The End

It is the end of my blog, also the end of my life in Australia.

 

I have always considered this blog to be a quite academic one and seldom write my own feeling on it. But I write my own blog in Chinese—about my life, my thought, my happiness and my sorrow. However, at the very last of my article, I’d like to write something about my own here.

 

Russell, I really want to say thanks to u. Thank u for teaching me so many interesting things that I’ve never known before. I used to think u were going to teach building websites, but Aide is fine too. It will sure be better in the future. ‘Computerization of Law’ will always be a hot topic. I am sure u can get more achievements in the near future. ^_^

 

I have to say goodbye to Australia though I just started to fell in love with this beautiful country. I like the beautiful views, delicious coffee, fresh air and cute animals here…except those annoying flies in summer…It is a totally different country from China—people drive on the left, streets are always empty, stores close early everyday and even earlier on weekends… At first I really couldn’t get used to that and what’s worse, I had few friends here. However, things gonna change. A lot of people stepped into my life and stayed. I can still remember the very first day I arrived in Australia, a very friendly salesperson in 7-11 told me how to get to the shopping center, how to make phone-call home and how to go to the airport—kindly and patiently. I am still thankful to him so far. Everywhere in the country, I can always see people smiling to me and gain help from strangers when I am in trouble. Views here are amazing, large farms, beautiful beaches and the most beautiful stars I have ever seen in my life in Melbourne. So many sweet memories stay in my mind and will never fade.

 

Time to say bye, to Sydney, to my beloved friends. I may come to Australia again, but I may never be able to meet some of my friends again in my life. Everyone is going to start his/her new trip. Just hope everything goes well with everybody. Good luck for all the exams.

 

Do we need to define ourselves through identificaion through social groups?

As primarily social animals, human beings naturally seek out different groups to which they feel they have a certain sense of belonging. But there are two different aspects of this issue involved: identifying oneself with a social group for its social implications and identifying oneself with a social group for internal needs. A person can have two different identities, one that involves an individual’s self-perception and the way that others see that particular individual. There is a natural dichotomy between the two sides of one’s personality that is usually displayed between the different types of social groups with which an individual may identify oneself.

Self-definition can either be honest or dishonest. A person may join a social group because he or she thinks that the people that belong to this type of group are the same as he or she, whether it is true or not. The important detail to the individual is that he or she would like to be the same as the people that belong to this particular social group. As one example, consider a person who grew up poor and poorly educated, but became wealthy through the luck of the lottery or an inheritance from an unknown but wealthy relative. This individual then joins a wine-tasting club and buys season tickets to the local Philharmonic Orchestra and opera house. Although this individual knows nothing about wine, orchestras or opera, he or she is seeking to identify him or herself as a culturally literate person simply because the person is now wealthy. Through joining these social groups, the individual is seeking to define him or herself as socially elite, although the only difference now is that the person has great wealth and in reality probably does not fit in with the other members of the groups. In this case, one’s self-definition by identifying with social groups does not match up with how society still identifies the individual.

On the other hand, there are individuals that very clearly demonstrate who they are by their identification with certain social groups. At a very basic level, younger people may join gangs based on a sense of identification with certain gang members or gang ideas. By displaying different identifying tattoos or certain colors, these people clearly identify who they are and what they stand for by the particular to which they belong. Certain religious groups also give a clear identity to their members. Joining an Islamic fundamentalist group such as the Taliban or an Orthodox Jewish organization indicates a certain identity that is common to all of its members. Political organizations such as Greenpeace and the National Organization for Women also make a certain statement about the identity of an individual member. In all of these cases, an individual’s self-perception and how others view that individual are probably very similar. These types of organizations speak to a person’s very fundamental values and joining one is probably that person’s way of saying to the world “this is who I am”.
Joining other types of groups may or may not indicate a person’s self-identification. Being a Republican or a Democrat, for example, may just be a matter of whichever party your parents belong to. Spending time with a particular group of friends may only mean that you like only one of the people in the group or you have nothing better to do, it may have nothing to do with your self-identification. People that belong to these groups do not necessarily belong to any one social group for identification purposes; it may be only a matter of convenience.

It depends on the individual and the particular social group under discussion as to whether we primarily identify ourselves through association with social groups. Once the individual or the social group has been identified, a determination must still be made as to whether the individual has joined for self-identification purposes or to impress upon others a certain image of that individual.

