h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah! A Law Project!
But I do think that "Law in practice" is maybe a little too wide to cover in one go. I mean there is constitutional law, criminal law, civil law and the related laws of procedure of the US, of the UK and of Japan and about 200 other countries as well... Then again you already limited it down to US criminal law. A subject I can't really contribute to (except for the incedent in NYC where my two mates and me suddenly found us surrounded by 8-10 cops who thought us to carry drugs, which we didn't. And then they were gone just about as fast as they had appeared.), sorry.
I've been thinking of coming up with a Law Project as well. Something basic like What does studying law involve? What are the lagal consequences of using someone else's car without permission? What are the legal ties involved in buying a loaf of bread? and so on and then have input from as many reasearchers from as many different countries as possible. Would you want to join in with that? Do you know any other researchers with some knowledge in the field of law?
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My title was very broad, whereas what I've decided to comment on his fairly narrow. Criminal law is what I know. Mirnada is something I'm very interested in. It's the only part of the law that I thought that might have a broad interest, but was fairly universal throughout the country.

If there's going to be more after my comments on Miranda, they'll have to be ongoing projects The Law in Practice I, II, III, etc. Future possiblities might be something on the laws of search and siezure or traffic stops.

I happily comment on almost anything that is brought to my attention. Of the things you mentioned, the bread thing sounds kind of interesting, I'm not sure how you would approach it. The study of law might be something I could help with. It's really not that hard to figure out laws once you find a few simple things out.

Well, get a bunch of people from different countries and have each of them detail what happens legally when someone goes into a bakery and says: "One loaf of bread, please!" Gets the bread, pays and leaves. While this sounds simple enough, German Law for example considers the whole thing to consist of three contracts ( (1)contract of sale which obligates to hand over the bread and the money; (2)contract for the transfer of ownership in the bread; (3) contract for the transfer of ownership in the money). In common law the whole thing's considered one contract, AFAIK.

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