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This came up on another thread.

[quote
ignorance of the law is not an excuse in court, btw!
[/quote]

I've been thinking about this. Since 1997 over 3600 new offences have been created (around 2600 laws have been passed each year). Wouldn't you have to be a genius to know all those laws and offences? Therefore isn't it reasonable for the man on the Clapham omnibus to plead ignorance of the law as an excuse.?

Well I certainly couldn't list them... does a list actually exist?  :-X

A toffee paper blowing out of the car window by accident now that's  a serious offence, ;)

Law is as much about retribution as prevention.  If your man on the Clapham omnibus bludgeoned his fellow passenger for talking anoyingly loud on his phone it makes no difference whether assault is an offence or not because he wouldn't be bothered either way.

To a large extent laws just codify morality, so if the man on the Clapham omnibus finds himself unexpectedly up before the beak then his offence is really that his morals aren't the same as the rest of us, and no society takes kindly to that, so again, ignorance is no defence.

How many laws is the man on the Clapham omnibus likely to break?  It's reasonable to expect everyone to know the basics.  I'm guessing that most of the new laws apply in special fields - like banking, retail, health & safety, environment - that kind of thing, so now we're not talking about the man on the Clapham omnibus, we're talking about professionals who's job it is to understand the legislation that affects their work.

And then finally, like Homer Simpson said - "shoot the lot of them, let god sort them out".

I'm fairly certain the Homer Simpson quote is a paraphrase from the Albigensan Crusade... Simon De Motefort and all that...  ::)

Well, actually it`s not really as simple as Unwashed says.  In this context we have to include all the petty regulations which are not debated and approved by Parliament as "Laws", but are tagged on  later as Ministerial Orders without any debate or consideration by Parliament, and this applies to every Statute which this government has passed, whatever its subject matter.

For instance many of the little things that the average D.I.Y person would do without further thought would actually contravene Health & Safety Regs.  If a light bulb blows in Church on Sunday evening  the Churchwarden can`t simply put up his step ladder and change it, that is now an offence and he must get a qualified light bulb changer (complete with scaffolding), who won`t come until Monday so the congregation can`t read the words in the hymn books.

I doubt whether any M.P. has any real idea just how many additional rules and regulations have been made in his/her name, and the bulk of them are probably known only to the petty beaurocracy which now exists to enforce them.  If the next Parliament simply passed a new law repealing every Ministerial Rule and Regulation created during the present Parliament I doubt if anyone would even notice except that self same army of petty beaurocrats.

Isn't it a fact that if there were not silly things like judges fining people for making faces  or passing wind in a church the tabloids would go out of business?

Judges don`t fine people for making faces or passing wind in Church, that`s a chore imposed on magistrates.  A Judge would no doubt feel obliged to decide that everyone has a human right to make an involuntary facial contortion or to allow painful wind to escape, and would quash the magistrates` verdict as being a breach of the accused`s human rights.

You may not be aware of this but under the the London Olympics Act the police have the right to force entry into your house to remove any political poster displayed in your front window(s).You may also be subjected to a fine of up to £20,000. Wonder if the residents round the Olympics site are aware of that one?  I think this may be because the powers to prevent unauthorised advertising have been drafted so widely.

Quote from: Barnowl on July 01, 2009, 11:55:19
You may not be aware of this but under the the London Olympics Act the police have the right to force entry into your house to remove any political poster displayed in your front window(s).You may also be subjected to a fine of up to £20,000. Wonder if the residents round the Olympics site are aware of that one?  I think this may be because the powers to prevent unauthorised advertising have been drafted so widely.

Do you have a source for that?  One that isn't Twitter?

Quote from: Unwashed on July 01, 2009, 12:54:33
Do you have a source for that?  One that isn't Twitter?

Sections 19 and 22:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/ukpga_20060012_en_1

Quote from: ceres on July 01, 2009, 13:05:48

Quote from: Unwashed on July 01, 2009, 12:54:33
Do you have a source for that?  One that isn't Twitter?

Sections 19 and 22:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/ukpga_20060012_en_1

and section 25

- I got it from the Beeb then looked it up. I don't twitter  >:(   :)

After reading that it`s obvious that there is scope for Ministerial Regulation to create another few hundred offences punishable by fine or imprisonment that Parliament won`t have the chance to debate or vote on, and will probably have never heard of.

But we are supposed to know them all.

Clucking bell, we really do live in a poice state!

Never mind.  Look at it this way.  All those lovely fines are bound to help Mr. Gordon Madoff Brown spend HIS way out of OUR recession (or should it be spend OUR way out of HIS recession?)

          For me, big no because the law is created in many process. It is definite and broad form.



_________________
California Orange County Lawyer

I think that what it's saying is that you can't advertise where the events are taking place or on access roads to the events any product or service that conflicts with the olymipc sponsors.  It's in the host city contract - makes easier reading than the wotsit act.

So if the games are sponsored by cococola you can't put an advert for pepsi in your front room.

They can also charge you (in money) for the police time used to remove said advert.  ::)

Quote from: Barnowl on June 30, 2009, 16:27:28
This came up on another thread.

Quote
ignorance of the law is not an excuse in court, btw!

I've been thinking about this. Since 1997 over 3600 new offences have been created (around 2600 laws have been passed each year). Wouldn't you have to be a genius to know all those laws and offences? Therefore isn't it reasonable for the man on the Clapham omnibus to plead ignorance of the law as an excuse.?

Even the judges are ignorant of the Law

Stop giving us all these new laws, says chief justice

Quote from: Lord Chief Justice, Lord JudgeI'm getting a little confused

Gosh! Having neglected my garden for 3 years to take a law degree  do I now see I could just have stayed on A4A? Haha!

CLx ;)
PS: And Labrat's quite right, ignorance of the law is no defence to breaking it.