 

Discussion about televising government proceedings

Anything that makes a country’s government more transparent is certainly a good thing, at least in democratic countries. These societies have a great deal to gain by being able to watch their elected government officials in action. But to broadly state that the more government proceedings that are televised, the more society will benefit is to ignore the fact that sometimes, less is more. Some types of proceedings can even be adversely affected if televised, making society worse off rather than giving it a benefit. Some types of governmental proceedings should receive more televised coverage, but there are some that should probably receive less to ensure that they are properly conducted.

One example of the possible negative effects of televising all governmental proceedings was the trial in the United States of accused murderer and former National Football League superstar O.J. Simpson. The trial was televised and became a huge media spectacle, captivating the nation’s attention during the entire trial. Attorneys were well aware that the proceedings were being televised and almost behaved as if they were acting in a movie. The spotlight was so unrelenting that the circus atmosphere affected even the judge. The presence of television cameras and the effect of the intense media coverage led to a trial like no other, and adversely affected the natural progression of the trial. The participants played to the cameras rather than focusing on the task at hand. Largely because of television, many people would argue that justice was not served during this particular trial.

On the other hand, television of the day-to-day workings of government in action provides direct insight into how a government actually works. Because the television cameras are there everyday, the governmental officials become accustomed to them and are no longer greatly affected by their presence. In this way, society benefits because they are able to see what is happening as it happens. The government in action is no longer hidden behind such a veil of secrecy so that no one knows the mysterious ways of their elected officials.

One of the problems with stating that the more governmental proceedings that are televised, the better of a society is, is that people might come to believe that they are seeing everything when in fact, a television camera can only see part of what is happening no matter how many cameras there are. Much of what happens in government takes place “behind the scenes”, not necessarily in full view of the cameras in the meeting place. While to an extent “seeing is believing”, quite often it is what you don’t see that makes the difference. Merely televising governmental proceedings certainly enhances understanding, but to fully understand the process a person would actually have to actively participate in that process.

Another problem with the statement that the more televised governmental proceedings, the better, is that it assumes that people actually watch the proceedings when they are broadcast. There is a television channel in the United States that broadcasts Congressional proceedings every day, but few people watch it. Only when some big issue comes up for a debate or for a vote does a significant number of people tune in. To merely televise governmental proceedings will not affect society unless society watches these events.

Society can certainly benefit from the television coverage of certain governmental proceedings. To actually see the elected officials in action can bring an extra element of understanding into the inner workings of a government. Politicians can be held accountable for their actions while they are being “watched” by the television cameras. No longer can they hide in anonymity while they are conducting the business of the people. But not all governmental proceedings should be televised. There are times when secrecy is an absolute requirement for making sure that the correct decisions are made.

 

Two Useful UK Websites for Online Legal Research

LORD–Legal Online Resource Database

LORD is a free online resource, which provides the details of electronic resources that are available to BIALL members and the wider online community. Concentrating on priced publications in the UK and Ireland, LORD provides the details of the item’s publisher, coverage and the host (platform or application that the content is available on). LORD has been designed to answer questions such as: What is available on employment law? Where can I get access to the Law Reports Online? What are the latest online resources that Lexis-Nexis and Sweet & Maxwell have published? LORD can be searched by title, publisher, subject, type of material (legislation, journals, law reports, directories etc), by jurisdiction or by recently added material. LORD also provides further information on the title and the host, including gaps in the content coverage, pricing information (where available), frequency of updates and, if you are a BIALL member, any reviews of the title. These reviews are intended to be informative guides to the functionality, coverage and use of the title. By providing this information, LORD aims to assist information professionals to make informed purchasing decisions.

As the focus of LORD is on both priced and free resources for legal information professionals, it can react quickly to any changes to online resources published by LNB, Sweet & Maxwell and others. LORD also provides BIALL members with an easy to use and authoritative database of electronic products in what is a very fluid marketplace.

INTUTE–Finding the Best of the Web for Law

Intute: Social Sciences, which has replaced SOSIG (the Social Science Information Gateway), includes a dedicated gateway for law edited by staff at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) Library and the University of Bristol Law Library. We select the best online resources of interest to law lecturers, researchers and students to include in the catalogue of quality resources supporting law. Resources covering UK, foreign, comparative and international law, including a full range of jurisdictions and legal topics from around the world, are quality checked by the section editors. Intute records include short profiles of key sites, highlighting the most useful aspects, enabling researchers to quickly identify the most relevant sources of legal information. A range of different resource types is represented on Intute: Law including primary materials (legislation, case law, treaties), secondary sources (journals, books), government websites, organisations, databases, academic sites, law firm sites (companies), bibliographic materials and resource guides.

