The funny thing is, when I talk to lawyers (of which I am not one) it’s nothing like this, because any human court will understand the intention of the question is arithmetical. It will create legal fictions to paper over affairs, rule the law inapplicable if the sister is dead, and go for lunch.
It seems law is like 90% precisely defined and 10% whatever the courts decide that day. That turns out out to be stable while still fairly immune to edge cases, so it’s stuck for centuries.
Now that’s thinking like a lawyer!
The funny thing is, when I talk to lawyers (of which I am not one) it’s nothing like this, because any human court will understand the intention of the question is arithmetical. It will create legal fictions to paper over affairs, rule the law inapplicable if the sister is dead, and go for lunch.
It seems law is like 90% precisely defined and 10% whatever the courts decide that day. That turns out out to be stable while still fairly immune to edge cases, so it’s stuck for centuries.