no idea how the particulars of the law work in Germany, both in terms of whether or not this is illegal (perhaps data sharing within the owning company is a non-issue) and if it is, what particular law is being broken. Is what's going on here illegal, and if so, who should my friend contact in Germany to seek help?


texts: Papal nuncios, diplomatic immunity, and canon law

texts: Supposing I thought my country's papal nuncio owes me money and he thinks otherwise. So I sue him and he gets the case dismissed on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. Maybe I could go to Vatican City and sue him there. (?) But since the Catholic church has tribunals of the kind in which canon lawyers practice, might a local tribunal of that sort in my own neighborhood suffice? (Obviously it's not the sort of thing those courts usually handle. Nor do the courts in Vatican City in the present day usually try cases in which a defendant gets sentenced to imprisonment, and yet that happened and was in the headlines about six or seven years ago.)


texts: Are US Senate impeachment convictions reviewable by the Supreme Court

texts:
Alan Dershowwitz argues that a conviction of any President by the US Senate would be unconstitutional under certain circumstances. Please see his book and his television interviews for those certain circumstances that he argues would create a unconstitutional conviction.

However the circumstances that he puts forward are not what prompts me to ask the question above.

Generally US citizens expect the judiciary to be the arbiter of constitutionality, with the US Supreme Court to be the final arbiter of in the event of an appeal. So, are US Senate impeachment convictions reviewable by the judiciary and or the Supreme Court

In the event that the answer to the title question is "yes", have any impeachment convictions been reviewed by the Supreme Court?


texts: Is it illegal to create a game that mentions anime (Japanese Tv show) characters?

texts: For example, could I make an app and release it, but it uses the titles of anime and its characters? Would it be illicit to make revenue off of it?


texts: What is the status of mutual combat in the USA?

texts:
Curious because I see posted sometimes (on various sites, as a 'fun fact') that there exist jurisdictions (e.g. Seattle, WA) where if both parties agree beforehand to 'mutual combat' then neither party can be tried for battery.

To what extent is this true, and how applicable is to the whole of the USA? Does it cover both civil and criminal actions or just one or anothor


texts: In Washington state, what can beneficiaries of a will do if the executor does not notify them?

texts:
My aunt died six months ago. She was married and without children. In hospice care she said she had left things behind for her brothers and sisters in her will. Also during this time, her surviving husband - and executor of her will - said he doesn't want anything to do with her side of the family after her death.

It has been six months since her death and no beneficiaries on her side of the family have been contacted about her will. A call to the King county supreme court showed no records of her will, so it was never filed with the court. They did show that their house was put into a trust in 2017, when they got her terminal cancer diagnosis.

I'm assuming that they planned their estate so as to avoid probate.

We believe it's possible the husband is simply choosing to not notify the beneficiaries of the will since there is bad blood between him and the aforementioned.

What would be the best course of action now? It has been six months with no communication from him or his estate lawyer, and no will has been filed with the court. Since it's not entering probate, is there any guarantee that he has to faithfully execute the conditions of the will at all or notify any of the beneficiaries? Without probate, can he simply choose to not execute the will?


texts: Are indemnity agreements common with family lawyers?

texts:
I asked a law firm to prepare a separation agreement for me. I already paid them about half of the costs.

Now they insist that I'm entitled to much more than we agreed to with my ex-partner. I'm fine with that since I want to keep the separation amicable.

They asked me to sign an indemnity agreement with them. I have trouble parsing the agreement since it's written in legalese; they assure me that it's pretty standard. I asked them if they would refund what I already paid them if I don't sign it, and they said that it was non-refundable.

The agreement is giving me a pause because I don't feel I have to be required to hire another lawyer to interpret this lawyer's indemnity agreement for me.

Are those agreements in principle a usual thing?


texts:
In Portugal, if people trespass property, what are the legal implications?

Example 1: If a person opens my gate and enters my yard to knock on my door, is he trespassing?

Example 2: If a person enters my office building, passes by security without problem and wanders around the halls, is he trespassing?

Example 3: If a person enters an abandoned factory and passes through a door saying "Restricted Area", is he trespassing?

If any of the examples (or all 3) is considered trespassing, what might happen to the person, according to the Portuguese law?


texts: How do you file a criminal complaint when the police refuse to file the complaint?

texts:
Lets say that Bob has a problem with a high ranking member of the local government (Mayor, Police Chief, etc). After several protests of the local government and encounters/arrests by the Police, Bob starts to receive mysterious allegations of civil infractions and multiple tickets demanding money as retribution. Bob discovers a city ordinance "Annoyance by writing" by which the wording on the ordinance clearly falls under for these civil infractions trying to extort money from him. He goes to the Police to try and file a criminal complain but the Police refuse to file the complaint citing "government functions".

How can Bob file a criminal complaint when the Police refuse to file it?

