KS Judicial Branch - LawWise Newsletter

LAW WISE
Published by the Kansas Bar Foundation Editor: Gayle B. Larkin, Attorney at Law, Lawrence Coordinators: Ron Keefover, Kansas Supreme Court and Jan Kuckelman, Kansas Bar Foundation
October 2001

Greetings from the Kansas Supreme Court and the Kansas Bar Association. In view of the international implications of the World Trade Center and Pentagon disasters by virtue of the loss of many persons from foreign nations, we have chosen the Courts of Foreign Governments as our theme for this edition of Law Wise. If there are any law-related topics that you would like to see included in a future edition of Law Wise, please feel free to contact Gayle B. Larkin, Editor

In this issue:

Calendar of Events
Who Holds Court for the United Nations?
The Romanian Judicial System
KBA to sponsor mock trial competition
Law Matters
Resources at the Law-Related Education Inventory
Lesson Plan #1: Fact Finders—The Media During Times of Crisis
Lesson Plan #2: Analyzing Rumors & Myths
Terrific Technology for Teachers
Appellate Courts Welcome You

Calendar of Events

2001

October 11 Supreme Court in Review Satellite and Internet Broadcast
October 15-18 Supreme Court in Session
October 24-25 Court of Appeals in Session
November 19-20 Court of Appeals in Session
December 1 Mock Trial Competition Entries Due
December 3-6 Supreme Court in Session

2002

February 15 Images of Freedom Photography Contest Entries Due
February 22-23 Wichita/Salina Regional Mock Trial Competition
March 1-2 Johnson County/Wyandotte County Regional Mock Trial Competition
March 1-2 Topeka Regional Mock Trial Competition
March 15-16 State Mock Trial Competition
May 1 Law Day
May National Mock Trial Championship

Who Holds Court for the United Nations?

The International Court of Justice acts as a world court, and is the principal judicial organization of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). It began work in 1946, when it replaced the Permanent Court of International Justice which had functioned in the Peace Palace since 1922. It operates under a Statute largely similar to that of its predecessor, which is an integral part of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Court has a dual role: to settle in accordance with international law the legal disputes submitted to it by States, and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized international organizations and agencies. (Throughout this article, the word "States" does not mean individual states from the United States, but rather it means countries.)

The Court is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms of office by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council sitting independently of each other. It may not include more than one judge of any nationality. Elections are held every three years for one-third of the seats, and retiring judges may not be re-elected. The members of the Court do not represent their governments, but are independent magistrates. The judges must possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices or be jurists of recognized competence in international law. The composition of the Court also has to reflect the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world.

When the Court does not include a judge possessing the nationality of a State party to a case, that State may appoint a person to sit as a judge ad hoc for the purpose of the case.

Only States may apply to and appear before the Court. Currently there are 189 member States. Additionally, Switzerland is also permitted to be a party before the Court.

The Court has jurisdiction to hear a dispute only in the following circumstances:

When the parties agree to jurisdiction.
When there is a jurisdictional clause in a treaty.
When the States have reciprocal declarations (there are currently 63 States with such declarations).
If jurisdiction is unclear, then the Court decides if it has jurisdiction.

The procedure followed by the Court in contentious cases is defined in its Statute, and in the Rules of Court adopted by it under the Statute. The latest version of the Rules dates from 5 December 2000. The proceedings include a written phase, in which the parties file and exchange pleadings, and an oral phase consisting of public hearings at which agents and counsel address the Court. As the Court has two official languages (English and French) everything written or said in one is translated into the other.

After the oral proceedings the Court deliberates in camera and then delivers its judgment at a public sitting. The judgment is final and without appeal. Should one of the States involved fail to comply with it, the other party may have recourse to the Security Council of the United Nations. The Court discharges its duties as a full court but, at the request of the parties, it may also establish a special chamber. The Court constituted such a chamber in 1982 for the first time, formed a second one in 1985 and constituted two more in 1987. A Chamber of Summary Procedure is elected every year by the Court in accordance with its Statute. In July 1993 the Court has also established a seven-member Chamber to deal with any environmental cases falling within its jurisdiction.

Since 1946 the Court has delivered 72 Judgments on disputes concerning inter alia land frontiers and maritime boundaries, territorial sovereignty, the non-use of force, non-interference in the internal affairs of States, diplomatic relations, hostage-taking, the right of asylum, nationality, guardianship, rights of passage and economic rights.

Currently there are twenty-two pending cases before the International Court of Justice. Information for this article was found at the official web site for the International Court of Justice. For a complete listing of the pending cases, and for the members currently serving on the Court, click on http://www.icj-cij.org.

