this entry was a distraction.
written: 5:21 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 21, 2006

One downside to legal theory is that these people are writing some truly didactic articles about a subject matter that is really more intrinsic than scientific. They try to dissect the essence of morality and come up with all these theses and what do they accomplish at the end of everything? Do any one of them come up with the ultimate answer to all the questions they pose? Obviously not, because we have postmodernism which means we are STILL disagreeing and we will disagree until the day that we die.

Having said that, the upside to legal theory is: THERE ARE NO ANNOYING CASES TO READ. One reason I hated law as much as I did last semester and dislike it this semester is because I hated - and still hate - reading cases. Most of the time I either rely on headnotes (official summaries) or mugger notes (student-produced summaries); the only times when I read a full case were when the case in question is less than 10 pages long on MS Word. And needless to say, 90% of these cases are Criminal Law cases.

I wanted to write something about criminal negligence a few days ago but since my legal theory exam is next Monday and I'm only at Topic bloody 4.2...yeah. In short though, I don't bloody understand the existence of criminal negligence. Rashness makes some sense, but criminal negligence defies all logic. Seriously: What is the mens rea for criminal negligence? Can the mens rea be the failure to anticipate that making a left turn here would result in you running over a pedestrian and causing said pedestrian to die? The deterrence argument, I've never bought, but it holds up even less to scrutiny here: How can you deter an absence of knowledge or foresight, or the lack of an intention to cause harm? If I remember correctly, Prof. MH was saying that negligence is, in practice, near-impossible to deter, and I agree. Since 'mens rea' means "a guilty mind", which means that the perp has to have the intention of causing the crime, a car accident can't possibly fit that description. Can it? Thoughts anyone? Help me make sense of this hideous monster because it won't go away anytime soon, and I need something to write for the exam.

And what about the standard of negligence? The cases seem to say that the criminal standard is the same as the civil standard. In that case, why do we need criminal negligence? The fact that some of these people are slapped with a jail term must show that the harm they caused was greater than your standard Tort of Negligence case, so how can the standard be the same?

Of course, Chief Justice You-Know-Who wrote a lengthy judgment about why an intermediate standard cannot be adopted but I lost interest after like two sentences so yeah.

I really like Criminal Law though. I get all indignant when I read something I don't agree with, which isn't what I can say for Contract at all. But then again, I haven't done anything Contract-related since my last tutorial and in the first place I don't read for Contract AT ALL so I guess I'm really, really screwed for the exam.

Anyway, change of subject. To Celene: If you're reading this, I just want to say that I LOVE YOUR LAYOUT. It's gorgeous! And I had this stupid dream in which Rory told Logan that she kissed Jess at his bookstore thing (what was it? I didn't quite catch it) and Logan got all mad at her and they argued and Rory walked away crying. Haha. I really liked that episode with Jess though. I mean I love Jess! He's like the man of my dreams. But his hair was ugly! Seeing him made me feel like watching the first 3 seasons again. Need to buy DVDs.

Also, my love for Veronica Mars knows absolutely no boundaries. The latest episode kicked so much ass that I haven't the words to describe it. Logan appeared for all of 5 minutes but the episode still kicked ass. I'm waiting, rather impatiently now, for a LoVe reunion and there better be one before the season ends!

If VM doesn't get picked up...I WILL JUST DIE. I can't live without this show. I can't wait for the next episode!

I can't find my legal theory notes. OMG. I wish I'd paid more attention during lectures. OMG I'm so gonna die.

And yet, I don't give a damn. Does it look like I'm doing anything about it? Obviously not.

I want to live in Neptune. I don't mind some corruption every now and then; it keeps things from getting boring. Things in Singapore are nearly always boring.

That reminds me. OMG LIAM FITZPATRICK IS SO HOT. That is so wrong because he's like this cold-blooded villain (in Veronica Mars duh) and all that crap but he's SO HOT. He takes the dangerous bad boy stereotype to the very extreme but still, HE'S SO HOT.

I think the sexual frustration has really fucked too much with my head, no pun intended (ew). But hey, a hot guy is a hot guy. And Veronica Mars is full of hot guys. All I need now is for Hamilton Cho, my hot Chinese Oxford-bound, believes-staunchly-in-filial-piety dream boyfriend, to return with a bang!

Which won't ever happen but a girl can dream.

I should stop distracting myself and...salvage whatever I can.

Have I ever mentioned? I can't wait to go to Taiwan.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010