Defining the work

[Grant Vergottini <grant.vergottini@xcential.com>]

 Dear all,

Two basic questions:

1) How should volumes which assemble many different independent works
into a conceptual whole be modeled with respect to FRBR? I have many
examples of this:

   a. The non-positive titles of the U.S. Code are not a single
enactment (unlike the positive law titles which are). Rather they're
an assemblage of acts, grouped by subject. Unfortunately, it's a bit
worse than that simplistic definition -- for the LRC sometimes choose
to dismember an enactment and reconstitute it within the non-positive
title in some other way. Also, its quite possible that a whole act
could be assigned to a note within a section of another note, although
it's never legally a part of that section.
   b. The groupings of many acts into conceptual volumes, usually
arranged by chapter. Examples include the Laws of Hong Kong -- each
ordinance is a chapter, the Statutes for each year in California --
each statute is a chapter, the Public laws of the U.S -- each statute
is a chapter.

In all these cases, the individual acts are the works rather than the
volume they're assigned to. This differs from the case where the
entire volume is the work -- examples being the positive law titles of
the U.S. Code or the individual Codes (29 in total) of California. In
these cases, its the larger volume that was enacted.

2) How should omnibus bills be modeled with respect to FRBR? An
omnibus bill is found in many jurisdiction -- although disallowed in
many U.S. states. An omnibus bill may breaks into multiple independent
acts rather than a single act upon enactment. So there isn't a
one-for-one mapping between the bill and a resulting act. Also, at
least at the U.S. federal level, how an omnibus bill is structured can
be quite arbitrary. The component parts may be found within the main
body or in annexes -- anything is permissible.

-- Grant
____________________________________________________________________
Grant Vergottini
Xcential Group, LLC.
email: grant.vergottini@xcential.com
phone: 858.361.6738