Foreign/International
Alabama Supreme Court ruling blocking same sex adoption reversed by SCOTUS [Read Judgment]
Supreme Court of United States has reversed Alabama Supreme Court decision which had refused to recognize an out-of-state adoption by a same-sex partner.A Georgia court entered a final judgment of adoption making petitioner V. L. a legal parent of the children that she and respondent E. L. had raised together from birth. V. L. and E. L. later separated while living in Alabama. V. L. asked...
Supreme Court of Alabama upholds same sex marriage Rights [Read Judgment]
-The Supreme Court of Alabama has ruled [Jt] in affirmative, upholding the right of same sex marriage unions. The court while doing so, has repelled the challenges made by conservative religious groups who have noted a voice of disapproval against such relationship.The case was filed by Alabama Citizens Action Program and the Alabama Policy Institute seeking a writ of mandamus to the...
Canada Court stops Extradition of Honor Killing accused to India alleging Human Rights violations in Indian prisons [Read Order]
The British Columbia Appeal Court has stopped the extradition of the mother and uncle of a Canadian woman who was the victim of an alleged “honor killing”. The extradition has been denied on apprehension of they there existed a substantial risk that they would be mistreated in India.Mr. Surjit Badesha and Ms. Malkit Sidhu were the uncle and mother respectively of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu,...
Italian Senate approves Gay Civil Unions Bill
The Senate in Italy has approved a watered-down bill allowing civil unions for same-sex and heterosexual couples but only after removing a provision that would have allowed gay adoption, much to the disappointment of gay rights activists.Gay groups earlier described the bill, which still needs to be backed by the lower house, as a betrayal.It was approved by 173 votes to 71 against.The bill...
President Obama, in search of a Judge…
The US President, Barak Obama shared his views on the expected quality and character of the new Judge to be appointed on the bench of the US Supreme Court. His views appeared on US Supreme Court blog (scotusblog.com) as a guest post.In the selection process, he emphasized that he would be consulting legal experts and members of Political Parties across the spectrum. The president underlined...
Law on Joint Enterprise wrongly interpreted for 3 decades: UK Supreme Court [Read Judgment]
A Five Judge bench of the Supreme Court of United Kingdom has unanimously ruled that the test imposed by judges in evaluating the guilt in joint enterprise cases-where an accused acted in unison with the murderer but did not strike the fatal blow, has been incorrectly applied for the past 3 decades.The concept of joint enterprise could be enunciated as follows ; if two persons jointly set out...
Historical Debts on Property can be recovered even after three decades; Supreme Court of Appeals, South Africa [Read Judgment]
In a Judgment having wider effects for real estate owners, sellers,buyers, attorneys and the entire real estate industry, the Supreme Court of Appeals(S.C.A),South Africa, has held that owners of the land would be liable for debts owed to the municipality arising from the land even after a period of 3 decades. A 5 Judge bench of the S.C.A with 4:1 majority has ruled that new owners of the...
Sindh Province in Pakistan passes Landmark Hindu Marriage Bill [Read Bill]
Pakistan's Sindh Assembly has passed the Hindu Marriage Bill. Sindh has now become the first province in the country to allow the minority community viz. Hindus to register their marriages.The Bill states that if any of the party is aged less than eighteen at the time of marriage, then such a marriage is void. The Bill also makes it mandatory to register marriages within 15 days.Divorce can...
Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dies at the age of 79
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away on Saturday at the age of 79. As per the US Marshalls Service, he died in his sleep early on Saturday while in West Texas for hunting trip.“He was an extraordinary individual and jurist, admired and treasured by his colleagues,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement for the court. “His passing is a great loss to the court...
SCOTUS interdicts Obama administration from implementing Carbon Norm Regulations [Read Order]
In a severe setback to President Barack Obama , the Supreme Court of United States by a majority of 5 -4 voted on Tuesday, staying the implementation of federal regulations aimed to curb emission of carbon dioxide namely from coal-fired power plants, the major manifesto of his administration’s ‘clean power plan’ to fight climate change.The court was considering a plea made by 27...
Lahore High Court agrees to hear petition to bring back Koh-i-Noor from British Queen Elizabeth-II
Lahore High Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition seeking a direction to the Government to bring back Koh-i-Noor from British Queen Elizabeth-II. The court has directed the office to fix the petition before any appropriate bench for hearing.Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan overruled the objection by the Court’s Registrar Office to the petition filed by barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffry. The...
Petition over Bhagat Singh’s innocence referred to larger Bench by division bench of Lahore HC
A Division Bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought a larger bench to hear petition seeking to prove the innocence of Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh was convicted under the offences of hatching conspiracies, awarded and hanged on March 23, 1931, along with Sukhdev and Rajguru.The bench, comprising Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, referred the petition to...