As you might know by now, I have a soft spot for few things. While legal quotations is right up there at the top of the list, I also enjoy being able to pick a kitchen apron that fits my personality. Jillie Willie offers designer aprons that can’t be beat and I’m loving their approachable, delightful way of dressing an apron. It’s not surprising that they would have a quirky, exciting way of using their aprons in one of the most artistically demanding kitchens around today. But, in my mind, it’s the integration of the apron with one’s own interpretation of fitting in with all the rest of the kitchen wear that makes how the apron is used special.
If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to take you through how the Jillie Willie designer apron can be a doorway to understanding the terms of legal quotations. The process itself can be fascinating and more than just taking a few individual words, it’s about how the words leap out and fit into place as part of an overall puzzle.
With the Jillie Willie designer apron, it’s about being bold, colorful, simple, and making what you are wearing fit your personality. William Shakespeare famously wrote in Much Ado About Nothing: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…” Jillie Willie is about being a story and adding your own twist onto the narrative. Can an apron be compared to how quotations and other terms are used in the law? You bet!!
Did you ever just go into a store thinking you were going to be in-and-out in less time than it took to find the right parking space? I know that I’ve done just that, only to have the experience turn into something meaningful. There is always a little more to a trip, right?
First, you come through the front door. There’s the first organization that really captures your attention. The organization is using your eyes, so they want to make their product to be seen. Usually, things like colors, elephants, sayings, etc., can be detected as you walk over, check something in, and use your own vocabulary to see how it works.
Then you get to the display. In this case, it’s all about aprons for the woman in you that wants to wear something brightly rainbow colored, or something that lifts your mood because it has cute little elephants on it. Jillie Willie is about being delighted by what you find and how you find it.
Next, you start browsing. In this case, you can compare the aprons to each other, or you can think: “Oh wow! Kitchen art is definitely something that I enjoy.” Just for testing you out, the next display is where you really get to compare how the apron fits that particular feature. In my case, it was “How does it fit me?” It’s about composition and how the fabric washes. What is more interesting than that? The catch is: “How do you like the apron?”
It then occurred to me that Jillie Willie designer aprons are like the vocabulary of how legal terms are used for quotations. Ok, I know that what I just wrote is a bit far fetched for your logical brain. And I can hear the echoes of my mom saying: “Breathe. Breathe.” But every time I put on a Jillie Willie I feel a bit richer, like I’m drinking a cup of tea, and my philosophical side soars to heights of imagination. Okay, I’ll settle down now to make some sense. Just bear with me for a moment longer. Somehow, it’s the philosophical side of me that makes a connection.
With legal quotation, or a collection of individual words that come together to mean something transcending just the words themselves, it’s about flying through the individual pieces and putting them together into the right context. Sometimes, it’s about color matching the words and phrases with the right placement.
There are two aspects to quotations that differ: One is that you’re working to fit the individual elements together with your own narrative, style and words. Another is the way you change the verb used, or the way you modify how the words fit into the legal text.
And this is where I think things get interesting. We do have to wonder about this thing called quotations, because sometimes it does resemble one of those puzzles where you try to match the colors. Sometimes it’s just a single word, like when the court says that something was rejected (or not). Other times it’s something like a phrase that seems to stand out, or a quotation that refers to a particular location.
In this case, the Court states that “To prove the existence of a conspiracy, the Government must establish that the defendant possessed both the means and the will to commit the offense.” and “The evidence must further show that “(1) the end result was criminal in nature and (2) that the crime was one that no member of the conspiracy could reasonably disbelieve could be accomplished.” I know. Those are words! What do they mean? What do I do?
The legal quotation states one element of the requirements for proving criminal conspiracy. And then there is the same language broken apart: It’s not a single proposition other than it’s purpose is to rely on (1) a statutory point, and (2) an interpretation. The test that comes after that recognizes it is the government’s requirement to establish the fact. And it’s only after the court states the same legal test applies (rephrased) that you get a conclusion of whether the level of proof was met.
With that, we understand the intent of the test is to show there are risks, or violations of a particular statute. It’s about sharing a narrative, or creating that entire story about conspiracy as a single verbal puzzle that fits into a written text.
As you might know, I like playing in the kitchen and enjoying finding new ways of doing things. When it goes well, and with the right recipe, you have success (more or less). It’s about finding the right fit, to match the ingredients and see how they fit into the overall composition.
Just like the kitchen, legal quotation requires matching the words together, testing it against an overall list of requirements, and coming to a conclusion or whether the requirement was met. Finding the right words for the right place, and figuring out where the assembly is off (or not) can be challenging, just like cooking when things go wrong.
For more information on legal quotations, you can visit this Wikipedia page.