Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Remember Remember the 5th of November




I have fond memories of the Guyfawkes Days of Old in Australia. This was before the increase in litigation Australian Law needs to adapt so that we can once again have fun.

2 comments:

Marcus said...

Guy Fawkes (April 13, 1570 – January 31, 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, born in York, was an English soldier and member of a group of Roman Catholic conspirators who attempted to carry out the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605.

The plot was an attempt to assassinate the Protestant King James I (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England, by blowing up Westminster Palace during the formal opening session of the 1605 Parliament, in which the king would address a joint assembly of both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Guy Fawkes was in large part responsible for the later stages of the plan's execution. His activities were detected, however, before the plan's completion. Following a severe interrogation involving the use of torture, and a trial in Westminster Hall by Judge John Popham, Fawkes and his conspirators were executed for treason and attempted murder. Guy Fawkes's failure is remembered with Guy Fawkes Night (also kown as Bonfire Night, Fireworks Night or Plot Night) on November 5

Marcus said...

2. This advice takes into account the High Court Judgment in Bottomley –v- Todmorden Cricket Club (Times November2003), where the club permitted a fireworks contractor to hold a Guy Fawkes celebration during which a visitor wasgrievously injured by a misdirected firework. In the absence of effective insurance cover maintained by the fireworkscontractor the High Court held the Cricket Club liable for the claimant’s damages due to permitting a dangeroussubstance to escape, which fell within the occupiers insurance duty.Subsequently in November 2003 the House of Lords in Transco Plc –v- Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council held thatwhere a dangerous substance escaped from one landowner’s land onto another landowner’s land the liability was strictliability without any need of proof of negligence under the 1866 rule in Rylands –v- Fletcher