Law and Magic Blog

Magic, Magic Words, Law, Halloween...

Admittedly, this post is late (or early)...The wonderful blog Jack of Kent has these thoughts from last Hallowe'en (Oct. 31, 2012) on the links between law and magic:

In fact, magic and the law do have something in common – at least that part of magic which is concerned with spells and sorcery.

 

Other than in extreme situations, the stuff of law consists of words: words in statutes or in contracts, words said in court or in witness statements, and words in judgments and court orders.

 

Ultimately these words have the “real world” effect  of being a prelude to, and justification for, the use of coercive power by one person on another. This can include the court attendant “taking you down” to the cells or the bailiff enforcing a court order at your door.

 

But such resorts to coercion happen at the margins: most people conduct their daily business on what they believe the law to say: “you can’t do that, there is a law against it” or “it is perfectly ok for me to do this, there’s no law against it”.

 

 

Generally, most people are reasonable, and they think the law is reasonable, too. In the words made famous during WWII, they keep calm and carry on. More here. Great comments on the post from readers, too.

Hallowe'en At Lowering the Bar

I always find the posts at Lowering the Bar funny and/or interesting , but the items for October 31st this year were thought-provoking, particularly the one about Oakland's police chief, who had set his spam filter to send email messages about "occupy," "police brutality," and "excessive force" to his junk mail folder. Thus, when important email messages arrived concerning the Occupy movement, he didn't get them, well, because...they went to his junk mail folder. Natch. The magic of technology is indeed wondrous. (The other items in the post are pretty good, too, including the ones about the bones under the tree, the naked clown, and the lawsuit against the Great (make that a really big) Pumpkin).

Here, Kitty, Kitty

Thirteen reasons to adopt a black cat, including their sartorial elegance (well, that accounts for a number of the reasons) and  the fact that, on the other hand, their color puts people off. At adoption time, black cats are often the last felines to find homes. Poor kitties. Black cats have also traditionally been associated with the black arts, with witchcraft, and with evil doings. Snopes.com delves into the question of whether black cats (and other animals) actually disappear with more frequency around Hallowe'en but notes that many animal shelters cut back on allowing feline, especially black cat, adoptions in October. 

Law and Magic Gifties

So, if you don't know what to get your favorite lawyer/magician for the holidays (and you've already gotten him or her a disappearing Bill of Rights mug from the Unemployed Philosopher's Guild, and nothing else from that website appeals, and you gave him or her a copy of the Law and Magic book for his/her birthday), take a look at The Bill of Rights Security Edition. It's a copy of the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution, nicely printed on metal. You can buy 3 for $11 or 5 for $16. Great stocking stuffers. I saw them at the Penn & Teller shop the last time I took in the show.

During the performance P&T do a bit on the likelihood that the TSA will actually confiscate the metalized Bill of Rights if you try to take it through security; if you believe them, you will want to invest in more than one. Check out t-shirts and other paraphernalia here.

If your taste runs more to the artistic, might I recommend Alan Gerson's wonderful work? An attorney who now creates art full time, he makes wonderful "lawyer" watercolors out of terms of art as well as amazing  paintings. His work is on the cover of the Law and Magic book and he created several "law and magic" watercolors that hang on my walls at home.

Finally, three seasons of Merlin the series are now out on DVD. The show, featuring a retelling of the King Arthur legend through the eyes of his pal, wizardly Merlin as a young man, is fairly entertaining. It stars Colin Morgan, Bradley James, and Anthony Head.

Supreme Court Links To Hallowe'en, From Findlaw

Findlaw serves up this list of Supreme Court links to October 31st's favorite holiday.

Number 4: today's oral arguments in Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye, two cases on ineffective assistance of counsel. Yes, pretty scary. More here from the Legal Information Institute.

Number 3: ideas for a Hallowe'en costume based on judicial robes.

Number 2: a bad pun on Justice Alito's name.

and (cue spooky noise) 

Number 1: the night (sorry, day) a light bulb went out--October 31, 2005--during oral argument in Central Virginia Community College v. Katz. How appropriate. Katz on Hallowe'en.

In His Footsteps

Sort of.

Courtesy Icanhascheezburger.com.

Chopin Liszt

This "escaping Houdini" mug from the Unemployed Philosophers Guild is neat. The UPG has other interesting products too, including a Harry Houdini puppet, a Shakespearean insult mug ("thou art a boil..."), Pavlov's dog and Schrodinger's cat. I try to do my holiday shopping early, which is why I am on the prowl now. As for the title of this post, read it out loud.

Hectic Holidays Ahead, But Do the Planets Cause Them? Or Is It the People On This Planet?

So the astrologers are telling us that Mercury is in retrograde during the upcoming holidays and thus, We Are In Trouble. What To Do?

According to one of the Sexy Beast's interviewees, "shoppers who wait until after Dec. 9 will get stuck with faulty products or presents that no one wanted in the first place. By mid-December, holiday travelers will be hit with bad weather, mechanical errors and possibly, terrorist threats. Wars may break out, marriages will dissolve, people will lose their jobs and, as astrologer Gahl Sasson put it, “the whole planet is going to have Tourette’s syndrome.”" Yikes.

Apparently, among the best advice astrologers consulted have is to finish shopping early. Think practical. Buy gift certificates, not electronics, which I suppose could break down (although they do that even when Mercury isn't in retrograde. And what about the years when all this stuff happens and Mercury isn't in retrograde? I don't understand). Don't overdo. Be flexible.

All good advice. But on the other hand, don't psychologists give out similar advice every holiday? See Relationship advice for the holidays here, travel advice for the holidays here, and depression busters here. Oddly, Mercury in retrograde is not mentioned in any of them.

Carry on. I wish you and yours a wonderful non-denominational gift-giving occasion.

November 1 In Law

Blawg Review #288 features All Saint's Day, All Soul's Day and the Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertos).

Houdini and Hallowe'en

October 31st isn't just Hallowe'en. It's the anniversary of Harry Houdini's death in 1926. He died in Detroit (I know--not a very Hallowe'eny place). His insurance policy paid "double indemnity" because his death was the result of an accident. More on Houdini's will and estate here.

Want to attend a seance to see if Houdini returns? Try The Harry Houdini Museum which hosts such an event each year. Harry has been a no-show so far, however, just as he was for his wife Bess through 1936. She gave up that year and revealed the secret word he had told her he would send her if there was an afterlife: "Believe." A link to the final seance is here. Some of Houdini's colleagues keep trying, however. Here's a link to a seance from last year, hosted by the inimitable James Randi.

More Houdini-related magic includes a Point of Inquiry discussion from D. J. Grothe and Joe Nickell, the opening of the Jewish Museum in the New York's Houdini: Art and Magic exhibit and from the Library of Congress, discussion of Houdini's work in investigating spiritualism.

Maybe, like Greta Garbo, Mr. Houdini just "vants to be alone." After all, there is such a thing as the right to privacy. And even if it doesn't survive death, a famous dead magician might just want the neighbors, the family, and colleagues to stop dropping by, especially on a busy day, like Hallowe'en.