Here is a video as a real world example of this situation; https://youtu.be/8uY8t4X_yqI?t=521


texts:
I am the plaintiff in a case (small claims court Quebec) I hired a bailiff to carry out an execution of judgement he did and seized some property from the defendant. Now the defendant is trying to oppose the seizure so we have a court date but my bailiff refuses to go to court he simply said he won't be there. I am wondering if anyone knows why a bailiff would refuse to go to court and if there is anything I can or should do. I went to the court and asked the clerk and they told me that everyone who is summoned (myself, the defendant and the bailiff) must go to the court date but they had no other advice for me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thank you,


texts: What distinguishes adverse possession from theft?

texts:
I understand that, in the United States, adverse possession is a legal (but very rare) way to take ownership of someone else's real property against their will.

What I don't understand is how this is materially different from theft, other than that it has to take place over a period of time determined by statute, and then is recognized as legal.

Say, for example, I squat in a remote outbuilding on a large rural property, where I'm noticed by the owner at some point but neither evicted nor given permission to be there. Over the course of some period of years, I minimally maintain the outbuilding while living there, and perhaps park my car on the property near the outbuilding, and the owner sees all this from afar but thinks I'll just leave. I don't pay property taxes, I don't have an address for separate mail delivery and for whatever reason—perhaps the owner is non-confrontational to a fault—I'm left alone.

After the period of time required in my state for a claim of adverse possession, the title-holder wants to raze the outbuilding and calls the sheriff to have me evicted. I oppose the eviction on the basis of adverse possession, am able to argue my case to the court's satisfaction, and ultimately become the owner of the outbuilding and the land it's on.

What makes this different from theft?

I know that certain conditions have to be met in terms of what constitutes possession, what makes it adverse and so on. (Someone once told me in casual conversation that "you have to be paying the property taxes for them" but I think this is just one of several ways to demonstrate a de facto claim of ownership?) I'm looking for some insight into the common-law system that explains why the distinction even exists.


texts: Resellers under GDPR - disclosure of data processors or countries of data storage?

texts:
A significant number of web-design and I.T. consultancy companies typically re-sell third party services related to their own as part of their product/service portfolio, to give a few examples, website hosting, domain names, email hosting, VOIP phone services etc. Sometimes these may be white-labelled services promoting the reseller's brand and hiding the fact they don't provide the service directly themselves. This is good for resellers as it increases their service portfolio and turnover, good for customers because it reduces their involvement in the complex technical arrangements and enables a sort of one-stop shop for their I.T. requirements, however these resellers would definitely be data processors themselves under the GDPR.

In the insurance world, it is required for companies to publish/disclose the name of the company that underwrites the insurance. Is there any similar requirement under GDPR for data processors (resellers in this case) to disclose the country or countries where the data is stored and processed, or the names of third party data processors involved? I'm struggling to find anything to this effect but without such a requirement it makes compliance very difficult for data controllers (and processors looking to sub-contract to further data processors) when shopping around for compliant solutions if this information is not disclosed/published prior to enquiring.


texts:
I’m trying to understand the difference between a public and a private stock exchange, or any exchange for that matter.

I guess that I and another 10 people made an agreement and started trading some stocks among ourselves, that would be a private exchange... and we could apply any trading/investment rules we decide, right ?

Now, if we allow more people on our platform (of course they would have to sign our agreement), would that still be a private exchange? I guess so... right? But it also feels like the line between public and private is quite blurred...

And am I allowed to promote/market the platform? Would that be investment advice? What about marketing specific investments on my platform?


texts: necessity of collecting SSN's for 1099's (re Affiliate programs)

texts:
This is a cross-post, originally posted in Webmasters.Stackexchange.com but it was suggested I post here instead:

My question is basically this: I have an idea for a web service that would potentially allow affiliates to earn money. What I'd really hope to avoid is actually having to collect things like their Social Security Numbers, EIN's, etc, let alone any of the other compliance type issues that could arise.

I'm wondering a couple of things.

First: The need to issue 1099's doesn't actually arise until you're paying out $600 or more in a given year. Could I feasibly just let the program run, but only make the requirement of providing an SSN for tax purposes kick in when the affiliate is going to go over the limit? Ie, for the first $550, no SSN checks required, but after that, they need to provide this info to receive additional payments?

Second: If I only make payments through a service like PayPal, who I presume has crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's, does this alleviate my need to do any additional checks on people (not that I even know what checks would be made).

Third: Going hand in hand with the only making payments through PayPal idea - If i accurately record payments to affiliates as Services provided, does PayPal take care of 1099's as part of their role? In that I would only have to report payments made to PayPal, and it would be on them to report payments made to the ultimate beneficiary?

