One of the principles of the Anglo-American judicial system (the only system with which I’m familiar, so I can’t speak for civil code systems) is due process. Part of that involves a person being notified in advance anytime there is a legal proceeding involving them.

Very often, especially in family law, it is not possible to give a person actual notice. For example: A husband abandoned his family, and they have no idea where he can be found. In such a situation, the wife would not be “trapped” without any legal options; she could start a proceeding (separate maintenance, termination of parental rights, etc) and publish the notice to her estranged husband. Under Mississippi law, such notice must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in that particular county.

But what happens when there are no longer any newspapers of general circulation? In case you haven’t heard this thing called the internet—I think it’s a collection of tubes—is making life pretty hard for newspapers. It seems more and more people would rather get their news from the internet than from an actual newspaper.

Now back to Mr. Svenson. He posted a link to this story on how a court in Maine recently found that publication in a newspaper is less likely to comply with the requirements of due process than in the past.

Is this the beginning of the end for legal ads? You tell me.

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