UK considers abandoning juries for complex fraud trials News
UK considers abandoning juries for complex fraud trials

[JURIST] British Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith [official profile] Tuesday announced a government plan to abolish jury trials in complicated fraud cases. The move follows the collapse of a fraud trial [Guardian report] earlier this year, partly because of jury problems. Goldsmith estimates about 15 to 20 trials each year would be affected by the proposal, and denied that the proposal reflected any government judgment on the jury system as a whole [Telegraph report]. The plan faces stiff opposition from both major parties in Parliament and the Criminal Bar Association [profession website]. A vote on the plan is expected in the fall. BBC News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.