This isn't a business that's been launched, but I'm trying to think out issues beforehand, and this is the biggest one I can think of - I would personally rather not have myself or anyone one on my team even be able to access anyone's SSN's, but if it moved forward, I would obviously want to do so in a way that was compliant with the IRS and any other regs.

Any thoughts or guidance would be appreciated, unless it's "contact an Accountant" - I already know that's the most correct answer, I'm simply wondering if anyone else has gone down this road and can save me a little time and money on this, as this is still just idea phase, not operating business phase.

Many thanks!


texts: Can a voided option contract be transferred to a new company?

texts: I gave a deposit of $10,000 and signed an option contract with a franchisor for a franchise to open within 12 months or the contract was void. The franchisor failed to deliver and refuses to refund my deposit stating they sold that part of the company and the acquiring company was to assume all liabilities. This acquisition came after the 12 months and the acquiring company breached their purchase contract.


texts: Is flying an RC aircraft and selling the results of that flight "commercial" flight?

texts:
On the Aviation.SE someone asked about the legality of flying RC aircraft. The answers say that commercial flights are verboten

But what, precisely, makes it a commercial flight?

This infographic says:

  Don't fly model aircraft for payment or commercial purposes

I can think of a good example - say someone wanted news footage of  so they offered me $100 to fly a drone and take some video.

That seems like it would qualify for commercial purposes.

But what if I took a drone flight just for kicks and grins and while it was up  happened. If I sold the recording, would that be considered a commercial flight?

Alternatively, what if I took a drone flight with the intention of selling the results of that flight? (e.g. video or photos)


texts: Cop arrests nurse despite fully knowing that she had done nothing wrong. Will a personal lawsuit against the cop be likely to win?

texts:
Officer Jeff Payne put Alex Wubbels a hospital nurse under arrest even though it was ever so blatant that she had done nothing wrong. Will suing this cop personally be likely to succeed?

I've read online that it can be very difficult to sue officers personally because of investigatorial immunity. However it did also state that if the evidence clearly shows that the officer was acting unlawfully it is possible to win the suit.

In this specific case of the Utah hospital nurse being falsely arrested, is the body cam footage in conjunction with the CCTV and all the witness testimony enough to successfully file a lawsuit against this officer personally?


texts: If I accidentally agree for new WhatsApp's terms and conditions, How to revert that?

texts:
WhatsApp team updates their policy and it will be from Feb 8. I accidentally agreed with the policy. Later I realized the policy is not good.
How can I revert my agreement with the WhatsApp team?
We have alternatives like Signal and telegram but I like to use WhatsApp. I am thinking if most of us not agree with WhatsApp's policy then they will change their decision.


texts: Is a journalist who uses sex to get information considered a prostitute?

texts:
Let's say a female investigative journalist is looking into a story where the actors involved clearly know things she doesn't, but much to her frustration, they simple wont talk.

Most of them are men, and after much fruitless effort, she gets an idea. She goes up to one of the men she's trying to get information from and makes him a vary simple proposal: if he'll give her what she wants, and can more or less prove it's legitimacy; then she'll sleep with him, and let him do whatever he wants to her.

After a bit of thought and glancing at her, he agrees. He gives her the information, then she strips down and promptly lets him get to work on her. The next morning however, while she's driving home, feeling nice and clever about herself, she gets pulled over by a cop, and before she knows it, suddenly finds herself in a courtroom, on trial for prostitution.

In Canada and the USA and ... let's say for fun, Japan too; would this be considered prostitution? If not, why? And if so, could the defence use the fact that she did it as part of her journalism job as part of his defence of her?


texts: Taxing companies owned domestically, but registered abroad

texts:
In a book by economists Saez and Zucman, they state the following:

In 1936, dozens of wealthy Americans had created offshore shell
companies, to which they had transferred the ownership of their stock
and bond portfolios. The shell companies, instead of their
flesh-and-blood owners, collected dividends and interest, thus
escaping American taxation. The government was quick in changing the
law to render this operation explicitly illegal. From 1937 on, any
income earned by foreign holding companies controlled by Americans
would become immediately taxable in the United States. Instantly,
owning foreign holding companies to avoid taxes became pointless.

Would this still be possible nowadays?
Also, how would it relate to the fact of those earnings may be doubly taxed (domestically and abroad) ?


texts: Under what circumstances do "alternative lyrics" represent copyright infringement?

texts:
"Alternative lyrics" are those lyrics are written to the music of an existing song.
An example would be "My Country "Tis of Thee" written to the tune of "God Save the Queen."

My understanding is that if you put the alternative lyrics to the sheet music of the original song without permission, that would be copyright infringement. (You've copied the music.)

But suppose you publish the alternative lyrics on a "standalone" basis (without the music in any form). Would the fact that it can "sing" to someone else's song be copyright infringement even if there were no "substantial similarity" in the lyrics?


texts:
If there is a contract with a government and there is no witness to it, what impact will it have?

Is the contract valid?