"English litigation is a long and costly process that could almost have been designed to bludgeon a defendant into submission." — Nature writer Quirin Schiermeier, who recently prevailed in a characteristically insane U.K. libel action.

  • Antinous / Moderator

    Christ, what an asshole legal system.  Aren’t they reforming this mess?

    • fuzzyfuzzyfungus

      Careful, there, Antinous, just imagine what the brits will do to you when they catch you libeling libel itself…

    • Dave Lloyd

      Unlikely. Our new masters very much like this sort of thing. It keeps the proles in place and the lawyers happy with big fat cheques from foreign oligarchs (you know the type: extorters, murderers, torturers et al) suing in London.

  • MonkeyBoy

    You can find out about the  “el Naschie” problem at el Naschie Watch which has long accounts about how he was able to play the refs (such a threatening legal action against universities) to build up a seeming scientific reputation based on crackpottery. It is a fairly long story so star with the introduction.

  • Rachel Waller

    Yes we are reforming this mess 
    http://www.libelreform.org/

  • http://twitter.com/Theranthrope Theranthrope

    Is it time to throw Great Britain into the sea? 

    • http://scavenger-ethic.blogspot.com/ scav

      2014

    • Gemma

       Great Britain makes up part of the British Isles. Conclusion: someone tried this stunt already but it didn’t have the desired effect?

  • Another Kevin

    Wow, two insanities combining. English tort law, and “you can’t spell Elsevier without EVIL.”