It is not unusual to find instances where science has turned to nature for inspiration. The invention of airplanes, for example, is probably the most quintessential illustration of this phenomenon. Humans, envious of birds’ ability to fly, would study them relentlessly trying to discover the secret of these tiny creatures. If you look at pictures of the flying machines that existed before the...
Strange things have been happening at Osgoode lately. On February 5, 2014, Dean Sossin was seen wearing a funny wig at Osgoode. Then, an email was sent about becoming the Dean of Osgoode. And now this, Dean Sossin wearing a clown wig somewhere downtown Toronto?! Has Dean Sossin quit his job, ran away and joined the circus? Well no, do not panic. I am here to tell you that everything is fine. That...
Last February 11, Ontario’s Minister of Labour, the Honourable Yasir Naqvi attended Osgoode to give a special lecture on “Employment Law, Politics, and the Stronger Workplaces for a Stronger Economy Act”. As it turns out, the day before, the Obiter received an unexpected email with an invitation from the Minister’s Director of Communications to interview the Minister after the lecture. I...
Last October, an 89-year-old lady named Audrey Tobias was acquitted for not filing out her census form. As some of you may know, Ms. Tobias did not forget, but in fact, purposely decided not to complete the form. According to section 31 of the Statistics Act, it is an offence to “refuse or neglect” to fill out a census form or to return it by the date and in the form required, or to knowingly...
To be honest, I am not a fan of football. I have tried getting into it, but I just do not have the attention span necessary to sit through even one entire game, let alone an entire season. In fact, being a true fan requires more than watching one’s favourite team play. One must also watch all the other teams play to know how they compare to one’s favourite team. The idea behind this...
And so a new year and a new semester have begun. Hopefully everyone had a fun but relaxing break. As promised, I did some leisure reading and finished watching season one of House of Cards (among other shows that I had neglected because of…well you know, law school). Surely, there is no need to describe the plot. Suffice to say that House of Cards is, generally put, a political drama. It is a...
And the countdown begins. A few days of classes remain. Then two weeks of sheer stress await. Of course, I am talking about exam-related stress, but only partially. There are the other kinds of stress, namely, Christmas-shopping stress. Naturally, as a busy law student, you will not have time to start until after exams are done. Panic will strike when you look at the list of people you have to...
Last year, before starting my first year of law school, I received from Osgoode information concerning my courses and the professors who were teaching them. I eagerly searched each of them on Osgoode’s website. I remember reading Professor Mandel’s bio and thinking how interestingly odd it was (odd in a good way of course). I am not able to recall the details and could not go back to the website...