The Romanian Judicial System

By Ioana Marian

Editor's note: Ioana Marian is a Romanian law school graduate who is visiting the United States to learn about judicial-media relations. She interned in the Kansas Office of Judicial Administration for three weeks in September and October. In keeping with our international law theme, Ms. Marian graciously agreed to provide us with the following explanation of the Romanian court system.

The Romanian juridical system is based on the French system. The Courts include the Ordinary Court, the County Court, the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Justice, and the Constitutional Court of Romania. (Ms. Marian is employed at the latter.)

The Ordinary Court has as many judges as necessary depending of how large the county is, and they judge all the trials and the demands of the citizens and also the demands against local, public authorities. There is one Ordinary Court in every county of Romania, including 6 Ordinary Courts in Bucharest. The trials are judged by one judge, or two according to the severity of charge.

The County Courts handle commercial trials with a value of $300 or less, civil causes with a value more than $10,000, the administrative trials and demands (except those judged by the Court of Appeals), intellectual and industrial property claims, demands regarding adoption, declaring death, and the annulment of a marriage.

The Court of Appeals judges have the authority to sit as a first instance court to hear trials regarding some administrative matters. They also sit as an appelant court, to consider appeals from the rulings of the County Court as a first instance court. These cases will be heard by 2 or 3 judges.

The Supreme Court of Justice considers appeals from rulings of the Courts of Appeal, "nullity appeal", which is an appeal made by the general prosecutor or by the Ministry of Justice if he demands it, and in other specifically enumerated matters, under Romanian law.

Any person or organization may appeal a decision through three of the four levels. Thus, a case may be judged at three out of the four levels of jurisdiction. A case introduced at an ordinary court may be taken to the Court of Appeals, while one introduced at a County Court may be taken to the Supreme Court.

The Constitutional Court is the only authority of constitutional jurisdiction in Romania. It is independent of any public authority and complies only with the Constitution and with its law of organization.

The purpose of the Constitutional Court is to guarantee the supremacy of the Constitution. It rules on the constitutionality of laws and regulations, on the constitutionality of a political party, on the presidential election process, and can suspend the President of Romania from office.

The nine-member court sits en banc with a two-thirds quorum requirement. The judges of the Constitutional Court must have graduated from law-school, and have a high professional competence with at least eighteen years of service in law.

To date, the Constitutional Court has heard 2,729 cases, and issued 2,330 decisions. The first decision of the Constitutional Court was issued in June 1992.

KBA to sponsor mock trial competition

The Young Lawyers’ Section of the Kansas Bar Association will sponsor the 2002 regional and state mock trial competition. Tournament dates for next year are as follows: February 22-23 -- Wichita/Salina Regional; March 1-2 -- Johnson County/Wyandotte County Regional; March 1-2 -- Topeka Regional. The state tournament will be held March 15-16. The deadline for registration for competition is December 1, 2001.

In mock trial competition, teams compete at the regional tournaments for the opportunity to advance to the state competition. The winner of the state competition then advances to nationals. The teams, composed of three lawyers and three witnesses, compete against each other using a set of facts and following simple evidentiary rules. Members of the Kansas Bar Association volunteer their time to serve as coordinators, judges, and coaches.

Mock trials are designed to provide young people with an operational understanding of the law, legal issues, and the judicial process. Participation in mock trials offers students an insider’s perspective on courtroom procedures and helps them gain a basic understanding of the legal mechanism through which society chooses to resolve many of its disputes. Additionally, mock trials give participants practical knowledge about courts and trials which can be invaluable should they ever be jurors or witnesses in a real trial or parties in a legal action.

If your school is interested in participating in the mock trial competition and has not yet received an entry form, contact Cheryl Austin at the Kansas Bar Association at (785) 234-5696 or at cdaustin@ksbar.org.

LawMatters logo The ABA has a free newsletter that contains information on law related education. Law Matters, which reports on developments, ideas, programs, and resources in the field of public education about the law, is published three times each year (winter, summer, fall). For information on ordering, contact the ABA at (312) 988-5735 or abapubed@abanet.org.

Resources at the Law-Related Education Inventory

A Place to Stand. This videocassette tape, designed for middle school and high school students, discusses the accomplishments of the United Nations during its first 50 years. Segments include Building Tomorrow, Keeping the Peace, Our Global Conscience, Connections, and Imagine. Library number: 352-113/P69.
The Rise and Decline of the Roman Empire. Seventh through twelfth grade students might find this videocassette tape interesting. It includes re-enactments, animated maps, artifacts, and quotations from Roman historians, statesmen, and orators, tracing the two-thousand year history of the "greatest empire in the ancient world." Library number 940.1R492.
U.S. Response--The Making of U.S. Foreign Policy. This is a simulation that turns the classroom into a conference room, where high-level officials plan U.S. strategy in response to a foreign affair crisis. This game is designed for middle and high school students. Library number 327.Un314.

