Felix Adler (1851-1933)

A brief note to let you know that my latest yell.com post is online.  Bearing the title “Do not speak ill of the dead.” it reports on a forthcoming Scottish Government consultation which will discuss whether the law of defamation should be extended to cover dead people as well as those still living.

An excerpt:

“As the proposed law would only take effect in Scotland, would that then lead to a peculiarly macabre take on “libel tourism” which has affected Courts in England? Do the Scottish Government want to see representatives of dead millionaires queuing up outside the Court of Session because an online edition of a satirical magazine published in Los Angeles is read in Lesmahagow?”

The quote in the title of this post is by Felix Adler.  The full quote reads:

“Let us learn from the lips of death the lessons of life. Let us live truly while we live, live for what is true and good and lasting. And let the memory of our dead help us to do this. For they are not wholly separated from us, if we remain loyal to them. In spirit they are with us. And we may think of them as silent, invisible, but real presences in our households.”