Information Overload

2957… that’s the number of purely just legal journals I have access to online through MPI. This doesn’t include their paper journals; this doesn’t include journals under any other subject heading. This is JUST law.

Sifting through mountains of books and stacks over the last three days, filling my brain with a surplus of information concerning torts, harmonization of civil and common law systems, and wallowing in the depths of my information overload, I’ve somehow or another landed on a topic of interest. As predicted, just looking at tort law is a bit overwhelming, and a bit behind in what has already developed in the EU. So I’ve been looking over the Rome II statute on non-contractual obligations and I came back to something Prof. Basedow had mentioned my first day. They (referring to EU member states) were able to agree on everything except for defamation and privacy issues.

Now one of the first things I remember from last year were the defamation issues coming up in Cambodia, where defense attorneys were being charged w/ defamation of character when they went up against judges and prosecutors. Now there isn’t quite the same issue here, but what they do have are issues concerning what nations rules should be used in defamation suits, whether such regulations would violate national freedom of the press rights, and whether it would lead to forum shopping and things of that nature. So that is going to be my project for the next 2 months… Yes there is a bit more to it than that but I’m trying to minimize the boring details, while actually answering everyone who has asked, “So what are you researching/working on/doing over there?”