Lesson Plans

The destruction of New York City's World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon in Washington D.C. raises innumerable questions that can be dealt with in the classroom. Although the most recent terrorist attacks have the greatest impact on America, they are part of a long and tragic history of terrorism that has been developing around the globe for decades.

Constitutional Rights Foundation has prepared "America Responds to Terrorism," a new series of free online lessons and resources designed to help teachers and their students explore and analyze critical national and international issues raised by the recent events in Washington, New York City, and around the world.

"America Responds to Terrorism" is designed to give teachers the tools they need to help students with issues raised by the recent terrorist tragedies and America's response to them.

The following lesson plans are two of the plans included online at the Constitutional Rights Foundation's web site. To get additional lesson plans on how to address the recent tragic events in the classroom, click on http://www.crf-usa.org.

Lesson Plan #1: Fact Finders—The Media During Times of Crisis

During times of crisis, people want information. They turn to news sources to find out what is happening and to help them figure out what might happen. At the same time, news sources are working at full capacity on short deadlines. Under these circumstances, false reports are sometimes circulated and believed.

In some cases, rumors spread and actual lies are told. This can add to the public's fear or contribute to people drawing wrong conclusions. This activity provides an opportunity for your students to discuss the role media plays during times of crisis and the need for them to evaluate information they receive.

You will need to make copies of the handout Fact Finding in the Information Age for your students.

Share with the class: Minute–by-minute, the media receives news from around the world. On a normal day, news editors and reporters have some time to sort through information and decide what they will report, and how they will report it. But when a major event happens, just as the public's normal routine is disrupted, so is that of the media. Imagine the vast amount of information the media was receiving during the terrorist attacks in America, and continues to receive as the world responds to the events. Sometimes split-second decisions are made to report breaking news. People around the world tune in to radio and television broadcasts to get up-to-the-minute reports. Once in a while, information is received by the media, then reported to the public, then found to be inaccurate. Other times, accurate information is reported, but misinterpreted and spread by viewers and listeners.

Ask the students: Have you heard any inaccurate information from the media or from other people? If so, what was the information? Why do you think that mistake was made?

How does misinformation impact the media? How does this impact the public? What can people do to keep themselves informed of the truth?

Read and discuss the handout "Fact Finding in the Information Age" with your students. The SMART paradigm can be used to analyze information in a variety of settings and situations.

Discussion Questions: What sources do you trust? What sources do you not trust? Why? Have you seen or heard any reports that you think are motivated by a particular point of view or set of beliefs? Why is it important to get both sides to a story? Where do you get your news? (Television and radio stations, newspapers, Internet, people you know, etc.) Where would you go to use the two-source test?

Additional Resources: Invite members of the local news media to the classroom to answer students' questions and share information about the challenges of reporting accurate information during times of crisis. Visit Constitutional Rights Foundations website at www.crf-usa.org. Click on "Links" and then "Research," to access additional resources including media, disinformation, and government sites and other CRF lessons and curriculum materials, such as The Challenge of Information, that can provide more in-depth lessons for your students on this, and other social studies and law-related education topics.

Lesson Plan #2: Analyzing Rumors & Myths

This activity provides students with an opportunity to explore and discuss the phenomenon of "disinformation" that often circulates during crisis. You will need to print out and make copies of the handout Fact Finding in the Information Age for your students.

Share with your students: While the media and the worldwide public struggled to keep up with breaking news, millions of people received and sent e-mail messages containing a "prediction" by Nostradamus, a 16th Century philosopher. The prediction, or different variations of it, was posted in offices, read to friends, mentioned on MTV, and circulated coast-to-coast.

The "prediction" spoke of "two brothers torn apart by chaos" and "the third big war" beginning "when the big city is burning". Within hours, new verses were added and circulated, perhaps to make the prediction more interesting:

On the 11th day of the 9th month,

Two metal birds will crash into two tall statues

In the new city,

And the world will end soon after.

Each version of the Nostradamus prediction had one thing in common. They all cited 1654 as the date of Nostradamus' prediction. Nostradamus died in 1566. It turns out that a college student wrote the original "prediction" in the 1990s in an essay on Nostradamus. The student was trying to demonstrate how easily a prophecy can be created to fit almost any situation. The whole thing was a hoax.

Ask the class: Has anyone heard rumors, myths, or bizarre information about the terrorism or its aftermath? If so, what have you heard? Where did this information come from? Why do you suppose people create and spread rumors and myths during times of crisis? Do you think it is okay to circulate hoaxes and rumors during times of crisis? Why or why not? How do you think this impacts society? How does it impact you? What can people do to guard themselves against rumors, myths, and hoaxes?

