[Imc-g8-2005] scottish legal guide for journos

[mini mouse]

At 11:07 am +0100 5/4/05, Anarcho Babe wrote:
>Apart from that there is a legal chapter in the 
>Video Activist Guide from undrcurrents.

http://www.undercurrents.org/ ?

Do you mean the "Activists Media Toolkit", £2.75 inc p&p?

I've not got it so can't comment on its contents 
but it seems from the Dissent guide

http://www.g8legalsupport.info/guide/

that Scottish law is pretty different from 
English law being based on common law, rather 
than statute. Some things are better as a result 
, some worse.

(from the intros:

"(Common Law) encompasses the collections of 
principles, rules and definitions developed 
through previous court decisions. By its nature 
it can be hard to define and it can be difficult 
to predict how a court will treat a certain type 
of conduct. Scots law in this regard is 
disturbingly flexible.

Those who have some familiarity with English law 
should be very wary about how they apply that to 
Scotland. Some examples of differences will 
highlight the need for caution: there is no such 
thing as PACE; breach of the peace is a criminal 
offence for which persons must be given a full 
trial before they can be punished in connection 
with it; ASBOs are not as broad and there is no 
such thing as the Offences Against the Person 
legislation, of "riot", "affray" or "criminal 
damage".

I really don't know now this will affect the way 
you can report in a confrontational situation, 
hence the possibility of a legal bod maybe 
helping produce a guide for journos attending the 
media convergence.

Mike