
Show HN: LawPatch – JQuery for Law Using Git - pjbrow
http://blog.codepact.com/lawpatch/
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pjbrow
Hi everyone, I'm a contributor to LawPatch. We started this project because we
wanted legal positions that we could call like functions (as if we were
coding).

Our aim is to make legal language simple without introducing ambiguity or
extra risk.

We think even the most technical legal agreements could look like term sheets
using this drafting method. A spectrum of standardised positions also stops
lawyers from constantly replicating work.

This is is an open source project by lawyers who are also developers - we'd
love to hear from anyone who's got ideas for improvements or would like to
contribute language for other areas.

We have patches drafted for the United States, UK and Australia. Happy to hear
from people in other countries too! Creating this extra level of abstraction
is also an opportunity to standardize documents across jurisdictions.

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mengwong
Nice work! Other projects in this space include
[http://www.commonaccord.org/](http://www.commonaccord.org/) and
[http://www.contractstandards.com/clause](http://www.contractstandards.com/clause)

I am tracking instances of this genre at
[http://www.legalese.io/#priorart](http://www.legalese.io/#priorart)

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russnewcomer
I like this idea in general, as a non-lawyer who tries to read things I'm
signing, but I wonder if foot-noting or other in-document attribution system
is a better answer? I can see struggles where a contract written with LawPatch
is consulted in 10-15 years, and there are dead links or other similar
technical problems. I don't see where LawPatch addresses that, unless I'm
missing something?

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pjbrow
Agree that foot / end noting is another good way to do it - the important
thing is the drafting technique rather than the way it's implemented.

We're using Github permalinks to cover the linking issue for now, but we're
discussing more permanent options. Would be interested to hear what other ways
people think would work.

There's also the option for users to download the repos and use the commit
hash in the document proper for reference.

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brudgers
Clear wording and incorporation by reference is very similar to the way the
details of construction contracts and building regulations work in the United
States.

Home page of LawPatch: [http://lawpatch.org/](http://lawpatch.org/)

~~~
pjbrow
Yep - that's how the commercial technical detail is often dealt with. We're
stretching (and slightly rejigging) the same concept to legally substantive
text.

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anonbanker
On a day that Drupal 8 Was released, nmap 7 was released, and bitcoin got it's
first visa-backed debit card, this is the biggest thing I've seen today.