Activity: Write the following statement on the board: CNN used film footage shot in 1991 to show Palestinians celebrating the September 11 attacks.
Ask: Do you believe this to be true? Why or why not?

Distribute the handout "Fact Finding in the Information Age" and review and discuss the SOURCE steps and resources. Assign the students the task of proving the statement to be true or false using the tips on the Fact-Finding handout. Students could then write an article explaining their findings and citing their sources.

Handout:

Fact Finding in the Information-Age

Like journalists, you depend on sources for information. You may read a story in the newspaper, see it on television, or hear it from a friend. To judge the reliability of the story, you should always consider the source. Use the following SMART test to check your sources:

Source. For you to evaluate a source, you have to know who or what the source is. Where does the story come from? Is the person reporting the story an eyewitness to the story? Did the person get the story from others? From eyewitnesses? From officials? Trace the source down. If the source is unclear, be skeptical about the story.

Motive. Why do they say so? Sources often have a special interest or particular point of view that may cause them to slant information to suit their beliefs or causes. Biased sources can be accurate, but you need to check them carefully. Get all sides to a story.

Authority. How good is the source? Eyewitnesses can be wrong. Was the witness in a good position? If the source isn't an eyewitness, make sure it is a source you can trust -- e.g. an expert on the subject, a newspaper with good fact checking. Be wary of any source that is repeating hearsay and rumors.

Review. Go over the story carefully. Does it make sense? Is it logically consistent? Are there any notable errors in facts or conclusions? Make a list of questionable facts. Develop questions about the story.

Two-source test. Double-check everything, if possible. Talk to a second party or tune-in to other newscasts to see if they are also reporting the same story. Research the subject in the library, interview others, and search on the Internet. Does your two-source test confirm or contradict the story?

Resources for checking sources and fact finding:

Constitutional Rights Foundation's website provides links to many research sites, including broadcast media, government, and even sites that specialize in tracking down rumors, urban legends, and myths. Go to www.crf-usa.org and click on "Links," then "Research."

Terrific Technology for Teachers

There are links to many countries' court systems and law-related information at http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Floor/7284/courts.html.
The Court of Scotland can be found at http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/index1.htm.
The Supreme Administrative Court of Belguim's web site is http://www.raadvst-consetat.be/home_en.htm.
Learn about the European Community's Court of Justice and Court of First Instance at http://europa.eu.int/cj/en/index.htm.
Click on http://www.courts.go.jp/english/ehome.htm to view the Supreme Court of Japan.
The Malayasian judiciary homepage is http://www.kehakiman.gov.my.
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia's web site is http://www.us-rs.com.
Point your browser at http://www.supreme-court.ch/ to learn about the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court of Trinidad and Topago's web site is http://www.ttlawcourts.org.
The House of Lords is the final court of appeal on points of law for the whole of the United Kingdom in civil cases and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases. Its web site is http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld/ldjudinf.htm.
Finally, the United Stated Federal Judiciary Homepage is http://www.uscourts.gov.

Court of Appeals Welcomes You

The Kansas Court of Appeals, a ten-member, intermediate appellate court sits in three-judge panels throughout the state. The Court of Appeals normally sits in panels throughout the state; however, due to the current budget shortfall confronting the judicial branch, all Court of Appeals hearings are being conducted in the Judicial Center, 301 W. 10th, in Topeka. This will remain in effect at least through the year ending June 30, 2002. The court is pleased to have students attend the hearings. This fall, the Court of Appeals will be hearing cases on October 24, 2001, October 25, 2001, November 19, 2001, and November 20, 2001.

The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest court in the state, and includes seven members. Students also are welcome at oral arguments before the Supreme Court. The high court holds its hearings only in Topeka. This fall the Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments during the weeks beginning October 15, 2000 and December 3, 2000.

If you have any questions concerning the Kansas appellate courts, or if you would like to bring your class to either the Kansas Supreme Court or the Kansas Court of Appeals, please contact Ron Keefover, Education and Information Officer of the Office of Judicial Administration, 301 West 10th Avenue, Topeka, Kansas 66612-1507, (785) 296-4872. You can also contact Mr. Keefover via e-mail at keefover@kscourts.org.

Law Wise is published by the Kansas Bar Association during the school year. The Kansas Bar Foundation, with Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts funding, provides support for this publication. Published free, on request, for teachers or anyone interested in law-related education, it is edited by Gayle B. Larkin, Lawrence, (785) 865-3970. For further information about any projects or articles, contact Ron Keefover, Education and Information Officer of the Office of Judicial Administration, Topeka, (785) 296-4872, or Jan Kuckelman, Public Services Director of the Kansas Bar Association, Topeka (785) 234-5696. Law Wise is printed at the Kansas Bar Association, 1200 Southwest Harrison, P.O. Box 1037, Topeka, Kansas 66601-1037.