Property Ownership Laws Shaken-Up

UK — In addition to the previous ways of owning property ie freehold and leasehold, new laws aimed at improving the rights of leaseholders in England and Wales have taken effect. Known as ‘commonhold’, the system allows indefinite freehold ownership of individual flats, houses and non-residential units within a building or an estate.

The major advantage of commonhold for property owners is that possession is not restricted to a set period of time, as it is under the leasehold system. Under the commonhold system, there is no landlord, and every resident or ‘unit holder’ in the property has equal rights. The common parts are owned and managed by a limited company, known as the commonhold association. (Source: news.bbc.co.uk)

Call for Terminally-Ill to Be Granted Right to Decide

Hong Kong — The Law Reform Commission has released a consultation paper on establishing an ‘advance directive’ model for terminally-ill patients aimed at informing doctors of patients’ intentions. Under the proposal, mentally competent patients at risk of entering a permanent vegetative state can elect to state in advance the type of health-care or medical treatment they wished to receive when they are no longer capable of making such decisions.

Under existing medical guidelines, such patients cannot choose how they are treated if they become comatose. All decisions are left up to doctors, who can discuss options with relatives of the patient. The Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care said terminally-ill patients should have the right to plan ahead and choose the treatment they wanted before they lapsed into unconsciousness or are no longer able to make such decisions. The society said the directive system would provide more systematic and wide-ranging measures to make sure the wishes of patients are respected. Under the proposed model a patient can choose whether or not to receive a certain treatment and decide who would take care of him or her.

Medical sector Legislative Kwok Ka-ki said the system would protect the rights of the patients as well as doctors and would reduce conflict. He said the directives should be given legal authority for the system to work. ‘Sometimes, the relatives’ wishes may not be the same as the patients’, he said. (Source: www.thestandrad.com.hk)

Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Launched

Kuala Lumpur — Malaysian lawyers from Lincoln’s Inn now have a place to get together and reminisce about their student days there with the Inn’s newly launched alumni association. Society of Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Association of Malaysia was launched at the alumni’s inaugural dinner by the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, who is a Bencher of the Inn and the alumni’s royal patron. The event saw more than 800 local lawyers and friends, some who had come from as far as Canada and Australia.

The alumni’s president Justice Datuk Gopal Sri Ram said in his speech that Lincoln’s Inn was a popular place for Malaysians to read law. ‘We need to rekindle the amber of Lincoln’s Inn that has long been dormant in each of us,’ said the Court of Appeal Judge.  

The alumni is the first to be set up among the Commonwealth nations, and has set for itself a goal to establish a scholarship fund to enable Malaysian students to read law in England. Lincoln’s Inn treasurer, Lord Millet, said the scholarship fund represented the endearing value Lincoln’s Inn has placed on Malaysian students and vice versa. (Source: www.thestar.com.my)

‘Laura’s Law’ Call Over Bullying

UK — MP Hilton Dawson has called for the introduction of ‘Laura’s Law’ in memory of a teenager from Neath who apparently committed suicide after being bullied. Laura Rhodes, who was 13, died after taking a suspected overdose. Laura’s suicide note told of how she feared being bullied and her feelings of self-loathing as a result. 

Dawson, who chairs the parliamentary group on children, wants laws to be passed making teachers, schools and local authorities liable to prosecution if they fail to protect children from bullying. Dawson, whose campaign is supported by the group Arch — Action on Rights for Children, wants the Children Bill to be amended to bring in the new legislation.

Currently, schools are only advised to have an anti-bullying policy. Police Director, Terri Dowty said that there was an urgent need for this culture to change completely. She was quoted saying ‘Schools must become places where bullying cannot happen because everyone takes responsibility for stopping it. If some schools can manage it, there’s no excuse for the others. There are far too many children driven to the breaking-point by bullying, and parents themselves are now taking action.’ (Source: news.bbc.co.uk)