 

The power of Internet

Nowadays, the Internet does play a more and more important role in China, especially during the judiciary process. The following are a few typical cases.

Sun Zhigang

In 2003, Sun Zhigang, who was a university graduate just migrated to Guangdong Province to look for a job, was detained because of the lack of temporary residence certificate and ID card. At that time, people without valid personal certificate would be detained. Surprisingly, Sun was found beaten to death three days after his arrest in a local detention center. The local newspaper first reported this case but soon a ban of further report was carried by the local Propaganda Department though it didn’t work. The Internet discussion soon boomed. Tens of thousands of comments were made on the Internet. One month after the case, 12 defendants were convinced. However, the influence of the case did not stop. A group of lawyers and scholars launched an assault on the detention system, issued that it should be abolished because it was unconstitutional. Websites provided significantly wider-ranging discussion on the case than those appearing in the traditional media. Shortly after the trial, a new caring assisting system which aims to help the emigrant people with shelter and food replaced the old one.

Liu Yong

Liu Yong was an organized crime boss who was convicted of a range of crimes, including organizing a criminal syndicate, bribery and illegal possession of firearms. The other members of his syndicated did murder, robbery and other severe crimes. He was sentenced to death by an intermediate court in Liaoning Province and he appealed. The Liaoning High People’s Court reduced his sentence to life in prison claiming that Liu’s confession had been obtained through torture. This reduction soon attracted a large amount of suspicion which suggested that Liu’s ties to officials in Liaoning Province resulted in favorable treatment. Much criticism on the Internet was also against the expert opinions supporting Liu in return for sizable sums of money. Under the pressure of public outcry, the Supreme Court of China invoked a rarely-used procedure to allow the court to rehear the case and reinstated the death penalty. The sina.com, one of China’s biggest websites, included links to more than 100 articles and commentaries on this case.

Above are two examples of the power of Internet that could be brought to the judiciary system, It’s good that cases can expected to be put under the watch of all the people through the Internet. Even though the traditional media like newspaper and news may be banned of reporting by the local propaganda departments, it’s always hard or impossible to put such limit on the Internet which continues to contribute to achieve the justice. As a result, corruption and other internal interference are hard to exist.

However, at the same time some people may doubt that whether the consensus goes too far. Many people held the opinion that Liu was sentenced to death and executed immediately in order to terminate the fierce public opposition. Torture might do exist. In that sense, Liu was sentenced to death by the public instead of the law.

In 2003 in northeast of China, a peasant accidentally drove his onion-cart onto a BMW and the driver, a woman named Sun, unexpectedly put the car into gear and stroke the peasant’s wife and killed her after the argument. Because of insufficient evidence, the killing was judged as an accident by the court. Nevertheless, the reaction on the Internet was overwhelming. Many people held the view that Sun killed the poor countrywoman by purpose and her high social status and wealth made her indifferent to the life of poor peasant. Sina.com reported receiving more than two hundred thousand web postings on the case—even more than the total number of postings regarding the SARS crisis earlier in 2003. In early 2004, the case was reexamined by the authorities but was finally announced that the case had been correctly judged. Despite the tremendous pressure from the public opinion, this time, the result weren’t changed as people wished.

Though the Internet and other media are playing more important roles in the Chinese judiciary process, the courts are currently looking for a reasonable balance between the law and the ‘natural justice’ by the public. We can expect it to work better in the future.

Reference:

B. Liebman & T. Wu, Chicago Journal of international Law, Summer 2007; 8, 1; p.257

 

ABOUT ONLINE LEGAL SEARCH

I finally finished my essay about general skilled migration. It really took me a long time to find the materials I need or I’d rater say, the materials that could be used.

I always find legal search quite difficult even in Chinese. Firsly, u have to use professional database. Common search engines like Google are far away from satisfaction. When entering a topic, the most possible results may be news articles which just talk about the fact or some casual comments. Google Scholar is based on too narrow a database that the number of results is quite limited. Though the number of results can be huge, they contained many repeated results and some of them are totally irrelevant. It usually takes us a long time to pick the useful information out. What’s more, these comments made by non-professional guests can be less-persuadable.

