RFC on Method of Choosing Case Study Topics

A question has arisen about the method in which Law Society members may select the topic of a case study and address issues.

Since its founding, several observers and the Moderator have chosen case study topics that they believed were suited to examination, did such research as they thought appropriate, and presented their thoughts with requests for comments (RFCs) by others. So far, responses have been constructive and positive as to the usefulness of the case studies done.

A view has been expressed that a consensus should be reached among Society members as to the topic before a case study is undertaken.

A view has also been expressed that the choices of some as to case study topics have been objectionable for unspecified reasons.

A view has also been expressed that the Society should hold in-world, real-time meetings to discuss these and other issues.

Your comments are requested by reply to this posting.

If, for whatever reason, you are unable to post in these forums or prefer that your comments be anonymized, please send me (or the Observer of your choice) a Notecard (not a series of IMs) in world, from which I will undertake to transcribe your comments to this forum to the extent consistent with forum posting guidelines.

The Law Society is doing well as a non-partisan, non-commercial research and study group. Our forum has a reputation for objective discussion and general civility.

All the posters who have contributed so far seem to be experienced in forum etiquette, and thus we have not run into any problems requiring us to cast about for solutions such as in-world meetings or bureaucratic mechanisms for topic selection. Naturally individuals will find some topics more interesting than others. It's the same as any forum -- you just skip the threads that don't appeal to you.

I'm biased -- I'm here to learn, so I'm happy with the academic slant of this forum, and that includes the academic freedom to choose topics.

If there is any problem requiring in-world meetings I haven't noticed it.

I'd like to add my support to Traxx's comments.

When the Law Society was established I did think it a little odd that Forum postings were put forward as the primary vehicle for posting analysis and hosting discussion. Having participated in a few in-world discussions I'd have to say that this was a sensible step to take. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy in-world discussions but I can see that they have their limitations for discussing studies of this nature.

I would be strongly opposed to the idea that Law Society scholars should seek permission from the group before launching a study. Research what interests you! If the case studies undertaken so far are not for you, do your own.

I think that the Law Society would benefit from an inworld presence though. I'd like the group to have its own building with a meeting space and library. But that's the icing on the cake! These forums have the most intelligent discussion I've seen on the SL forums so far, long may that continue.

Thanks for your comments, Patroklus. : )

I've been working on a civic type building with the idea of a library in mind. The property and the sim are not part of any political or commercial endeavor; it's just a neighborhood with interesting architecture and some good people have ended up there, so I wanted to join them. (See the Nova Albion group forum) Frank was considering a skybox type discussion facility above the building at one point, and I've built a spacious discussion facility on the main floor, which works well for Thinkers meetings.

But there doesn't seem to be any overwhelming need for a Law Society building....

Well, it's there if we ever want it. : )

I worked with Ichiro Tokugawa and Snoopybrown Zamboni on the re-creation of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Democracy Island. Above the SCOTUS courtroom we have a library complete with law books linked to Supreme Court decisions, and some nice comfortable space for discussions. I am sure it would be a meeting place for the law society, and we could make the library more functional as well.

It is certainly a US-centric build, which may put some off, but it also fits nicely with the law society theme.

Wonderful -- if you have a good solution for working books I'd be very interested in installing that in my building. That's always been a difficult problem in SL. But as for the Law Society, I have to be realistic -- we've never actually needed a building -- I'd just been fortunate enough to get land in Miramare, so I felt like constructing something monumental!

It's also a serious exercise in the practice of architecture in SL -- a chance to apply some urban planning principles to contribute to an organically developing community here in the virtual world.

Miramare is one of only four experimental sims set up by LL as double prim city sims. Together they're called Nova Albion. Property in the four city sims keeps its value or increases in value. You won't find that in many sims. The people who have ended up in Nova Albion are diverse, yet very committed to improving the four city sims. We even have our own group forum.

Many of the existing buildings in Miramare have merit from an architectural or sculptural point of view. The best established style is shiny/sculptural, but a fellow architect has introduced a more traditional style in a well-received set of shops on the waterfront, complete with street trees and a stone promenade. Since my site is large I had the scope to design a controlled blend of the solid traditional look and the sculptural shiny style, in order to make the building a good fit with Miramare's architectural legacy.

The previous build on the site had been a skating rink and gathering place, so this site at the center of Miramare already had a tradition of being a civic space. I took the time to analyse view corridors and greenspace requirements from my neighbors' properties, then designed my own building at an angle, and kept it to a small footprint on the site, more than half of which is treed parkland or public plaza with trees in planters. On the main level of the building the spacious gathering area where people sit for discussion group meetings is open to the plaza. Newbies from the nearby Welcome Area sims have walked right in, and been invited to participate.

For me this project has been an opportunity to do some of the thinking an architect in FL has the opportunity to do when building in an established urban center.

Check out Miramare (111, 111, 111) if you want a good view of the building and some of the soaring sculptural builds surrounding it. Hope you've got shiny=on in your preferences! : D

When I was young, I read about the life of Abraham Lincoln. You've probably heard of him. A frontier farmer and railsplitter born on what was then the Western frontier of America, Abe learned to read and write by firelight, practicing his letters by writing with charcoal from the fire on a flat wooden shovel.

As he grew older, he would trade work for books. One day, he bought a barrel of books from some tradesman, contents unknown. The books turned out to be the liquidated old library from a deceased or failed lawyer. In it were a copy of Gladstone's Commentaries (the "old testament" of English common law) and other law books of the period.

Illinois farmer Abe Lincoln read the law at night after his work was done, and taught himself the law. He later clerked with another practicing lawyer and on his recommendation was accepted before the courts. He went on to become a famous trial lawyer, Congressman and President of the United States before he was assassinated.

The point of this little story is that the study of the law is the study of how people interact in the face of conflict, how government channels and maintains its "monopoly on violence," and how learning and exchange of knowledge enables farm boys to become Presidents.

Structures and architecture, fancy places for formal meetings are unnecessary. A trial can occur in a shaded grove or in the plaza of a village. The law can be read lying on a dirt floor by firelight, and debated over a piece of cheese and a mug of ale in a smoky tavern. What is necessary is the study of interaction, conflict and resolution, the thoughtful and free recording of observations and theories, and the open exchange of those oral or written records.

So far, the Law Society has found that sufficient. As we slowly accumulate studies of SL governance, dispute resolution and contract enforcement, the material we collect will be available in books that individuals and communities can add to their libraries as they choose, just as Honest Abe collected law books for the pure fascination with what they contained and the events they recorded.

Frank Lardner wrote:



There seems to be agreement on the value of this forum in conducting the business of the Law Society. It is available to all, and allows time to craft useful and concise material, as others have noted.

The idea of producing an equivalent of books is interesting. Does the technology support this, and how would it be implemented?

Books would be an excellent additional way to disseminate the activities of the Law Society. They reach into many places, and would be available for people to find at their convenience. I think a chap named Gutenberg figured this out a while back.

I support these methods of generating permanent records, which are much more useful than holding meetings. Meetings by their nature will tend towards the social rather than the scholarly.

Thanks for sending the bookcase, Justice. The link takes me to hitherto unknown realms ; )

I've carefully constructed a new red bronze bookcase around those law books. Currently we don't have attachments in this forum, so you can see the image here.