Probable Cause

As the First District Court of the State of California has noted in a case certified for partial publication — the irony of this will soon become apparent —

It is commonly said that ignorance of the law is no excuse. (People v. Meneses (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 1648, 1661 [82 Cal.Rptr.3d 100].)

It is also commonly said that sausage and legislation are two things you don’t want to see being made.

Although I doubt he had the protection of your sensibilities in mind, the Roman Emperor Caligula developed a unique plan to hide the law from the people who were, nevertheless, held accountable for it:

[G]reat grievances were experienced from the want of sufficient knowledge of the law. At length, on the urgent demands of the Roman people, he published the law, but it was written in a very small hand, and posted up in a corner, so that no one could make a copy of it. (Seutonius, “Gaius Caesar Caligula” from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, XLI, p. 280.)

California courts have found a better way.

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Today’s San Francisco Chronicle, in a story titled “Gates 911 tape raises more issues in case,” is important because it mentions — and I’d like to highlight — something that happens every day.

And no, it’s not that the police are prejudiced and immediately suspect, stop and harass African-American males for being in the wrong place, any time.

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