Hi everyone, I have to apologize for the lack of updates lately. I’ve been going through a bit of turbulence in life and thus I have neglected you guys :( But it looks like clears skies ahead so we should be smooth sailing shortly… knock on wood.
Also, deletedsoul has answered your questions. I should have the responses up this weekend. Please be sure to have a look at them and press her for more info :)
I have received some interesting stories and haven’t had time to write them up. I would like to share them though as several of you have taken the time to submit them.
Judge Oks Muslim’s right to hit wife! Thanks Itanshi!
Gambling Nuns! Thanks josepherdon!
Awesome follow up on Heaven’s Gate. Thanks Lane!
Related posts:
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Obviously Itanshi was faster than me putting gasmonso on the first story. I found it in my newspaper and was, to say the least, shocked.
A few additions to the story:
1) The judge has been removed from the case. It has been passed on to another judge (also female, for the record).
2) There have been a number of public reactions from political parties and organisations. All of them criticised the judge’s decision.
3) Interestingly, the judge had been described by her colleagues as a very emancipated and liberal woman. Probably she was too cautious in order not to be called xenophobic (big issue in Germany).
4) The victim is of Moroccan origin, but a German citizen.
March 25th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
hey, lucky break, I loose my connection, news slows down. I’d almost start thinking someone was planning it all :P
well, at least the public reaction concerning the judge is a sensible one.
March 25th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
My run of the plague continues. I’ve been sleeping for two days now and coughing profusely :( Not sure exactly what it is, but I do know that it’s kicking my ass :(
gasmonso
March 26th, 2007 at 3:09 am
Hmm, must be one of the plagues.
March 26th, 2007 at 7:01 am
Well, God, you may strike down one of us heathens, but the others are still breathing! All the best to you, gasmonso. Hope you’ll recover soon.
My paper featured some more information on the case, as well as comments by lawyers, and I though it’d be worth sharing. German laws on divorcement requires the couple to live apart form each other for one year before the divorcement procedure can be initiated (since the constitution requires federal laws to protect the institution of marriage). For a quick procedure severe reasons “in the personality of the other partner” have to be found. This is given especially if the partner wanting to divorce is physically endangered. Now, the victim had already been successful in that the court threw her husband out of the flat and forbid him any encounter with his wife and kids (because of the beatings). The judge may have made a huge mistake by quoting the Quran, as it is no basis of the German law, but she was right refusing the quick divorcement. She considered the woman to be protected well enough by the previous measures.
More disturbing is the reaction of the ministry of justice of the state of Hessen (where Frankfurt is located). The minister anounced that he’ll check if disciplinary measures need to be taken against the judge. This endangers one of the foundations of our justice system, the freedom of the courts. Rarely does it happen that judges have to fear disciplinary measures, to secure their independece. In this case the judge made a questionable but not principally wrong decision. But courts are courts and politics are politics and if the minister wishes to present himself to his voter flock as the iron fist of justice, so be it.
Morocco, by the way, has a quite progressive divorcement law. Beatings are, of couse, accepted as a reason. So much for the judge saying that beatings were common in Morocco and the woman should have known.
And yet another note on the side, a funny one. Of course, in far the most cases German law is valid on German ground. Easy. But in very few exceptional cases it may happen that foreign law is valid. For example, if a couple of whom both husband and wife are foreign wants to divorce, the foreign divorcement law applies. If the judge is not familiar with that law, an external expert is to be asked. However, this does not apply to the case in question since the victim is German. Does such a rule exist in the laws of your countries?
March 26th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
“”If the judge is not familiar with that law, an external expert is to be asked. However, this does not apply to the case in question since the victim is German. Does such a rule exist in the laws of your countries?”"
ehh, no…
No matter where you´re from, in civil law, Dutch law applies. You may want another one, but it´s not going to happen. You get married in the Netherlands, you’d better go for a dutch divorce.
Which is pretty simple, you ask for one, wait a few weeks, get it signed and start bickering over wether you or your husband/wife gets the kids/dog/car/house.