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Writer on law and lore.

Website: https://davidallengreen.com/

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Last Notes

2026-01-12 10:43:05 GMT

Notes on gangster states
Why legitimacy matters when the state has a monopoly on coercive and lethal force
New, by me
Substack
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/notes-on-gangster-states
Personal blog
https://davidallengreen.com/2026/01/notes-on-gangster-states-why-legitimacy-matters-when-the-state-has-a-monopoly-on-coercive-and-lethal-force/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/881/710/337/431/706/original/ecfc91c7e3f4909f.png

2026-01-07 09:56:38 GMT

Great.
Now someone is going to blow Boudica's trumpet, and who knows what will then happen.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7jvj8d39eo

2026-01-06 11:03:19 GMT

NEW
But what about international law?
What happens to an international legal order when a superpower goes rogue
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/but-what-about-international-law
Personal Blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2026/01/but-what-about-international-law/

2026-01-02 11:58:48 GMT

NEW
Why can a politician remove citizenship with little or no judicial consideration?
The home secretary has brutal, wide-ranging powers to deprive British citizens of this most basic of rights
By me at Prospect, on Begum and Abd el-Fattah
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/72006/a-politician-can-remove-citizenship-with-little-judicial-consideration
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/825/384/875/166/936/original/2d60b80e939696c3.png

2026-01-01 17:38:43 GMT

Ordered my first new book via Bookstore and not Amazon and thereby started to fulfil one new year's resolution. Yes, slower and P&P but independent local bookshops are a public good.

2025-12-31 13:33:47 GMT

NEW
When should social media posts have legal consequences?
Comparing and contrasting the cases of Lucy Connolly and Alaa Abd El-Fattah
By me, at New Statesman
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/society/2025/12/when-should-social-media-posts-have-legal-consequences
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/814/433/130/786/332/original/1f587f6dfdde9e48.png

2025-12-19 12:24:54 GMT

NEW
Donald Trump v the British Broadcasting Corporation: the battle begins
The president filed a claim this week more about exerting leverage than legal niceties
By me, at Prospect Magazine
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/71916/donald-trump-v-bbc-battle-begins

2025-12-12 12:37:59 GMT

NEW
The good, the bad and the ugly of ‘rebalancing’ the ECHR
Human rights law should be kept under review, but that does not mean it should be weakened
My latest post for Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/71813/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-rebalancing-the-echr
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/706/628/219/375/572/original/c0929541d5dfd571.png

2025-12-01 19:36:07 GMT

- reply

Generally: being opposed to proscription would not constitute an offence under the Terrorism Act.

2025-12-01 19:33:48 GMT

Given there is an entire information-economy between politicians, advisers, officials and the media of intentional pre-Budget leaks, it is telling about our political culture that the only resignation is when someone leaks it unintentionally.

2025-11-30 12:55:18 GMT

Emeritus Prof Christopher May - @npub12pw…zvxn - is one of the best follows on here and adorns any timeline - lots of useful stuff about policy and idiosyncratic stuff about music.
He needs a few more followers to achieve some Mastodon goal.
If you like my stuff, follow him.

2025-11-22 14:55:12 GMT

Trump v the BBC cont'd: an odd and desperate letter from the US media regulator
Or: why you should have your evidence in place before you threaten a law suit
A new post by me:
Substack
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/trump-v-the-bbc-contd-an-odd-and
Personal blog
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/11/trump-v-the-bbc-contd-an-odd-and-desperate-letter-from-the-us-media-regulator/

2025-11-21 12:24:47 GMT

Tinkering with ECHR definitions will not help the government
The proposed changes to Articles 3 and 8 in asylum cases will achieve little or nothing
By me, at New Statesman
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/11/tinkering-with-echr-definitions-will-not-help-the-government

2025-11-14 17:39:00 GMT

NEW BY ME
Why the BBC is right not to pay damages to Trump
By apologising, the broadcaster has taken the sting out of Trump’s excessive attack
At New Statesman
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/11/the-bbc-is-right-not-to-pay-damages-to-trump

2025-11-13 10:06:04 GMT

NEW
Performative Litigation Letters
How certain lawyer letters are intended for news and social media consumption
By me, on the legal threats of Truss and now Trump
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/performative-litigation-letters
Non-Substack link to follow later

2025-11-11 14:20:37 GMT

- reply

Thank you, as always.

