probably going to sound like a stupid question but.....

sd123

Will someone clearly define 'LEGAL ADVICE'

Thanks in advance.

biko

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_advice

In the common law, legal advice is the giving of a formal opinion regarding the substance or procedure of the law by an officer of the court (such as solicitor or barrister), ordinarily in exchange for financial or other tangible compensation. Advice given without remuneration is normally referred to as being pro bono publico (in the public good), or colloquially, pro bono.

Legal advice is distinguished from legal information which is the reiteration of legal fact. Legal information can be conveyed by a parking meter, sign or by other forms of notice such as a warning by a law enforcement officer. Printed legal materials, such as directions and how-to manuals, are generally not considered legal advice. Accordingly, directions on how to fill in a motion form and other court documents do not constitute legal advice. There exist, however, some exceptions to this distinction in countries where the law is considered to be a trade secret and the public process a business owned and operated by the legal profession.

Steve

sd123 wrote: »

Will someone clearly define 'LEGAL ADVICE'

Thanks in advance.

If you're asking that in the context of what can be asked for in this forum then it is totally up to the mods & admins to decide.

Rhonda9000

Spot the difference

Legal advice:

"Help please. I broke my foot and this happened that happened, he said, she said, I said blah blah blah. What should I do?"

"You should go to the District Court and file a motion...... "


Legal discussion:

"Boy that recent legislation on cultivating poisonous plants sure looks pretty. I really like the bit about blah blah blah. What do you guys think?"

"I think the legislation stinks and I hope its repealed but the recent Minister for Gob****es v. Margaret the Botanist case shows a lenient judicial attitude on the whole."

sd123

SteveC wrote: »

If you're asking that in the context of what can be asked for in this forum then it is totally up to the mods & admins to decide.

That's exactly what I wanted. I got banned for 7 days for asking something which I thought was legal information, and seeing that so many threads are being closed, and people getting banned, I think the mods should state exactly what they mean by legal advice.

Thanks again

Steve

sd123 wrote: »

That's exactly what I wanted. I got banned for 7 days for asking something which I thought was legal information, and seeing that so many threads are being closed, and people getting banned, I think the mods should state exactly what they mean by legal advice.

Thanks again

It's a grey area - If you get advice here and act on it and it turns out to be wrong then what happens? you sue boards.ie?

Put yourself in their position and try to answer what you just asked.

sd123

SteveC wrote: »

It's a grey area - If you get advice here and act on it and it turns out to be wrong then what happens? you sue boards.ie?

Put yourself in their position and try to answer what you just asked.

Ok, I accept your point but what if, for example I go onto X forum on boards.ie, and ask what the best product to do a certain task relating to said forum. Someone recommends something and I go and buy it. (which is relatively common to see happening)

When I buy it, it causes many people alot of annoyance, and many people are emotionally traumatized over it, because the product was nothing like what I was looking for, but it was recommended on boards.ie.
^^I'm not going to ask a question here, because I would probably be asking for legal advice.

I'm not trying to be an upstart or anything but I would appreciate if the mods could give a brief idea of what they mean, or to show by examples of what is and what isn't acceptable....

Thanks alot.

Steve

I can't answer that because I don't know for sure.
Maybe it's because this forum is for discussing legal issues and anything posted here could well be construed as being 'professional' advice.

What you are referring to would be more suited to the consumer issues forum where people can freely give their opinion without it being construed as 'legal advice'.

I also think what you are asking for (as regards a definition) is outside the scope of this forum - which afaik is for discussion of the law in general and not individual cases that are personal to a user.

dermot_sheehan

There are examples in this sticky
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054893130

The differance between recommending a product that turns out to be unsuitable and offering advice as to parties liabilities/duties/rights is enormous.

If you recommend a product and loss is suffered from a defective product it could be argued that there is a break in the chain of liability or that a person's primary cause of action would be against the vendor/manufacturer of the product.

For someone coming along here for example and saying they are a legal professional and recommends a person does X, where X turns out to be negligent legal advice, boards.ie Ltd could be liable under the doctrine of negligent misstatement. Boards.ie Ltd could be argued is the publisher of the statement and therefore liable for the loss suffered.

The fact this forum is entitled "Legal Discussion", would not help matters. A judge could hold that boards.ie Ltd negligently operated a discussion board and insuffeciently vetted the advice offered by posters that a person reasonably relied on to their detriment.