Secondly, most of the legal databases are quite complicated. They contain different parts for cases, files, essays and so on. In order to get the most accurate results, quite a lot of rules are set for each part. It can be really hard for a learner to handle. In my home university, there are special-designed classes for main legal database.

When doing the search, I usually find that many of the results listed are totally irrelevant to my key words. Honestly speaking, I am still a little bit confused about that. Law can be such a wide topic with countless specific points. It is quite possible to define the topic word of the essay too wide or too narrow that it’s difficult to find a totally corresponding one when doing a online search. Other reasons? I am wondering…

 

BACK FROM MEL!

I am back!

Hi everyone! How are mid-session break? I know that some of u may have to stay at work but hope u all enjoy it! I took a week off to Melbourne, in which the Italian food and chocolate make me crazy~^^ But now I need to make up for my work…><

I visited some of my classmates’ blogs. They are really good and for me, maybe I still need time to get used to writing down my everyday life in English~ anyway, I will try~^^

 

Sentences of the court made by the computer in China

Since 2006, a software which can make the judgments of cases directly has been extended to the whole China, before which it had already been tested in Shandong Province for three years.

Unlike the common law countries, China, which has a system of civil law, has quite different rules when making a judgment. Judges can only strictly follow the articles of the law to make the corresponding judgment. Only when the situation is so special that it’s hard to find a totally consistent article that the judges can make their own decisions which, however, must be based on the existing law.

When using that software, the judges just need to enter the details of each case then cross their fingers until the computer gives it own judgment automatically considering all the relevant aspects in the particular case.

The initial goal of this application is to achieve fair, namely by setting one particular standard for the same type of cases while the differences are still paid attention to. On one hand, it can help reduce the unfair judgments which may be caused by corruption; on the other hand, it can make up for the decisions made by the experienceless judges.

In my view, the application of the software does have the above advantages. However, it must be kept within a strict limitation. In the civil law countries, the existing law always falls behind the changing situation of the society. Thus, the judges have to face those unfamiliar cases which may remain blank in the current law system. When facing the absolutely new problems, the judges need to give their own reasonable decrees rather than relying on the computers.

 

something about love

love…an eternal topic…it can make people feel so happy and sweet,willing to give up the whole world to follow another one’s pace. it can also hurt us so badly, even losing the courage to live.

hearing of so many love affairs these days. Sweet, bitter, sour…everyone has his/her own story.

how long can love stay for? a friend said “two years” is hard to overcome. Once the relationship last for more than that, maybe u can expect a life-long story. I am still wondering how old people like our parents and grandparents can get together for 10,20 even 50 years. are we getting more and more afraid of a long relationship?

What’s love? it’s a long-lasting problem puzzled people. To myself, i can’t tell. Nowadays, we need “chemistry” ,”love feeling” and ” a touching love story” to start our own stories. For my parents, they were introduced to each other and fell in love at their first sight. Simple but rather romantic. They’ve been happily together so far.

Who’s right and who’s wrong? Relationship’s ended for different reasons. Maybe they can’t get along anymore, maybe because of one party’s new partner. I hate people who betrays. But when love disappears, the best way is to let go. when u don’t love someone anymore, just tell him/her honestly, the earlier, the better. After all, love is an affair of two people.

one of my friends said he had never cheated his girlfriend before coz he feels that when that idea comes, it means that u don’t love that people anymore. Seldom can do so though. love needs faith.

Learning Family Law this semester, i read so much about marriage,de facto and divorce but rather ignored the prerequisite, that’s love. Love may disappear, but a fault of nobody. Set free for each other may be the best choice.

Wish everyone has a sweet story with “LOVE”.

 

Stay in the library…

Spending the whole afternoon doing the essay about General Skilled Migration…><

i am the exchange student from China which may be a country attracts a lot of people. i know that there’s a winter course which does practice in China in Jan. Hopefully it can be fun.

it has been two months since i arrived in Sydney. The blue sky may be the most impressive to me the moment i got off. When in secondary school, i read from the newspaper that there was less than 1 lawyer among 10,ooo people in China so i chose the major of law when entering the uni. now i have spent two years with it~it has become part of my life.

Law here can be really different though~u need cases rather the proposition of law to dealing with problems~u have the freedom to choose the one u are going to follow while u can’t have too many choices in China. the consequence of law doesn’t allow to be challenged.

Anyway, i do really learn a lot of useful knowledge here~life is moving on. hope i can enjoy more in the near future.~^^