> When there's a contract dispute which goes to court,
> you're talking about a civil case rather than criminal.
> There is of course some law which applies
> but a lot comes down to the interpretation of the law,
> and a judge's decision on the contract terms. This is
> opinion, and it's what we pay judges for.
my experience in Ireland lends me to disagree. Judges rarely if ever
interpret law, they apply it. When it is not clear how to apply it,
they fall back on precidence, and failing that the issues get refered
up the courts system to supreme court judges to interpret and form an
advisement which serves as a precident for this and future cases
should it be used. You only have to watch national TV news to see this
in operation.
The notion of a judge forming an opinion other than if an arguement
stands up to the law is alien to anything I have ever witnessed in
court. Referencing the precident where necessary is usually carried
out by senior councel employed by your lawyer when it is clear to your
lawyer that the law can't be applied directly to his/her arguement
without precident.
I have indeed witnessed cases where a judge cannot in fact reach a
conclusion on arguements raised, and will form his conclusion based on
the balance of favour of the remaining arguements as they fall within
or outside the law, disregarding points that require him to form a
personal opinion.
Back to NDA's and contracts, if you've signed up to it, without
ammending clauses, and while in full healthy state of mind, not held
under duress, and without your rights being violated in any manner,
you can be held accountable for violations of the contract. In
practice, there are few instances where anyone does in fact do this,
and it will most certainly only be done where your neglegence can be
clearly show, and where there is significant (ie at least twice the
cost of court proceedings) loss of revenue to your previous employer.
Other than that, you should view the contracts as an ethics guideline
and a gauge of the ethics of your employer. Never be afraid to
question a clause, and / or suggest it be wiped out if you dont like
the look of it.
Anyway, I'll leave the floor open to an atty or otherwise qualified
legal person to comment, I can only speak from experience which is
hardly definitive. Any judges present? ;-)
SP.
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