2025-11-11 13:25:32 GMT

NEW
A close look at Trump's $1 billion claim against the BBC
The litigation letter is weak, but his underlying practical position is not weak
By me:
(Substack)
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/a-close-look-at-trumps-1-billion
(Personal blog)
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/11/a-close-look-at-trumps-1-billion-claim-against-the-bbc/

2025-10-28 15:56:52 GMT

- reply

You did not read the post you are commenting on? It was a good film *because* of its ending.

2025-10-23 05:34:58 GMT

One observation on the Louvre robbery, having been there a couple of time recently.
There is immense 'security theatre' for visitors waiting to get in.
And what has happened affirms the general rule: the greater the 'security theatre' the weaker the actual security.

2025-10-22 21:13:10 GMT

In the United States the President is deliberately dismantling the White House, while in the United Kingdom we are doing nothing to stop the Palace of Westminster from falling apart.
Much the same can be said of our respective constitutions.

2025-10-22 17:55:54 GMT

If Orwell's works had not already been over-plundered to metaphorical death, it would be nice to call the increasing diversionary blame being put on Antifa as the Snowball Effect.

2025-10-22 17:25:32 GMT

- reply

2025-10-22 17:24:47 GMT

- reply

Still 651 is still a good rule-of-thumb active following and makes posting here worthwhile.
I like Mastodon and I would like to carryon being active here.
Many thanks to all those who Liked - including those who felt the need to explain things to me (I know).
/ends

2025-10-22 17:23:02 GMT

- reply

Of course this experiment has limitations.
Some could not help themselves pointing these limitations out (I know).
Others pointed out that boosts would increase coverage (I know), that the Likes total may not be accurate because of the nature of the Fediverse (I know), and that response would be affected by other factors (I know).
This being Mastodon, such unsolicited earnest advice is freely given, even when it should be obvious the OP already knows!
Mastodon, never change.

2025-10-22 17:20:16 GMT

2025-10-22 17:16:51 GMT

A couple of days ago I did an experiment on here.
I asked that if anyone saw my post they would Like it. No boosts.
I came over here in one of the Twitter exoduses and I have a high following from other Twitter refugees. I wanted to see how many still engage.
Here is the result.
Of 40k nominal followers on Mastodon, the post was Liked 651 times.
651/40000
Or by 1.6% of my nominal following.
>
(Please read thread before replying.)

2025-10-20 14:28:06 GMT

- reply

Mastodon, never change :-)

2025-10-20 13:54:41 GMT

- reply

Loving the Mastodon-style "let me explain" responses.

2025-10-20 13:03:48 GMT

Help please.
I am trying to see how far my posts on this platform go.
If you see this post can you please like it.
Please do NOT boost it, as I want to see its natural coverage.
I am thinking of posting more often on here and I am just wanting to see what the current reach is like.

2025-10-18 12:03:28 GMT

One problem in current politics is not being able to tell the difference between a cultural death-knell and a cultural birth-pang.
Are these the features of an old order collapsing or a new (lack of) order beginning?

2025-10-09 11:12:36 GMT

NEW
Law versus politics
Both the UK and the US face a choice between unchecked executive power or a balanced constitution
By me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/71289/law-versus-politics
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/343/906/973/483/177/original/7200f0cee7389c46.png

2025-10-07 12:34:43 GMT

NEW
Freedom is just another word for "a gap in the law"
The Home Secretary wants to ban more things
By me
Substack
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/freedom-is-just-another-word-for
Personal blog
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/10/freedom-is-just-another-word-for-a-gap-in-the-law/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/332/904/410/134/341/original/d6d3aaac3590a13b.png

2025-10-03 11:46:16 GMT

NEW
Why the government was right to take PPE Medpro to court
The state should enforce its contractual rights against suppliers more often
By me at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/71218/why-the-government-was-right-to-take-ppe-medpro-to-court
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/310/065/322/526/542/original/dd493ca7734a0d16.png

2025-09-29 09:01:58 GMT

NEW
The Kneecap prosecution collapsed because police and prosecutors did not take terrorism law seriously
Where "a technicality" hides a fundamental error
By me
Substack: https://emptycity.substack.com/p/the-kneecap-prosecution-collapsed
Personal blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/09/the-kneecap-prosecution-collapsed-because-police-and-prosecutors-did-not-take-terrorism-law-seriously/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/286/769/993/756/410/original/245ac923dbb0182b.png

2025-09-25 08:54:04 GMT

- reply

In essence: few will be genuinely surprised that the High Court was misled - these things happen - but for the court to reject the assurances about why it was misled?
That is spicy.

