

Git repository of New Zealand legislation - ghewgill
https://github.com/Br3nda/legislation/tree/master/act/public

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caf
This is interesting, but really needs to be taken a bit further. For example,
the commit
[https://github.com/Br3nda/legislation/commit/ed9e389c5573c98...](https://github.com/Br3nda/legislation/commit/ed9e389c5573c98ce8e3b7a3a07c614469303da4)
adds the _Animal Welfare Treatment of Animals Amendment Bill_ \- but the
effect of this Bill is actually to amend the _Animal Welfare Act 1999_. In
other words, this Bill is a legal patch, so it should probably be shown as a
git branch that contains a commit modifying the _Animal Welfare Act 1999_ as
well as adding the Amendment bill.

As a sidebar, it's interesting that the _Statute of Marlborough (1267)_ is
still in force in NZ.

~~~
peeters
I completely agree. I'd love for somebody to maintain a repository that
follows in parallel the real life of a bill. Introducing it to Parliament is
like creating a branch, then debating and process can further amend the
branch/bill, then passing the bill and submitting it for royal assent is like
submitting a pull request.

I'm sick of 3-page bills whose entire purpose is to remove a word or two from
existing legislation. A diff is a much more powerful tool of examining the
impact of a bill.

Edit: "Aaron's Law" is a good example:

> —Section 1030(e)(6) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking
> "alter;" and inserting the following: "alter, but does not include access in
> violation of an agreement..."

Tell me a diff doesn't say that better.

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6ren
Legislation has some similarities to source commits, in that many Acts amend
other Acts. Something like: _section 3: amend section 4(i) of the so-and-so
Act 1958, replacing each occurrence of word A with word B._

It would be nice to store that _as_ git commits, and have the functionality of
diff, blame etc.

However, the dependence on the existing format, in terms of case-law,
legislation, techniques for handling it, textbooks, articles, not to mention
the decades of experience of solicitors, barristers, judges and legislators,
make this hard to change. Back-compatibility is important. So the way to do it
is to include the present format as meta-information.

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mkl
While cool, note that this seems to be both incomplete and not up to date. The
full list can be viewed with a search like
[http://www.legislation.govt.nz/all/results.aspx?search=ta_al...](http://www.legislation.govt.nz/all/results.aspx?search=ta_all%40act%40regulation_)
and the results are easily spidered - I did it a few years ago and ended up
with ~5000 files totalling ~375MB.

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melloclello
There's so many pull requests I'd like to submit...

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tibbon
I keep wondering why all legislation isn't done in a git-like format. It
really seems to be the best platform for being able to attribute and track
changes on complex text documents with a large body of contributors.

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pippy
Now this is cool. If only we could fork it in real life.

~~~
lloeki
The problem is not forking and making changes (although you will have trouble
using your local version), the problem is making a pull request and having it
accepted.

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linhat
Since we are already talking about legislation, how good/bad of a climate does
New Zealand's law present for entrepreneurs? Asking because I have been
fascinated with the country ever since (and also with it being almost the
opposite part of earth when you're from Germany it's the farthest you can
possibly get away from home for a change ;-).

So, any Kiwis around to give some insights?

~~~
mkl
I'm a kiwi but can't speak from direct experience. However, there are a few
articles around like this one (I read another one the other day but can't find
it now):
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/11/14/new-z...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/11/14/new-
zealand-tops-list-of-the-best-countries-for-business/)

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janerik
There exists something similar for the German law:

<https://github.com/bundestag/gesetze>

Fully converted to markdown and the best:

    
    
      You are encouraged to open pull request. 
      Of course only valid legislation voted on by the
      Bundestag will be merged.

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sergiotapia
First off, why is this interesting? At least, I find it pretty uninspiring.

Second, how are the dates set to 23 years ago, etc?

~~~
stordoff
You can make a git commit with a date in the past (e.g.
<http://ao2.it/en/blog/2009/10/30/git-commit-date-past>)

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randartie
Now we know who to 'blame'

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CognitiveLens
Can someone shed some light on the xml format being used here? Is there a
standard parser, or something that would make it more human-readable? I'd love
it all to be Marked-down.

~~~
btn
The XML format is that used internally by the Parliamentary Counsel Office,
and is documented here:
[http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/lenz-8-dtd-...](http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/lenz-8-dtd-
set.zip)

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hexasquid
No tests?

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clubhi
This legislation is poorly written. Plus, we already have US legislation. This
seems redundant. Reading it made my eyes bleed.

