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Current Events » in reply to Re: European Convention on Human Rights

Thanks for correcting me
Robert — (archived)

The European Convention on Human Rights and Its Five Protocols states quite clearly in article 2:

Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law

I mentioned Belgium because references I found described the Belgian legal code as being historically based on the Napoleonic Code. Looks like I took that way too literally.

Please understand, Raoul, I was speaking in terms of historical generalizations, about traditions of legal philosophy. I think most people would recognize "innocent until proven guilty" as a superior legal philosophy, one might say more moral, because it better protects the rights of the individual from the power of the State. I certainly did not mean to imply that Europe is morally deficient! Indeed, and this is the key point, Europe (with the exception of Britain) has recently demonstrated its commitment to that higher moral standard. It's the US government that has recently abandoned those principles, not only in its position that Iraq is guilty until proven innocent, but domestically in its abandonment of innocent-until-proven-guilty under the auspices of the "Patriot" Act.

--Robert

PS: SDAITech1 take note. You were recently asking if I've ever admitted to being wrong. Here's one. Happens fairly frequently, actually. See also the Flames board.

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