Wikipedia and the Law

Listen to enough law school humor and you’ll eventually hear, “you should cite Wikipedia in your brief” -- at which point you may simultaneously laugh and attempt to off yourself. The weird thing is it’s no longer just a bad joke.

This New York Times article talks about courts citing Wikipedia and I’ve taken the liberty of pulling this short exerpt:

“A simple search of published court decisions shows that Wikipedia is frequently cited by judges around the country, involving serious issues and the bizarre — such as a 2005 tax case before the Tennessee Court of Appeals concerning the definition of “beverage” that involved hundreds of thousands of dollars, and, just this week, a case in Federal District Court in Florida that involved the term “booty music” as played during a wet T-shirt contest.
More than 100 judicial rulings have relied on Wikipedia, beginning in 2004, including 13 from circuit courts of appeal, one step below the Supreme Court. (The Supreme Court thus far has never cited Wikipedia.)”


Wikipedia is great for me but is it good for the courtroom? Like today, I was reading this article on Deadspin which reads in part, “Ricky [Williams] is dangerously close to the ability to autofellate.” Not knowing the word “autofellate” I did much in the way of research. [Don't click if you don't want to know].

So yea . . . thanks to Wikipedia I now understand Ron Jeremy's rise to fame and more importantly, the reason you don't click random links in public.