Re: New 'Public Domain' Licence
On Friday 10 June 2005 11:24 am, Andrew Suffield wrote:
> > No, your parents and cousins CANNOT qualify, blood relation is not enough
> > under the statute. The right of termination flows from you, to your
> > spouse, then to your children, and final to your estate's executor.
>
> Sounds like a US perversion to me. I doubt many places have weird laws
> that override normal inheritance law.
Normal inheritance law?! That's the understatement of the day. After taking
Wills, Trusts, and Estates I am of the complete opinion that there is no such
thing as "normal inheritance law." The issues lies with competing policy
objectives: 1) keeping with the intent of the dead, 2) providing for the
dead's dependents. If the dead gives all of their money to someone other
than their dependents, then someone else has got to provide for those
dependents... and that someone often becomes the State. Since inheritance
is not a natural property right, but a legal construction of the State
itself, it is well within the State's right to dictate that certain portions
of your estate MUST transfer to your dependants. To hold otherwise would
allow the deceased to abandon their dependents and make the rest of society
pay, all to the benefit of their non-dependent beneficiary.
I'll tell ya, they teach Copyrights in a 3 credit course and its probably too
many credits... they teach Wills, Trusts, and Estates in a 5 credit course
and its not nearly enough time to cover everything.
-Sean
--
Sean Kellogg
2nd Year - University of Washington School of Law
GPSS Senator - Student Bar Association
Editor-at-Large - National ACS Blog [http://www.acsblog.org]
w: http://probonogeek.blogspot.com
So, let go
...Jump in
...Oh well, what you waiting for?
...it's all right
...'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown
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