2025-09-25 08:45:54 GMT

NEW
The Prime Minister’s extraordinary and significant statement on MI5 misleading the High Court
A practical example of the judiciary and executive holding the security service to account
By me
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/the-prime-ministers-extraordinary
Personal blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/09/the-prime-ministers-extraordinary-and-significant-statement-on-mi5-misleading-the-high-court/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/264/055/673/988/844/original/d1503809969ac3aa.png

2025-09-22 17:14:02 GMT

- reply

Pretty much my position. I will RT things other say which I think are spot on, but I am not going to use my following to amplify the noise.
My focus is on government policy, and on the weaknesses of our constitutional system. My followers are more than capable of working out for themselves what misuses an incoming illiberal government can fo when in power.

2025-09-21 10:44:19 GMT

- reply

"looks likely to be struck down in full or perhaps in part"
I don't think that is likely, as the courts are generally deferent to the executive on matters of national security. That said, the challenge is not hopeless.
The government is worried that it may lose the case - yes, but that is because the government usually has a slam-dunk in such cases.

2025-09-21 08:59:55 GMT

NEW
The proscription of Palestine Action as a case study of terrorism law
Why is the general criminal law not sufficient to deal with direct action groups?
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/the-proscription-of-palestine-action
Personal blog: https://davidallengreen.com/2025/09/the-proscription-of-palestine-action-as-a-case-study-of-terrorism-law/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/241/463/498/873/766/original/4f1877b9ba05346d.png

2025-09-19 11:00:42 GMT

NEW
Has the government overreached in using terrorism law against Palestine Action?
A disclosed MI5 document indicates that the basis for proscription may be weak
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/71099/uk-government-terrorism-law-palestine-action
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/230/613/843/561/990/original/b59d6e2173cab150.png

2025-09-12 12:11:23 GMT

NEW
What the Palestine Action proscription tells us about UK terrorism law
On the difficulties of prohibiting and policing ‘expressions of opinion and belief’
By me at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/71048/palestine-action-proscription-uk-terrorism-law

2025-09-10 06:28:35 GMT

“NEW
Yield, man!”
Another dark moment in United States law and policy
By me
Substack: https://emptycity.substack.com/p/yield-man
Personal blog: https://davidallengreen.com/2025/09/yield-man-another-dark-moment-in-united-states-law-and-policy/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/178/582/540/377/024/original/8762ff9b651632bc.png

2025-09-05 11:04:25 GMT

- reply

And she has gone, regarding a point of law which few lawyers would know the answer to.
But she should have got specialist advice.

2025-09-04 14:35:29 GMT

- reply

I just know that tax law makes my brain fuzz, trust law involving those without own capacity makes my brain fuzzier, and my basic knowledge of deeming provisions would not save me.
I would want to stick pencils up my nose and go 'wibble' if I were faced with this.
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/146/522/983/333/248/original/d6f3725f31985600.jpeg

2025-09-04 14:24:47 GMT

On Angela Rayner and tax law
- a brief post by me
Substack - https://emptycity.substack.com/p/on-angela-rayner-and-tax-law
Own blog: https://davidallengreen.com/2025/09/on-angela-rayner-and-tax-law/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/146/481/803/257/853/original/88a1461120248423.png

2025-08-28 11:51:38 GMT

NEW
The UK constitution is even more vulnerable than the US constitution
In the face of an illiberal radical assault, what has happened politically in America could easily happen in the UK
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/70928/the-uk-constitution-is-more-vulnerable-than-the-us-constitution
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/115/106/243/120/584/650/original/83af970cac9f1c70.jpeg

2025-08-28 07:36:00 GMT

- reply

Thats seems a fair point

2025-08-27 09:46:20 GMT

NEW
Yes, an incoming illiberal and radical UK government would have absolute constitutional power
By me
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/yes-an-incoming-illiberal-and-radical
Personal blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/08/yes-an-incoming-illiberal-and-radical-uk-government-would-have-absolute-constitutional-power/

2025-08-19 09:14:53 GMT

The recognition of Palestine - a footnote to yesterday's post
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/the-recognition-of-palestine-a-footnote
Personal blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/08/the-recognition-of-palestine-a-footnote-to-yesterdays-post/

2025-08-18 18:52:48 GMT

On the recognition of Palestine
A close look at an unconvincing letter from "distinguished" UK lawyers
By me
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/on-the-recognition-of-palestine
Personal blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/08/on-the-recognition-of-palestine-a-close-look-at-an-unconvincing-letter-from-distinguished-uk-lawyers/

