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1500 questions
54
votes
7 answers
Suing a Police Officer Instead of the Police Department
My car was towed in Seattle for an alleged parking violation.
I paid $350 to get it back and then went to court and had the
violation dismissed. The police officer who wrote the ticket
and called for the tow did not show up for the court…
bobuhito
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53
votes
3 answers
How does the mandate to report income from illegal activities in the US jibe with the Fifth Amendment?
Al Capone was famously taken down for tax evasion for not reporting income from his illegal activities. If someone were to report the income from illegal activities like a marijuana dispensary or a bribe, my understanding is that they would be then…
A. K.
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52
votes
4 answers
Why isn't a draft (conscription) slavery?
The 13th Amendment bans all slavery except for "a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." It doesn't appear to contain any language about military service or national security.
A draft is involuntary work that there…
SegNerd
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52
votes
4 answers
A man killed my son and married one of the witnesses. Can the witness's statements still be used in court against him?
In Florida a career felon, who is a complete stranger to my son, killed my son. He is being prosecuted for this crime in a state court in Florida. There are two witnesses. One of them is the the girlfriend of the criminal defendant, who saw what…
Alice Shew
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51
votes
3 answers
What is the meaning of “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the 14th amendment?
In the fourteenth amendment, what does the phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” contribute? What people born in the United States would not have been subject to the jurisdiction of the United States?
All persons born or naturalized in…
adam.baker
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51
votes
4 answers
Course of action in a criminal case when there is no conceivable defense
I am not a lawyer or a law student; my work is in mathematics, but I like to learn about criminal law as a hobby. I have spent some time googling and searching to find an answer to my question but have found no results.
Here is what I am interested…
Prince M
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50
votes
9 answers
Why do lawyers write contracts with language that is more difficult to understand than other works?
The recent Ig Nobel Prize Winning work "Poor writing, not specialized concepts, drives processing difficulty in legal language" by Martínez, Mollica, and Gibson demonstrates that contracts are written in language that is harder to understand than…
User65535
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50
votes
5 answers
How come the nude protesters were not arrested?
I read today about the Anti-Censorship Activists in New York (Warning! NSFW pictures inside link) who protested against Facebook while being totally nude out in the street.
I'm also pretty sure public nudity is not allowed in the USA.
How come they…
Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
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50
votes
9 answers
Can I terminate an employee for qualifying for a job through a "degree mill?"
We have recently put together an HR unit, which reviewed all our employees and found that one has an unsatisfactory qualification (BA in Public Relations from an unaccredited college). HR suggested terminating her contract with a notice. HR tells us…
user20159
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50
votes
5 answers
Why is the structure of the US Code so poor? (And would it even be legal to reorganize it?)
In the process of researching the legality of coil guns in Massachusetts (University engineering project), I stumbled across Cornell's Legal Information Institute, which offers what appears to be a complete rendition of the entire United States…
Derek Ehle
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49
votes
5 answers
Why are people sentenced to prison for terms longer than life?
Albert Morake was sentenced to 1,535 years in prison.
How can a person be sentenced to more than 1 life imprisonment?
Micaela Dorothy
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49
votes
5 answers
Is it kidnapping if I steal a car that happens to have a baby in it?
Suppose I steal a car, and there's a baby in the back seat. Did I just kidnap the baby?
moonman239
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49
votes
1 answer
Can I ask a cop, "What happened?"
Around 10pm, I see red and blue lights through my window. I look outside, and I see 7 cop cars (and a bike) in front of my house. There are 8 cops standing around in a circle, laughing -- I'm concerned because I bought this (my first) home only…
Tyler M
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49
votes
2 answers
Is requesting waiving the right to deletion of contributions against GDPR?
I just got one of those GDPR mails from gitlab.com, which pointed me to a Web page where I had to accept some terms and conditions. The same as everywhere, except this passage:
(For GitLab Contributors Only) As part of my voluntary contribution to…
rubenvb
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48
votes
1 answer
Why are Russian combatants in Ukraine considered soldiers rather than terrorists?
The question bothers me since February 2022. Why (legally) are Russian combatants in Ukraine considered soldiers (thus POWs when captured) rather than terrorists?
There is no formal declaration of war.
They are members an organization (Russian…
abukaj
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