law in action

The law expressed in its actual administration, not the law of law books.

regulating theater in eighteenth-century Paris

In pre-Revolutionary France, the French king awarded theater-process patents to particular theater companies.  The Académie d’Opéra, founded in 1669, received letters patent giving it exclusive rights to present to the public works with texts that were sung or danced.  The Comédie-Française, which incorporated Molière’s acting company, received the exclusive right to present drama in verse.  … Continue reading regulating theater in eighteenth-century Paris

rationality in public discourse

In my post on real-world public reasoning, I discussed the reception of Brian Kalt’s law review articles on prosecuting murder and other crimes in the fifty-square-mile Idaho portion of Yellowstone National Park.  Prof. Kalt responded with an email to me.  Since this was before my email and telephone policy statement, I will not post his … Continue reading rationality in public discourse

public utility tariffs in an online, semantic web

Public utility tariffs are typically established through a formal administrative process that legally certifies rates (prices) and makes them public.  Hence, these prices differ significantly from commercial prices established without any specific public administrative process. The difference between public utility tariffs and commercially established prices is under-appreciated.[1]  The web and technologies for semantic mark-up can … Continue reading public utility tariffs in an online, semantic web

enforcing spectrum use rights

Policy analysts and governments have been concerned much more with distributing spectrum use rights than with enforcing them. Distributing spectrum use rights confers benefits on parties who receive them and often generates considerable revenue for governments. Enforcing existing rights, in contrast, always makes at least one party unhappy. Across the world, almost no public records … Continue reading enforcing spectrum use rights