{"id":1044,"date":"2008-02-11T12:34:50","date_gmt":"2008-02-11T17:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/02\/11\/how-to-write-laws-the-right-way\/"},"modified":"2008-02-11T17:09:41","modified_gmt":"2008-02-11T22:09:41","slug":"how-to-write-laws-the-right-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/02\/11\/how-to-write-laws-the-right-way\/","title":{"rendered":"How to write laws – the RIGHT Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least, I<\/span> think it’s the right way:<\/p>\n

“If I were writing laws such that I wanted everybody to agree on how to interpret them, I would use the software development life cycle: First, have lawmakers (analogous to “developers”) write drafts of the laws. Then a second group (the “test case writers”) would try to come up with situations that would be interpreted ambiguously under the law. Then a third group, the “testers”, would read the proposed law, read the test case situations, and try to determine how the law should be applied to those cases, without communicating with the law writers, the test case writers, or each other. If there’s too much disagreement in the third group on how the law should be applied, then it’s too vague to be a proper law. The only laws which made it through this process would be ones such that when they were finally passed, most citizens (the “users”) could agree on how to interpret them, in cases sufficiently similar to the ones the test case writers could come up with.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole thing here<\/a>. Despite all the nay-saying comments that follow, I think this is a superb<\/span> idea, and clearly the right<\/span> and just<\/span> way to write laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least, I think it’s the right way: “If I were writing laws such that I wanted everybody to agree on how to interpret them, I would use the software development life cycle: First, have lawmakers (analogous to “developers”) write drafts of the laws. Then a second group (the “test case writers”) would try to… Continue reading How to write laws – the RIGHT Way<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[385,66],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-politics","tag-slashdot","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-gQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":417,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/02\/15\/can-the-law-regulate-reckless-sex\/","url_meta":{"origin":1044,"position":0},"title":"Can the law regulate reckless sex?","author":"Keith Survell","date":"February 15, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"This is so ridiculous... what more can I say? People arguing for LAWS to PUNISH people for having unprotected sex - but only if it's their first time!","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6280,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2025\/02\/11\/oathbreaker\/","url_meta":{"origin":1044,"position":1},"title":"Oathbreaker","author":"Keith Survell","date":"February 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Talking about sworn oaths and the people who break them.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1462,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2008\/11\/03\/a-programmers-perspective-on-politics\/","url_meta":{"origin":1044,"position":2},"title":"A Programmer’s Perspective on Politics","author":"Keith Survell","date":"November 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Election time always finds me musing on the nature of politics. Of course I must admit that being a computer programmer colors my view of the whole process more than just a little bit. I mean, I know that the political process in this country is one that has evolved\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image courtesty Flikr user umjanedoan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2008\/11\/really-old-law-books.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":702,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2006\/01\/20\/zenith-of-powers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1044,"position":3},"title":"Zenith of Powers","author":"Keith Survell","date":"January 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The assertion that the president is perennially \"at the zenith of his powers\" seems to be a common theme of this administration, doesn't it? And the assertion that president is not claiming he has \"a blank check that says [he] can do whatever he wants\" rings rather hollow.\"","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":245,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/10\/27\/the-torture-memo\/","url_meta":{"origin":1044,"position":4},"title":"The torture memo","author":"Keith Survell","date":"October 27, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"To quote: What should the President do when defending the country requires breaking the laws? Why, he should break the laws, which usually means instructing his subordinates to do so. He, and they, remain subject to punishment, and he remains subject to impeachment.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":416,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/02\/15\/entymology-of-patriot\/","url_meta":{"origin":1044,"position":5},"title":"Entymology of PATRIOT","author":"Keith Survell","date":"February 15, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"This was so amusing, I'm sharing it with you. It was found on the comments section of a Slashdot article.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}