This is the kind of posting that SHOULD put an abrupt end to the
discussion, for the sole reason that it is so perfectly argued that
it stands outside the realm of refutability.
> . . . If I say "Genesis 11:7", you, I, and anyone else with a
> Bible can find the same cite . . .
>
> . . . "U.S. Constitution, Art III, Sec. 2" points to the same
> place regardless of whether we have the original or a reprinted
> copy. "U.S. Constitution, p. 12" is futile unless we have the same
> precise copy of the Constitution.
Excellent examples, elegantly combined. Law and religion are so much
alike: both are part of our overall complex of social control
mechanisms, and the basic texts of each are timeless, bound to be
reprinted and republished over and over through the ages. "Magna
Carta, p.3" "Bhagavad Gita, p.6." "Institutes of Justinian, p.15."
Page numbers seem plausible in the context of U.S. court decisions
only because the whole body of material came into being in our own
historical epoch, and has been republished in only a few
comprehensive editions. The problems involved are more obvious when
you look at, e.g., the code of Hammurabi. Specialists might care to
know precisely which clay tablet a given text under consideration
came from, but for purposes of locating a specific passage in
translation, the average reader would find the information useless.
The changes we are seeing in the way written words are stored and
distributed are in some ways more radical than the change from clay
tablets to paper, or from handwritten text to movable type.
Ironically, as you point out so well, this much more ancient and
time-honored method of citation is clearly the superior choice for
this radically new medium. But it makes good sense when viewed from
one perspective: the system of "chapters and verses" used in the
Bible came into being at a time when writing was all done by hand,
and there was no reasonable possibility of producing thousands of
copies with identical page breaks. Electronic media are more like
this than they are like modern book publishing. Mosaic reformats
http text to fit the window and font size every time a document is
pulled up. Each iteration of the text breaks up differently. Every
hardcopy printout breaks up differently, just as every manuscript did
in the days before printing.
Our ancestors devised a system for handling this which has stood the
test of millennia. What you are proposing is nothing more than a
return to the norm after a brief period of aberration. The revolution
we are witnessing marks a return to the fluidity and flexibility of
media in which citations based on paragraph numbers (or "chapters and
verses") thrived, will likely thrive again.
> Indeed, the signs are perhaps too evident. Your article, in
> this medium, had no page numbers, nor did my reply.
If I ever need a lawyer to argue a tricky case for me in Wisconsin,
I'll give you a call!!
------------------------------------------
James Quinn, Reference Librarian, Gonzaga University School of Law
james@gulaw.gonzaga.edu / (509) 484-2833 fax / (509) 484-6092 voice
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