Reading Law

1. If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers. – Charles Dickens
2. The trouble with law is lawyers. - Clarence S. Darrow
3. When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken. - Benjamin Disraeli
4. A successful lawsuit is the one worn by a policeman. - Robert Frost
5. The law isn’t justice. It’s a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are alsolucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be. - Raymond Chandler 
6. The magistrates are the ministers for the laws, the judges their interpreters, the rest of us are servants of the law, that we all may be free. - Marcus T. Cicero
7. In law, nothing is certain but the expense. – Samuel Butler
8. The wise know that foolish legislation is a rope of sand, which perishes in the twisting. - Ralph W. Emerson

After days of serious posting, we thought we might mark Reading Law’s comeback with a list of some of Asia’s weirdest laws. Sit back and laugh silly!

China

1. You may only have one child, or you will have to pay a fine.

2. To go to college you must be intelligent.

Phillipines 

1. Cars whose license plates end with a 1 or 2 are not allowed on the roads on Monday, 3 or 4 on Tuesday, 5 or 6 on Wednesday, 7 or 8 on Thursday, and 9 or 0 on Friday from 7:00 AM.

South Korea

1. Traffic police are required to report all bribes that they receive from motorists.

Singapore

1. Bungee jumping is illegal.

2. The sale of gum is prohibited.

3. Failure to flush a public toilet after use may result in very hefty fines.

4. f you are convicted of littering three times, you will have to clean the streets on Sundays with a bib on saying, “I am a litterer.

5. It is illegal to pee in an elevator.

Thailand

1. It is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing underwear.

2. You must wear a shirt while driving a car.

3. You must pay a fine of $600 in Thailand if you’re caught throwing away chewed bubble gum on the sidewalk.

4. No one may step on any of the nation’s currency.

Turkey

1. All married women must get their husband’s permission if they wish to have a job, they must live wherever the husband wishes to reside, and they must forfeit all jointly held assets upon divorce from her husband.

Source: www.dumblaws.com

One of the elective course offered to Law Students in the 4th Semester at Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia is Cyber Law (Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons.) Programme Structure).

Cyberspace was born with the invention of the Internet, a generally accepted opinion. Because of its digital form, it becomes a new frontier for the legal world. As humanity becomes more dependent on this virtual world, activities – both good and bad – trickle over in there. Heck, an extreme is online rape – where your character or identity online was ’sexually raped’ by another. Sounds weird and unbelievable, right? But it happens (Link). So how do you handle this?

Another question which Cyber Law in UiTM covers is data protection. How much of your information that you are giving away being exploited and used against you? Well, you do know that personal information includes you password, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, pet’s name, school and other ‘innocent’ data which you disclose on social networking sites like Facebook, Friendster and MySpace. Perhaps you accidentally blogged about it. Hey, these days you do not know who’s being paid by whom at what rate to do what online. As a human being, what right do you have against such exploitation?

In this physical realm, if you defame someone in Ashford or Muar, you will be subjected to the laws of the land as it is in England or Malaysia. But what if you are in New York and you are defaming a person or company in Russia in your blog? Are you protected by geographical and geopolitical immunity? Or, for example, you forward seditious materials via e-mail. Are you liable for any crime? Apparently, the New Yorker can be sued by the Russian person, natural or corporate.

In this elective, you will also learn the laws affecting e-commerce, copyright, blogging, spamming and many other ‘cyber’ issues.

From a few friends who are in the field, I would like to state for the record that Malaysian lawyers versed in cyber law is very much in demand. It’s a matter of looking for the opportunities before the bandwagon arrives.

For the students of Universiti Teknologi MARA across the country, the July-November 2008 Semester begins next Monday (July 7th, 2008). For Freshmen of the second semester, Juniors, Sophomores and Seniors, please remember to register your courses online at the i-Student Portal. Don’t forget to pay your university fees.

This is also the scholarship season. Please be alert and conduct your own scholarship hunt. Remember, the University is meant to assist and facilitate, the buck does not stop at their tables. You are responsible for your own future!

With that said, we at Reading Law wish you the best in this coming semester.