2025-08-13 17:08:32 GMT

This is a good post on a disputed topic.
Am thinking of writing on the topic this week at Prospect.
https://www.ejiltalk.org/no-recognizing-palestine-would-not-be-contrary-to-international-law/

2025-08-08 11:28:01 GMT

NEW
What makes a legal person?
If invisible corporations and inanimate objects can be legal persons, so can rivers and animals
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/70796/what-makes-a-legal-person

2025-08-08 07:28:17 GMT

This is a horrific possibility.
But, if true, neither the IT fail nor the cover-up would surprise anybody with regular dealings with the court system.
Indeed, it is hardly now a 'system' - just constant improvisations in an under-funded process, not fit for purpose.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwye2q00k51o

2025-08-06 18:12:58 GMT

Help please!
It is soon time for my annual lecture on legal blogging and social media.
Can you please offer any links or examples of legal commentary on a blog or social media account which you have found especially useful.
In particular, anything which has changed your mind on something?

2025-08-05 09:27:39 GMT

Prohibitions are not spells.
Law is not magic.
When you prohibit a thing, all that means is the thing may be attended by different legal consequences than before.
The thing is not extinguished by a mere prohibition: it can continue but in a different way with different (and unforeseen) effects.

2025-07-17 08:18:44 GMT

NEW
Why have the terms of the now-discharged Afghan super-injunction not been published?
There can be no good reason for the substantial terms of the court order to be hidden
By me
Substack: https://emptycity.substack.com/p/why-have-the-terms-of-the-now-discharged
Personal blog: https://davidallengreen.com/2025/07/why-have-the-terms-of-the-now-discharged-afghan-super-injunction-not-been-published/

2025-07-10 08:01:58 GMT

When telephone boxes were installed on our streets, some perhaps feared that this new-fangled technology would replace post boxes.
And yet the post boxes remain, and the telephone boxes do not.

2025-07-09 07:31:19 GMT

“Jury-free trials proposed to save criminal justice system from collapse” is the judicial policy equivalent of destroying a village so as to save it.
Juries are less important for the powers they have, but for the powers they prevent others from having.

2025-07-08 05:38:03 GMT

Somewhat depressing being a law and policy commentator at the moment.
And for these four articles there could have been dozens of others similarly downbeat.
But the illiberals won’t always win.
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/815/991/477/904/017/original/52fd231690d16af3.jpg

2025-07-01 21:38:29 GMT

No idea if the US will fall further into Fascism.
But it certainly will not be for the want of trying.
Extraordinary sight over the Atlantic of a polity voluntarily self-sabotaging.

2025-07-01 10:41:04 GMT

- reply

Part 2
What Justice Barrett said - on a curiously unconvincing exercise in judicial reasoning
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/the-us-supreme-court-judgment-on
Personal Blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/07/the-us-supreme-court-judgment-on-injunctions-what-justice-barrett-said/

2025-07-01 10:40:06 GMT

NEW
On the face of it, the US Supreme Court judgment on universal injunctions is huge.
So, in a return to 'old school' blogging, I am working through the judgment in a sequence of posts.
(I much prefer such 'old school' blogging to social media 'hot takes' - and am frankly better at it.)
Part 1
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/the-significant-supreme-court-judgment
Personal Blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/06/the-significant-supreme-court-judgment-on-universal-injunctions/

2025-06-29 08:06:50 GMT

While onlookers were misdirected into worries about what happens if the Trump administration ignores court orders...
...the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court, with more subtlety, has now robbed federal judges from making the most unwelcome court orders in first place.

2025-06-27 11:23:13 GMT

NEW
If international law suddenly did not exist, what difference would it make?
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/70318/international-law-is-at-a-postwar-low-trump-iran

2025-06-24 11:36:30 GMT

Who would have guessed that someone for whom all business and legal negotiation is based on bluff and bluster would have had nothing other than bluff and bluster in international affairs.

2025-06-24 07:18:49 GMT

One of the great contests in world affairs is now between the attention span of the US president and the attention span of those following the news.

2025-06-20 10:41:30 GMT

NEW
The law is powerless against stochastic political violence
The misuse of media power to promote harm needs a cultural, not a legal, solution
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/70248/the-law-is-powerless-against-stochastic-political-violence

2025-06-18 19:20:40 GMT

Feeling sorry for any future history students who have to set out the origins of the Third World War in a sequence of ordered paragraphs.
(‘If there is a future,’ types a reply-guy.)

