Facebook tribute group runs afoul of publication ban

There should never have been such a ban in the first place. It flies in the face of appeal decisions. Outside of a charge of incest, which by its nature would narrow the class of potential victims to an easily identifiable class, it would be an extraordinary case indeed where there would be any reason whatsoever to impose a ban on the name of the accused. It was made here by the judge without any consideration of the law -- and the lawyers are partly to blame, as they have an obligation under their rules of professional conduct (which have the force of law to them) to bring all relevant cases to the attention of the court even if the cases are not in their favour. They essentially misled the judge, although on the judge's part, he or she should have known the basics of the law on publication bans. It is astounding how few do. And the judge was wrong to grant the ban without asking "give me some case law that says what my jurisdiction is to grant such an order." Lazy lawyers, lazy judge. It happens everywhere, although I have to say that Nova Scotia seems to have a system that far and away best ensures respect for the rights of the media and public to an open court.