Why You Need To Retain Lawyers in your Business?
The reasons for hiring a lawyer to advise you the legal aspects of your business are apparent. A skilful lawyer will provide your company with all vital assistance your business may need from copyright and trademark advice to formal incorporation of your business. Your lawyer can also advise you of possible lawsuits and liabilities your company is facing in your business. Don’t wait until being sued and then get a lawyer. Matters will be very complicated by then and it can be very costly after being sued. You need to remember that it is easy to get into court, but, very difficult to get out of court once you are entangled with legal problems affecting your business. You may need to know on how to hire or retain a lawyer on monthly or annual basis to keep your company out of trouble. It is not expensive to retain a lawyer that way, but, it will be a very expensive affair once you are in court. Whether your company is big or small, it doesn’t matter, but, the larger you company is, the more problems your company will face. You may need lawyers to advise you on your company’s lawsuits, to […] read more
ADMINISTERING JUSTICE – STATE AND CITIZENS
An Article by Voon Lee Shan The state owes a duty to the citizens to protect their lives, liberty and property in reciprocal for allegiance of citizens to the state. If the state through her officers who are custodians and trustees of our law can act anyhow and or at their whims and fancies, then the institution of good governance and democracy will collapse and will throw the country in chaos and anarchy. Any malicious, scandalous and vilified act caused to a citizen and his family can also happen to officers and their families, friends and relatives of officers who got the guts to clothe themselves with tigers’ hides to abuse their powers to the detriment of country and citizens. The swords can also be near to their throats too if they act irresponsibly to bring country to chaos and anarchy. To government officers who got the guts to clothe themselves with tiger’s hides and abuse their powers to the detriment of country and citizens, the swords can also be near to their throats too if they act irresponsibly to bring this country to chaos and anarchy. As loyal citizens and officers of the state we may wish to know […] read more
Trafficking In Dangerous Drugs and Murder Cases, Which One Is Easier to Defend?
To a defence lawyer nothing is easy when defending clients accused for trafficking in dangerous drugs and for murder cases. The simple reason is that the life of a prisoner is in the hands of the lawyer and the only sentence available in law is death by hanging. There is no alternative to plead to save the prisoner’s life however skillful is the defence lawyer. To a layman, the question always been asked is that, “Why defend a drugs trafficker? “Why defend a murderer?” The prejudice was always great and unjustified, but, to a lawyer a job has to be done to ensure that the prisoner has a fair trial and that if convicted, it must be based on credible evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt by the prosecutor and that it was not a fixed up case. Witness Telling Lies! Prosecution Fixed Up Case? How can a lawyer be able to know that evidence has been fixed up against the prisoner or the witness was telling a lie? Very impossible! A lawyer may suspect lies been told and evidence been fixed up, but could not prove them. What the law requires in such circumstances is proof and nothing, but, suspicions […] read more Constitutionality of Death Penalty
The issue on the constitutionality of death penalty had previously been argued before the Privy Council in the case of Ong Kee Chuan v. Public Prosecutor [1981] 1 MLJ 64 PC. In actual fact this was a case of appeal from Singapore under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 to the Privy Council. However, the Privy Council in their judgment ruled that the death penalty was constitutional. Now, cases are no more heard before the Privy Council in the United Kingdom and therefore the highest court where litigants could be heard now in all legal matters are before the Federal Court only. By Voon Lee Shan in the Federal Court In the Federal Court sitting at Kuching on 1st October, 2012 the issue on the constitutionality of the death penalty was again raised before five judges in the Federal Court Criminal Appeal Case No: 05-234-09/2011(Q) in Chung Ngee Hong v. Public Prosecutor in a dangerous drugs case under section 39B(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 which carries the mandatory sentence of death upon conviction. Death Penalty Arbitrary, Unfair or Unjust It was argued before the Federal Court that the death penalty under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 is arbitrary, unfair […] read more In Defence of Alleged Criminal
“To the criminal defense lawyers of this nation: who fearlessly tread into hostile courtrooms, armed only with their briefcases and their native wit; who turn the Bill of Rights from an abstraction into a reality; who protect the rights and privileges that keep us a free people; who fearlessly fight against a federal government that has become the enemy of individual liberty; and who valiantly attempt to stem the steady erosion of our civil rights by a growing number of uncaring judges” -Roy Black- ROLE OF A DEFENCE LAWYER When a lawyer defends a client, those who are unfamiliar with the novel role of the lawyer will say that the lawyer was not doing justice to the victim and his family by defending him. Some may go round to say that the lawyer was after money only and don’t care about the sufferings of the victim and his family will undergo if the accused is not convicted. Flipping the other side of the coin, how many realize that there were many that had been convicted and sentenced to long jail terms or face death penalties due to wrong convictions caused by wrong assessment of evidence by judges? In a Malaysian […] read more Power of PP To Prosecute and How To Avoid Being Prosecuted!
DECISION TO PROSECUTE The public prosecutor under Article 145 of the Federal Constitution has vast discretionary power to institute, conduct and to discontinue a criminal prosecution. By such vast power, the public prosecutor has a duty to weigh carefully and to consider all available evidence and the pros and cons of a case to be prosecuted. Prosecutions that are not well founded in law and in fact, or which do not serve the public interest may not be brought to court. On the other hand, the failure to effectively prosecute a meritorious case can also erode public confidence on the public prosecutor. Considerable care therefore, must be taken to ensure that the best decision should be made, but prosecutorial discretion cannot and should not be reduced to something like a mathematical formula where there is a clear and obvious answer. The whole policy in public prosecution should be to ensure objectively a fair prosecution, not simply to prosecute the guilty and to avoid prosecuting the innocent, but, rather that prosecutions should be initiated only in cases in which there is sufficient evidence and where prosecution is justified in the public interest. In order to come to a decision, the public […] read more 