2025-06-16 07:06:13 GMT

NEW
On "No Kings"
How Trump sees no limits to what he wants to do
By me
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/on-no-kings
Personal blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/06/on-no-kings/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/691/771/174/873/176/original/7896c1c2c1ce0557.png

2025-06-15 15:34:51 GMT

My Prospect column from earlier this year on Trump “joking” about being a king.
He means it, on a legal-constitutional analysis of his actions.
He really believes all power flows from him.
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69322/trump-the-president-who-jokes-about-being-a-king
#NoKings

2025-06-13 12:21:00 GMT

NEW
Trump is mobilising federal troops against US citizens with no clear legal basis
Yet the president’s latest constitutional outrage barely registers on the news
By me, at Prospect
(With added Wodehouse.)
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/70190/trump-is-mobilising-federal-troops-with-no-clear-legal-basis
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/676/020/513/935/225/original/a196ff4ca0af99da.png
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/676/022/689/785/594/original/34b0337c7f22c570.png

2025-06-09 20:39:42 GMT

Dear USA
Deploying troops against civilians will not go well.
Yours
Great Britain and Northern Ireland

2025-06-06 06:40:59 GMT

Other than scale, the Musk-Trump fall-out is pretty indistinguishable from two start-up egotists falling out when their boastful business plan flops in reality.

2025-06-05 06:09:14 GMT

Another ‘review’. To go with the various HRA Bill of Rights reviews and working parties over last 20 years.
It is almost as if the Tories want to do something they know they cannot do.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgj8p2pv117o
Badenoch launches review into possible ECHR exit - BBC News

2025-05-30 12:17:12 GMT

NEW
Donald Trump now has his own ‘forever war’—against the judiciary
What began as the administration’s ‘move fast and break things’ initiatives are getting bogged down in the US courts
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/70038/donald-trump-now-has-his-own-forever-waragainst-the-judiciary
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/596/732/422/836/827/original/e2c67ed9d7dba9d0.png

2025-05-29 05:19:57 GMT

My explainer from a few weeks ago at Prospect on how Trump was (mis)using emergency legislation for his tariff antics.
Overnight this (mis)use of such legislation was ruled unlawful.
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69703/how-trump-used-emergency-legislation-for-his-tariffs-policy

2025-05-27 09:38:17 GMT

NEW
Explaining a 31-month sentence for a tweet
How a mixture of court process, law and sentencing policy led to the lengthy imprisonment of Lucy Connolly
By me
Substack: https://emptycity.substack.com/p/explaining-a-31-month-sentence-for
Personal blog: https://davidallengreen.com/2025/05/explaining-a-31-month-sentence-for-a-tweet/

2025-05-22 06:57:09 GMT

The irony of prisons policy is that so many in politics and media are prisoners of "tough on crime" rhetoric, and they cannot get released.

2025-05-19 16:48:27 GMT

“Brexit means we can make our own agreements with the EU, as we pick and choose!”
- UK chooses to make agreement with EU on a handful of issues.
“Brexit Betrayed!”

2025-05-12 06:14:52 GMT

At least this is true: it is a very transparent deal.
Everyone can see straight through it.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/11/trump-accept-luxury-plane-gift-qatar
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/493/390/077/318/746/original/7f820ce99b2f304c.png

2025-05-09 13:34:15 GMT

NEW
A close reading of the "AI" fake cases judgment
Why it is the very plausibility of AI-generated case law that should put lawyers on their guard
By me
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/a-close-reading-of-the-ai-fake-cases
Personal blog
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/05/a-close-reading-of-the-ai-fake-cases-judgment/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/478/129/790/487/916/original/c68ba8ee734350a0.png
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/478/130/476/355/119/original/888bcabda41621a3.png
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/478/130/917/737/022/original/88907bc3a9ba3a79.png

2025-05-08 11:18:26 GMT

NEW
The use of artificial intelligence in courts: a warning
A judge deployed an onerous sanction when lawyers seemed to use fake, AI-generated case law
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69890/artificial-intelligence-in-courts-a-warning

2025-05-05 06:21:44 GMT

This week, boys and girls, we are going to find out all about why tariffs are not normally applied to service industries.

2025-04-25 12:16:41 GMT

NEW
Uncovering the secrets of ARIA
How an ‘advanced’ scientific body was reduced to claiming environmental information was not ‘environmental information’
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69798/uncovering-the-secrets-of-aria

2025-04-07 14:02:13 GMT

The grim fascination of doom-scrolling business live-blogs, with their terrifying implications for the real-world economy.
Like watching the floors flash by on the controls of a crashing elevator.

