Description:

There are a handful of legal thoughts that can be found again and again whenever we inspect a law. These legal thoughts can be thought of as the 'DNA' or 'genetic code' of a law. Each can be considered a part of a law. Assemble the parts together and, voilá, the parts form the structure of a law. The words of a law, like ornaments, adorn the structure of a law. The words change; the structure stays the same. It repeats itself again and again in every instance of a law. To generate a law's meaning, both its words and its structure cooperate. Anyone who wishes to push meaning into or pull meaning out of a law must be mindful of a law's structure. Any failure to respect the structure of a law generates inscrutable legalese and legal misunderstanding. Can you number and name the parts of a law? If not, your legal thinking is sloppy.