Word: verdict
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...start on changing that—tapping the power of a little-used legal prerogative known as “jury nullification.” In old English common law, if a jury felt that a particular law was destructive to liberty, it could refuse to render a guilty verdict on the basis of that law—the effect being to side-step the question of whether a particular action is illegal by indicting the law itself. Nullification is a rare occurrence in the American judicial system, and in fact jurors are not allowed to be told that they...
...Verdict: Read...
...court, however, defended the verdict by saying that German law leaves spouses enough freedom to choose how to combine their names and thereby express their identities. It also added that Thalheim and her husband are free to continue using their original names for business purposes...
...Isabella Götz, a Munich judge and expert in family law, is critical of the verdict. "I believe that triple names should be allowed on the parent level," she tells TIME. "Names are something very emotional ... a part of one's personality...
...Critics of the verdict - dubbed the "Hadschi Halef Omar ban" by the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, in reference to a character invented by the popular adventure-story writer Karl May called Hadschi Halef Omar Ben Hadschi Abul Abbas Ibn Hadschi Dawuhd al Gossarah - say it does not necessarily prevent long names, since it applies only to names conjoined by a hyphen. A name like Schulze zur Wiesche-Meyer auf der Heide would still be allowed, notes Götz, even though it's seven words long...