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How does case law work in the US? Must these annotations be used in interpreting the law, or is it merely an indication of how the law has been interpreted pre
by mikekchar 10y ago
How does case law work in the US? Must these annotations be used in interpreting the law, or is it merely an indication of how the law has been interpreted previously? To me, this is the crucial point. If the judge is forced to use the annotations in interpreting the law, then it seems clear that it is part of the law. If it is not, then I can completely understand how it is covered by copyright.
I suppose the other question is if they intend (or are able) to appeal. It sounds like something that could potentially make it up to the supreme court if it is not already clear.
- MaxfordAndSons 10y agoIANAL but it's my understanding that, for low court cases, it's not that a judge is forced to abide by the case law precedents so much as that they're overwhelmingly likely to, so in practice the annotations are probably essential reading for anticipating how a case will play out. And the unannotated law are probably akin to a formal tech spec - not very useful to anyone except the primary implementor, and especially not to laypeople trying to learn the law or self defend. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precedent#United_States_legal_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precedent#United_States_legal_...