Brainwave while chatting with a student re Criminal Evidence and Procedures:
“You don’t have to memorize everything in every case. But you do need to remember the name, the year, and why it’s important. Like - do you ever watch Star Trek?”
“Uh, sometimes?”
“Ever heard of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra?”
(That would be a no.)
So I explain the thing. That there’s this species that talks in a kind of shorthand of historical events or cultural references, that everyone needs to know so they can share ideas and solve problems when they come up again.
“So if I said, Regina versus Oakes at Ontario, I might mean, hey, this legal situation here is a lot like R. v. Oakes, so we understand the same premise, and we have a possible solution. Only we call it precedent.”
Penny dropped.