Leaving aside the civil liability, its a criminal offence for an unqualified person to act as a solicitor (s. 55 Solicitors Act 1954 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1954/en/act/pub/0036/sec0055.html). A prosecution could be brought against boards.ie Ltd (which is a corporate person) or a poster for acting as a solicitor is this provision is contravened.

sd123

gabhain7 wrote: »

There are examples in this sticky
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054893130

The differance between recommending a product that turns out to be unsuitable and offering advice as to parties liabilities/duties/rights is enormous.

If you recommend a product and loss is suffered from a defective product it could be argued that there is a break in the chain of liability or that a person's primary cause of action would be against the vendor/manufacturer of the product.

For someone coming along here for example and saying they are a legal professional and recommends a person does X, where X turns out to be negligent legal advice, boards.ie Ltd could be liable under the doctrine of negligent misstatement. Boards.ie Ltd could be argued is the publisher of the statement and therefore liable for the loss suffered.

The fact this forum is entitled "Legal Discussion", would not help matters. A judge could hold that boards.ie Ltd negligently operated a discussion board and insuffeciently vetted the advice offered by posters that a person reasonably relied on to their detriment.


Leaving aside the civil liability, its a criminal offence for an unqualified person to act as a solicitor (s. 55 Solicitors Act 1954 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1954/en/act/pub/0036/sec0055.html). A prosecution could be brought against boards.ie Ltd (which is a corporate person) or a poster for acting as a solicitor is this provision is contravened.

Thanks alot, that's everything I wanted to know. Feel free to close the thread if you want.

McCrack

gabhain7 wrote: »

There are examples in this sticky
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054893130

The differance between recommending a product that turns out to be unsuitable and offering advice as to parties liabilities/duties/rights is enormous.

If you recommend a product and loss is suffered from a defective product it could be argued that there is a break in the chain of liability or that a person's primary cause of action would be against the vendor/manufacturer of the product.

For someone coming along here for example and saying they are a legal professional and recommends a person does X, where X turns out to be negligent legal advice, boards.ie Ltd could be liable under the doctrine of negligent misstatement. Boards.ie Ltd could be argued is the publisher of the statement and therefore liable for the loss suffered.

The fact this forum is entitled "Legal Discussion", would not help matters. A judge could hold that boards.ie Ltd negligently operated a discussion board and insuffeciently vetted the advice offered by posters that a person reasonably relied on to their detriment.


Leaving aside the civil liability, its a criminal offence for an unqualified person to act as a solicitor (s. 55 Solicitors Act 1954 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1954/en/act/pub/0036/sec0055.html). A prosecution could be brought against boards.ie Ltd (which is a corporate person) or a poster for acting as a solicitor is this provision is contravened.

Fair Enough. Can you explain to me why the askaboutlaw forum in askaboutmoney.com is permissible.
I'm sure you are familiar with it. There straight legal advice questions are asked and answered. It's more informative than this forum where "legal advice cannot be sought or given" for the reasons outlined above.

Steve

AAM is a different site = different owners = different rules.

Both AAM and boards are privately owned and the owners can impose whatever rules they like.

AAM seems to have a lot more legal types posting and modding there so maybe they can better judge where the "line" is that can't be crossed.

McCrack

I have never seen anything censored or locked in askaboutlaw. In fact I've never known it to be under the close and watchful eye of a Mod. and it's all the better for it. I've learned quite a lot from it, the practical applicability of law, things you wouldn't read in McDermott, Kelly, Courtney etc etc etc.

I really think this forum hasn't realised its potential because of the nanny mentality that seems to run through it.

Maybe it's time to reassess the 'rules'.

Steve

I've seen plenty deleted there - it's a different moderating style & they tend not to be as public about it. Same with locking, they delete rather than lock.

Their 'report post' feature actually has a warning NOT to report spam - only offensive posts.

Hobart

As SteveC has more or less said, AAM is (AFAIK) populated by both financial and legal trainees. Boards has a much wider diaspora of the population.

I don't want to appear curt, but if you find the moderation of posts a lot better on AAL/AAM, well then you should ask for your legal "advice" there.

As a rule, I would not take *any* legal advice from any website, it can do more damage than good. PM me if you want examples.

Maximilian

The rules are as stated in the stickies. There are reasons for the rules and I think Gabhain7 pretty much laid them all out. If you don't like it then by all means go and pose your questions in AAM, nobody is stopping you.

I am going to close this thread at this point. Not to silence anyone but because further discussion of this is pointless. OP I would suggest you start a feedback thread if you want to discuss this further. Final say on this matter rests with the Admins and I doubt they would see this here.