Portal talk:Law/Archive 1

message: I'd like to nominate the Free Church case - it needs a little work in terms of format and citation, but it's a fascinating Scottish decision in which a church with lots of holdings changed its doctrine, and a splinter group sued for the church's property because of this. The splinter group lost at trial, won on appeal, and were finally reversed by Parliament. -- BD2412 talk 22:27, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposal for next week's featured case 

message: I somewhat arbitratily decided to add a featured biography, and equally arbitratily picked Johnnie Cochran to start the series off - feel free to remove it if you think it's inappropriate. Cheers! -- BD2412 talk 17:58, 30 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Featured bio 

message: For next week's featured case, I offer K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra - a shocking reversal of fortune from a murder trial in India!  BD2412 talk 03:22, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Looks good (and it's interesting too). For a featured bio, maybe William Rehnquist? and for a featured article, I think Habeas corpus would be good. I was thinking about Precedent for the FA, but it's a bit short. I have no idea what to do for the featured picture... -Greg Asche (talk) 04:17, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Habeas corpus sounds great. As for the bio, I'd like to try to keep an international flavor - of course, Rehnquist is iconic, so I can't object to that ;-) - but for the next one after that, I suggest we track down a jurist from Latin America (we've had nothing from there). We are rather short on picture options. Maybe an electric chair or a hanging to spice things up? After all, it looks like we're posting a death penalty case!  BD2412 talk 04:23, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'd love to have something from outside the U.S., but I have little knowledge of internationl lawyers and jurists. If you have a bio in mind that you would like to nominate in the place of Rehnquist, I'm all ears. And the hanging picture sounds like a good idea, it is pretty dull here. -Greg Asche (talk) 04:31, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll look for pics and bios first thing tomorrow morning. I found this: :Image:Firingsquad.WWI.staged.jpg, but it's a bit too war-time to fit on a law page, I think. But it did make me think of the Nuremburg trials, which I think is a future featured case candidate.  BD2412 talk 04:41, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: If the objective of the portal is to educate legal ignoramuses like me, I'd believe that the featured articles should be Habeas Corpus, Mandamus etc. apart from personal laws such as those related to marriage and divorce. I'd definitely think that a COTW is in order. Thanks, --Gurubrahma 06:50, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

text: One per week seems fine, good idea BD. I'll change the FA now. -Greg Asche (talk) 16:04, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: After some searching of the wiki (and the soul), I'd like to propose Hugo Grotius for our next featured bio - Dutch, 15th century, and a founder of many ideas upon which modern international law is based.  BD2412 talk 20:30, 22 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Grotius is now da man - Rehnquist next, then I'm thinking Mireille Roccatti Velásquez, a Mexican attorney who headed the investigation of a slate of murders in Chihuahua. Also, next week we can rotate in K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra as our featured case. BD2412 T 04:20, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Sounds good. How do you dig up all these good foreign law articles? -Greg Asche (talk) 04:28, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Featured case candidate: [[K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra]] 

message: The image that's being used on the law portal (& various templates) (:Image:Justice12.jpg) doesnt have any source or copyright information.  The uploader hasnt responded to requests for some, and so the image is now at a state where it can be speedily deleted, I understand User:BD2412 is looking at gradually replacing it everywhere. I'm just putting this here so everyone knows. Cheers...  Agnte 23:11, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Image:Justice12.jpg 

message: A bit late, but I've changed out the Constitution-signing pic with one of a Zimbabwe Republic Police badge. Next week: new featured article. Any thoughts? BD2412 T 20:13, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  More rotation... 

