Changes in Legal Defence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Changes in Legal Defence - Essay Example This is the bedrock of the Canadian legal system and the concept of defense is crucial in the determination of culpability. In the worst case scenario they must be given the opportunity to justify their actions through defenses. Recent events have shown unique and new cases that demonstrate the evolving nature of the legal system. These reflected in the way the law is ever changing in order to maintain a valid standpoint. An important aspect to this characteristic is how new legal defenses become legitimate and necessary addition to the legal system. There are several land mark cases in which seemingly absurd ideas such as automatism, battery and duress become legitimate defenses and excuses from criminal guilt and culpability.   Automatism Automatism attracted attention recently with several high profile criminal cases that led to acquittal. The decisions for these cases constitute entirely new elements to Canadian jurisprudence. For example, there was the case of Kenneth Parks wh o killed his mother in-law and attempted to do the same to her husband. This happened in 1987 and was a controversial event that riveted the whole country until a verdict was reached in 1988. Ramsland (2010) provided the grisly and enlightening details: He rose from bed and got into his car. Despite, as he said later, not being awake, he drove about 14 miles to the home of his wife's parents in Scarborough. Accounts say he then removed a tire iron from the car and entered the house, where he proceeded to beat his mother-in-law to death and choke his father-in-law into unconsciousness. He also used a knife from his in-laws' kitchen to stab them. (Ramsland, 2011) The defense for Park was automatism. His lawyer argued that this defense is supported by several important evidences. First, the perpetrator had a history of sleepwalking. Secondly, he had a good relationship with his wife’s parents and, hence, had no motive for murder. Park’s defense team assembled an army of e xperts – psychiatrists, psychologist, neurologist, and a sleep disorder specialist - explaining what automatism is. (Ramsland) The â€Å"disorder was new to the jury and, certainly, to the legal system. There is no explicit reference to this in the Canadian jurisprudence that is why the defense settled on homicidal somnambulism. The collective arguments presented by the experts, who demonstrated how sleepwalking is a neurotic disorder and could result in an individual having less control of his or her actions, finally convinced the court that Parks was innocent. It was declared that his acts were unmediated and unconsciously committed, hence, free from criminal liability. The cases of murder and attempted murder lodged against him were promptly dismissed. As a defense, automatism is considered to be a category separate from insanity plea. A case of a woman charged with murdering her husband had the jury reject the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity but acquitted her of murder on the basis of automatism because she was proven to be subject to narcolepsy, a rare sleeping disorder. (McCord, McCord & Bailyer, 2011, p. 254) Another case, however, show a different facet to this type of defense. This was the case of William Wade who was charged with murder when he repeatedly stabbed his wife, banging her head on the

Fallingwater Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fallingwater - Essay Example In order to prove this thesis I visited Fallingwater and now I want to share my experience and substantiate my point of view. Fallingwater, also known as the Edgar Kaufmann house, is a building on the Bear Run at the address P.O. Box R, Mill Run, Pennsylvania 15464, in southwestern Pennsylvania in the Appalachians. Edgar Kaufmann Sr. was a successful Pittsburgh businessman and an owner of some property in the countryside with a waterfall and some cabins. When the small houses at their camp had been destroyed to the point that something had to be rebuilt, Edgar Jr. persuaded his father to hire the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Fallingwater is famous; from all over the world lots of visitors come each year to its faraway site. Fallingwater has taken pleasure to many people over the years; as an energizing weekend retreat for the Kaufmann himself and his relatives, as a source of pride to Wright and his assistants, and now--cared for by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy--as an remarkable experience for visitors from near and far.... When Wright came to the site he enjoyed the powerful sound of the falls, the vital verdure of the young forest, the dramatic rock ledges and boulders; these were elements to be reconstituted with the tenderly soaring spaces of his structure. But Wright's insight cameto the depths. He realized that people were creatures of nature, thus an architecture which suited nature would conform to what was basic in people. Forinstance, though all of Fallingwater is opened by wide bands of windows, people inside are 'safe' as in a deep cave, secure in the sense of hill behind them.The attention is paid to the outside by constructing low ceilings; no luxury in the hall but, instead, the light textures of the woodland, enframed in a great harmony. The colour of the building reminds the colorings of trees and rocks.'Occasional accents are provided by bright furnishings, like wildflowers or birds outside. The paths within the house, stairs and passages, meander without formality or urgency, and the house hardly has a main entrance; there are many ways in and out'(Fallingwater,2004 The official site of Fallingwater). Communication and privacy are both possible, as are the properties of home and the adventures of the seasons. So the trip was refreshing and I felt relaxed and calm. The active watercourse, immediate surroundings and cantilevered design of the house are considered to be in harmony, in line with Wright's interest in making buildings that were more "natural" and which therefore seemed to be more connected with their surroundings. It is important and significant as it has a large historical and aesthetic value and is an example of Modernist trends in architecture. The house represents the culture of American Modernism, and it was very interesting to dive into the epoch of the first half of 20th century. The building is connected with nature, which surrounds it and its significance is determined by symbolic meaning of eternal connection between human and nature. People who lived there or spent there weekends felt really refreshed, and as, for me, I really felt that spirit of