Friday, November 16, 2007

Not Enough Information

Ms. McA. announces in comments:

Lest I was unclear, that came from another source. But in general, Americans are uncomfortable with the French system, which offers a lot more judicial discretion, and has a different attitude towards defendants.
Posted by Megan McArdle November 16, 2007 12:07 PM
Unclear? Our overgrown elf? Let's help here & expand on this. The French system (though of course I've no idea exactly how the Cambodian system, in general or in the case of this tribunal, works) is called the Napoleonic Code. It's not unlike an American court martial, in which the members of the tribunal function as both judge & jury, asking questions, running the courtroom, & deciding the fate of the accused. And while I'm not sure if the UCMJ presumes the innocence of the defendant, though I imagine it does, under the Napoleonic Code the accused is presumed guilty (based on the efforts of the "investigating judiciary," the equivalent of the American D. A. or U. S. Attorney's office) & the defendant must prove his or her innocence. A bit more than "a different attitude towards [sic?] defendants."

Just trying to help.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

She also deleted one of my comments, for no apparent reason, and failed to notify me why

M. Bouffant said...

Boy, she really deleted you. Not even the bones left. Probably because of your "moral equivalence," if it was on the "Institutional" thread.

I was just reading Sadly, No!, where someone said they had rec'd. an e-mail from McMegan after she had deleted several of his comments. Maybe you'll be lucky too.

Anonymous said...

it was later restored to its original place. Weird.