message: As a time-saving measure, may I recommend the format used at P:UK (based on the format used for WP:TFA) where the rotating entries are set up in subpages and scheduled for several months in advance rather than being changed ad hoc by hand.  The referencing makes use of the CURRENTMONTHNAME () and CURRENTYEAR ()variables, and subpages like Portal:United Kingdom/Featured/December 2005. 
If you want more frequent updates, Portal:Astronomy has weekly and monthly changes for various sections.  -- ALoan (Talk) 00:39, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually when I started it off at P:UK I only did each month at a time: we have only just started doing them a couple of months in advance. -- Francs2000  00:46, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh, right - my mistake :)  As it happens, Astronomy have done pictures for the whole of 2006, and articles to March.  FWIW, I can't see any reason why this Portal (and the UK) should not set up the schedule, say, 6 months in advance: the number of new Featured articles and Featured pictures in the UK and Law areas are not immense.  The only area where a bit of thought is necessary (in the UK, at least) it DYK, where it is nice to feature relatively new articles.  -- ALoan (Talk) 01:25, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: We'll start on this plan in January - but we have four features and rotate in one per week. I'm not sure this will work quite the same. bd2412 T 01:46, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Ok, here's what we'll do - keep the featured article and bio on a monthly schedule, put the featured image and case on a weekly and duplicate four weeks at a stretch. bd2412 T 01:51, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Huh? I'm a bit confused by your last sentence. ALoan's idea seems good, it would be nice to plan our featureds out at once and be able to just let them go for a while. -Greg Asche (talk) 03:02, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Here's the problem: suppose we set the articles by month. On January 1, the  code in the template turns over all four articles, and they all stay that way until February 1, when the next set of articles automatically rotates in. But the page is less dynamic that way - everything is the same for a month, then everything turns over at once. But I like a dynamic page, where one feature rotates out on January 1, another on January 7, another on January 15, and the last on the 22d. This can not be accomplished with the  code, which only knows whole months from the 1st to the 30th or 31st. So, we trick the system by doing individual weeks, but we put the same feature in for four consecutive weeks (say, beginning January 15 and ending February 11). That way, something changes every week - but we set it all in motion far in advance. bd2412 T 03:14, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, I see what you're saying. Good idea. I'll get a list of possible features going and run it through here in a bit. -Greg Asche (talk) 03:27, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: As I said, the Astronomy portal does it weekly, using the CURRENTWEEK variable.  To avoid unnecessary duplication, you could redirect one week to another, to get things changing out of step, IYSWIM. -- ALoan (Talk) 03:52, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: That would save a bit of server space, too. bd2412 T 03:53, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm implementing the above recommended rotation mechanism - I'll post when it's done and explain just how to add content to it when I'm sure I've got the redirects running right! Cheers! bd2412 T 21:30, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

text: Nice. German Federal Constitutional Court abortion decision could be good if it was written up a bit. bd2412 T 04:27, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, the actual Featured articles and Featured pictures are in WP:FA and WP:FP, but you may be happy with some entries in the WP:FAC or WP:FPC archives (out of date Index and its subpages) which are good but not good enough to satisfy everyone. For example, Nix v. Hedden (although I can't spot many others in the archive). -- ALoan (Talk) 04:31, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I know, I didn't mean to imply that all of those were WP featured articles, just that they could be for the law portal (although a couple are, I farmed from WP:FA.) What I meant was, there is no real way of categorizing law related bios and pictures, thus making them harder to find. -Greg Asche (talk) 04:41, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: ALoan brings up a very good point, tho - we should have more law-related articles in WP:FA, and perhaps we could use the Law Portal as a kind of device to spur improvement on articles so they can be vetted for FA status. bd2412 T 04:47, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I would certainly support this. Not to be pessimistic or anything, but I dunno how much work we could do with just the three of us (although BD2412, you do do a ton here.).I'm certainly willing to try though. Maybe we could have a collaboration section on the main portal page and we could work with WikiProject law to see what we can do, huh? -Greg Asche (talk) 04:52, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Rotation

message: I've tabbed Hugh Kennedy (judge) for our next bio - the article has lots of info, but needs improvement! bd2412 T 01:14, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry if this has already been clarified before, but I just wanted to know if the bio should be about a legal luminary or if it can be that of a criminal as well. I am interested in articles such as Lakireddy Bali Reddy, that deal with people who are convicted in a country that is not of their origin. --Gurubrahma 12:40, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think both are acceptable. Hugh Kennedy seems good, I'll try to expand the lead and find a picture for him. -Greg Asche (talk) 20:36, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Some of the links lead to pics (and substantial bio info) - judging by the asserted topics, they should be old enough to be in the public domain. bd2412 T 21:26, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

text: With respect to articles on criminals, I'd rather focus on lawmakers and interpreters - I can see an Ernesto Miranda or Clarence Earl Gideon getting the nod, based on the importance of their cases; or even an Al Capone - but I think those should be the exception, not the rule. bd2412 T 03:56, 10 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Next bio, [[Hugh Kennedy (judge)]] 

