Law Lecture To Decide If Santa Claus Is 'Naughty Or Nice'?

Song lyrics claim Santa Claus knows "if you've been bad or good" but a hard hitting Christmas law lecture will reveal the man in the red suit's own shortcomings.

Fiona Church - Dean of the Faculty of Business, Computing and Law at the University of Derby - will show how Father Christmas could annually fall foul of a whole host of modern laws such as:

air speed limits - how else does he get around the world in one night?
working time directives - do the elves in his toys workshop get proper rest breaks and seasonal holidays?
defamation - what are the perils of putting people on the 'naughty' and 'nice' lists?
animal cruelty - does the fact that his reindeer are magic mean that animal work rules don't apply to them? And is Santa giving Rudolph alcohol, just to get a guiding light from his red nose?
trespass - do his home visits count as breaking and entering, if he's leaving gifts?

Fiona will tackle these questions and others in her free public lecture: Santa Claus - Has he been bad or good? The light hearted legal look at how his traditional activities might not meet with modern laws will be held at the University's Courtoom (Room OL2), at its Kedleston Road site in Derby, at 1pm on Wednesday December 9.

At the end of her one hour lecture she will turn the tables on Santa Claus and ask her audience to judge whether, on balance, he has been bad or good.

Fiona said: "When I started looking in detail at the legal implications of Santa Claus's annual visit I was astounded. This is a perfect example of an old established firm, desperately in need of legal advice to update and avoid some pretty big legal pitfalls.

"As someone with a background in employment law I'd be happy to advise him - as long as he guarantees me a place on the 'nice list', of course."

More seriously, she added: "Law as a subject can sometimes come over as a bit removed from normal day-to-day life. This is just my light-hearted way of showing how the different parts of your life can be affected by it, even if you're one of the world's most important figures."

The event follows Fiona's popular 2007 Christmas lecture, which took a humorous look at the perils of the office party.

Provided by University of Derby