Canonical Questions on the Law® Series Explained

This post explains what the Canonical Questions on the Law® series is. Equally important, this post explains why I created that series of questions and answers about legal issues, concepts and terminology.

I have been active on Quora, a question-and-answer site, since 2010. In a significant change, Quora recently limited questions to 250 characters. Users no longer are able to include lengthy paragraphs containing question details.

Quora and Canonical Questions

In connection with this change, Quora stated that it was seeking “canonical questions” but did not define this term!

At a recent Quora Top Writer meetup, I asked founder Adam D’Angelo to define “canonical”. I was not satisfied with his answer. (See What was covered in the Q&A with Adam D’Angelo at the 2017 Mountain View Top Writers Meetup?)

In my opinion, “canonical” should mean something along the line of great, fundamental, best-in-class, or something similar.

Canonical Questions on the Lawâ„¢ Series

The more I thought about this issue, the more I thought about canonical questions pertaining to the law.

About a month ago, I decided start writing a series of questions and answers about legal issues, concepts and terminology. I tried focusing on limited-scope, fundamental questions pertaining to the law.

The Canonical Questions on the Law™ series started appearing as Quora questions and answers. The beginning of the series was Which types of intellectual property protection can I receive for my idea?

Last week, I created the Quora Canonical Questions on the Law™ blog . That is the easiest way to see all of the relevant questions and answers.

Some of those questions and answers appear on this blog, as well.

Dana H. Shultz, Attorney at Law +1 510-547-0545 dana [at] danashultz [dot] com
This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact a lawyer directly.