message: How exactly are we supposed to set these up? Use the same article for 4 weeks in a row? If so, I'll start adding in the ones I listed above unless there are any objections. -Greg Asche (talk) 03:52, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Here's how it works - you'll note that each week has a different topic, starting over every fourth week. The necessary redirects are already done (but not shown, you can see them here) for the posts to last four weeks. All we need to do is add appropriate content to each of the 45 remaining links above. bd2412 T 04:23, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Inspired by the above discussion, I've tabbed Ernesto Miranda (of Miranda warning fame) for the week 7 bio. I think I'm going to look for a seal for the week 9 pic. bd2412 T 23:56, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

text: Week 9 pic is done - :Image:Sealtaglarge.jpg. bd2412 T 18:11, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Setup of rotation system

message: Came across this while updating DYK. The donkey kong bit sounds interesting and hence Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd. may be a good candidate for selected case. --Gurubrahma 06:26, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Selected case candidate 

message: "Law is the formal regime that orders human activities and relations through systematic application of the force of politically organized society."
Jesus Christ! Couldn't we get a less PoV and more up-to-date definition? This looks like John Austin speaking! Velho 03:52, 22 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: please see discussion in law page also; it's quite difficult to start the page with a definition and if people want one, that's what analytic jurisprudence is about, where everyone has a big ol' fight about what the definition is! Wikidea 00:09, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Initial definition 

message: I've tapped two great English Jurists for bios - Edward Coke for week 15, and William Blackstone for week 27 (so we don't have two back to back). Cheers! bd2412 T 01:33, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Selected bios 

message: I have been actively trying to add a law template to every law page I come across.  I think the template can use a lot of improvement, and so I would really like people to help with it. Chart123 02:02, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  To Do Suggestion: Law Templates 

message: BD et al - ok, how about (1) Mens rea for selected article, (2) Lawrence v. Texas for a selected case, (3) Judith Sheindlin for selected bio, and (4) this picture of the Supreme Court of Victoria for selected picture? - Jersyko·talk 13:12, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: All good... working 'em in. bd2412 T 19:46, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Someone should put together an article on riding circuit. Aboutmovies 18:18, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Suggestions 

message: Just noting that a Portal:Criminal justice exists, so we should probably coordinate with that one. bd2412 T 22:35, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Portal:Criminal justice]] 

message: I've re-arranged the categories a bit, and added a new one - selected statute, starting with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (not exactly a "statute", but within the  realm of reason). bd2412 T 15:43, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  New category of stuff... 

message: I just changed the portal colour to match the template(although it could've gone the other way-I'm not really predisposed to either purple or green!). I hope this is okay, but perhaps future changes could do the same? Also, please excuse the messing about with the selected articles, etc, where I wasn't quite sure how it worked. I updated the page in the archive with a short explanation, and introduced the links down the bottom so people coming to the page will understand. Please alter if what I wrote there was incorrect.Wikidea 03:39, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Recent changes 

message: I would like to propose that the Bible article be revised and split between Law category and that of the Religion it is in now.
My argument is rather simple. 
For the original users of the Hebrew Bible known as Torah in English, the text represents, as the introductory page on law category suggests, a primary source of legal and judiciary administration of their society, and continues to be practiced as such today. The fact that the individual is asked to believe that the law eminates from God or not does not reduce its significance to the understanding and practice of law. Nor is this belief required in the practice of law which is dependent on evidence and argument.
On the other hand the Christian use of the Hebrew Bible text is not used for its legal application, but its primarily moral values. The Christian church had never fully implimented the legal mechanisms and methods inherrent in the Torah, and has been suplemented and replaced in application throughout the World. The moral part of the text requires belief rather then logical argument or evidence from the practitioner, and therefore does belong in the religion category.--Mrg3105 03:39, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I suppose it's certainly an important part of the History of Law, or the Law of Israel? Maybe you could start adding the information you know to a new section on those pages? That could be really useful. Wikidea 08:26, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Change in category assignment 

message: Hello all, I created a new article United States v. Curtiss-Wright. It still needs improvement and more of what the case law says.Charleenmerced  Talk 15:08, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Merged and redirected to existing United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.. Cheers! bd2412 T 15:39, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: New article

message: The article is about demography. You may write an article about legal aspects of anything, but it woul dbe a new article. If this article is about law, almost any historical article is about law. Is this your idea of this portal?
Xx236 13:58, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Demographic estimates of the German exodus from Eastern Europe 

message: I noticed accidentally that although there is a list of UK High court Judges, there are individual articles for only a very few. Dothe people here consider that they are not notable? DGG 23:30, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: High court Judges