2025-04-07 08:50:25 GMT

NEW POST ON FORCE MAJEURE
How Trump's tariffs can be a Force Majeure event for some contracts
And why it depends on what a particular contract says
By me
Substack:
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/how-trumps-tariffs-can-be-a-force
Personal blog:
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/04/how-trumps-tariffs-can-be-a-force-majeure-event-for-some-contracts/

2025-04-03 11:54:06 GMT

NEW
When should a democracy stop politicians from running for office?
Looking at the legal barriers now faced by Donald Trump and by Marine Le Pen.
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/law-and-government/69669/when-should-a-democracy-stop-politicians-from-running-for-office

2025-03-30 10:03:39 GMT

Printer advice please
I use a Mac, and my printer is currently a HP Envy.
Requirements: I have to print off (a) case reports, (b) legal documents, (c) journal articles - usually one a day, 5 to 50 pages. Please accept this, it won't change. I have to have physical documents to "gut" them, as a lawyer and as a commentator. Some of you get the benefit of this in my blogging.
I feel as if paying a huge amount monthly to HP is not efficient.
Given my requirements, what is a good alternative?

2025-03-26 20:58:33 GMT

Good news and bad news.
Good news: in several matters, the US government plainly have not thought-through their policies and so are facing repeated set backs in courts. Amateur hour stuff.
Bad news: they still have four years to get their act together.

2025-03-22 06:32:09 GMT

The only reason a thing has not been abolished, a thing has not been banned, or an individual or firm has not had some measure against them, is…
…Trump has not thought of it yet.
Authoritarianism as stream-of-consciousness.

2025-03-20 10:53:30 GMT

NEW
“We will deport you if we have evidence against you, and deport you if we do not”
On an extraordinary witness statement from the US government - and how it has adopted the logic of the Ducking Stool
By me, at Prospect
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69560/well-deport-you-if-we-have-evidence-against-you-and-if-we-do-not

2025-03-19 11:47:24 GMT

NEW
By me
Making sense of the Trump-Roberts exchange about impeachment
Two public statements about the impeachment of judges – and why the Roberts one is highly significant
Substack
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/making-sense-of-the-trump-roberts
Personal blog
https://davidallengreen.com/2025/03/making-sense-of-the-trump-roberts-exchange-about-impeachment/
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/188/930/921/260/668/original/78286c2e1c09fe08.png

2025-03-19 09:00:07 GMT

Query - help please?
Somebody once sought to work out all the rules of a sport (I think cricket?), not by reference to the rule book, but just by pure observation and induction/deduction alone from what they saw, match after match.
Ring any bell for anyone? I would love to track this down.

2025-03-18 21:58:43 GMT

- reply

I will keep calling it for a crisis until and unless the US federal government gets a grip and openly accepts that it has to comply with court orders - and then properly complies with those orders.
And that it does not play "Oopsie" instead.

2025-03-18 21:56:00 GMT

US still has a constitutional crisis.
And there is still bad and mad stuff happening there.
But.
The courts are not surrendering, and the crisis may begin to abate.
Thereby situation not (yet) hopeless.
Still could get (far) worse, of course, but not necessarily so.

2025-03-18 14:49:28 GMT

The president of the United States is a little disappointed with the judge in the deportations case.
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/183/986/497/101/468/original/5fedcf8a0dd87888.png

2025-03-17 17:54:15 GMT

- reply

Suspecting something like this may be afoot, my “weekly constitutional” post at @prospectmagazine.co.uk a few weeks ago was on that 2021 UK Supreme Court decision.
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69270/can-a-government-choose-which-court-orders-to-comply-with
In UK it is *never* for a government to decide which court orders it complies with.

2025-03-17 17:53:20 GMT

- reply

The government cannot pick and choose.
So even taking the federal government’s position that the court had no power to make such an order, the correct route would have been to appeal the order not disregard it.
At least that would be the UK position.

2025-03-17 17:52:30 GMT

There are two distinct issues.
The first is whether the federal government (believed it) had any sound legal basis for disagreeing with the court order.
But the second is more important: whether the federal government can elect which court orders it complies with when it thinks the court is wrong.
In UK, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed as recently as 2021 that even if a court has erred, the government must still comply with the order until that order is set aside.

2025-03-17 14:27:31 GMT

Ah hello, the pivot from “it’s not unconstitutional” to “so what if it’s unconstitutional”.
We have been expecting you.