On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 12:08:28 -0800, David Shaffer <cdshaffer at acm.org>  
wrote:

> Cees De Groot wrote:
>
>>
>> Nope. Your best bet is probably to live in a country with a legal
>> system that has a very low tolerance for frivolous suits (in other
>> words, mostly anywhere but the USofA ;-)).
>>
> Frivolous lawsuites are an international problem.  I believe the term
> "Santa clause judge" originated in Australia.  I here "Compensation
> culture" from friends in the UK quite a bit.  I'll happily defend the
> stupid aspects of or legal system for the sake of the good ones :-)

In American history classes, they talk about "taxation without  
representation" and lofty ideals, but I've heard one of the main  
motivations was that, in order to sue anyone, we had to go back to England.

If so, our right to sue as a convenience was hard won.