Writing Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Governance and law === Many modern systems of government are organized and sanctified through written [[constitution]]s at the national and sometimes state or other organizational levels. Written rules and procedures typically guide the operations of the various branches, departments, and other bodies of government, which regularly produce reports and other documents as work products and to account for their actions. In addition to [[Legislature|legislative branches]] that draft and pass laws, these laws are administered by an [[Executive (government)|executive branch]], which can present further written regulations specifying the laws and how they are carried out.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kerwin|first1=Cornelius M.|author1-link=Cornelius M. Kerwin|last2=Furlong|first2=Scott R.|year=2019|title=Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Law and Make Policy|edition=5th|publisher=Sage Publishing|isbn=978-1-48335-281-7}}{{page needed|date=May 2023}}</ref> Governments at different levels also typically maintain written records on citizens concerning identities, life events such as births, deaths, marriages, and divorces, the granting of licenses for controlled activities, criminal charges, traffic offenses, and other penalties small and large, and tax liability and payments.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-08-15 |title=Vital Records |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/vital-records |access-date=2023-02-24 |website=National Archives |language=en |archive-date=24 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224225956/https://www.archives.gov/research/vital-records |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Governance]] systems also produce [[policy|policies]] to shape society's activities, sometimes also [[International treaty|at the international level]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoffman |first1=Steven J. |last2=Baral |first2=Prativa |last3=Rogers Van Katwyk |first3=Susan |last4=Sritharan |first4=Lathika |last5=Hughsam |first5=Matthew |last6=Randhawa |first6=Harkanwal |last7=Lin |first7=Gigi |last8=Campbell |first8=Sophie |last9=Campus |first9=Brooke |last10=Dantas |first10=Maria |last11=Foroughian |first11=Neda |last12=Groux |first12=Gaëlle |last13=Gunn |first13=Elliot |last14=Guyatt |first14=Gordon |last15=Habibi |first15=Roojin |last16=Karabit |first16=Mina |last17=Karir |first17=Aneesh |last18=Kruja |first18=Krista |last19=Lavis |first19=John N. |last20=Lee |first20=Olivia |last21=Li |first21=Binxi |last22=Nagi |first22=Ranjana |last23=Naicker |first23=Kiyuri |last24=Røttingen |first24=John-Arne |last25=Sahar |first25=Nicola |last26=Srivastava |first26=Archita |last27=Tejpar |first27=Ali |last28=Tran |first28=Maxwell |last29=Zhang |first29=Yu-qing |last30=Zhou |first30=Qi |last31=Poirier |first31=Mathieu J. P. |title=International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=9 August 2022 |volume=119 |issue=32 |pages=e2122854119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2122854119 |pmid=35914153 |pmc=9372541 |bibcode=2022PNAS..11922854H }} * University press release: {{cite news |title=Do international treaties actually work? Study says they mostly don't |url=https://phys.org/news/2022-08-international-treaties-dont.html |access-date=15 September 2022 |work=[[York University]] |language=en |archive-date=15 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220915095030/https://phys.org/news/2022-08-international-treaties-dont.html |url-status=live }}</ref> e.g., allocating [[budget]]s and regulating or actuating [[economic]] mechanisms, ideally towards collective [[goal]]s and [[value (ethics)|values]] such as safety and health or [[problem solving|addressing]] identified problems.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kirlin |first1=J. J. |title=What Government Must Do Well: Creating Value for Society |journal=Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory |date=1 January 1996 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=161–185 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.jpart.a024298|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=X |last2=Ramesh |first2=M |last3=Howlett |first3=M |title=Policy capacity: A conceptual framework for understanding policy competences and capabilities |journal=Policy and Society |date=1 September 2015 |volume=34 |issue=3–4 |pages=165–171 |doi=10.1016/j.polsoc.2015.09.001|s2cid=154823584 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kerwin |first1=Cornelius M. |last2=Furlong |first2=Scott R. |title=Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Law and Make Policy |year=2018 |publisher=CQ Press |isbn=978-1-4833-5282-4 }}{{page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref> These also include systems at subnational levels, such as cities and multinational corporations (e.g., [[corporate governance]] and Web platform governance). Written legal codes in modern governments are typically produced by legislative branches and provide standardized rules for commercial, civil, and lawful activity.<ref>{{Cite book |editor1-last=Gibbons |editor1-first=John |title=Language and the law |publisher=Longman |year=1994 |location=New York|ISBN=9780582101456}}{{page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref> The legal codes also provide remedies and penalties for violations of the rules, as well as procedures for their enforcement. In the United States, legal proceedings in courts produce written records, which can be appealed based on the written records to higher courts. Written records carry particular evidentiary weight in court proceedings. Lawyers also offer [[Legal writing|written briefs]] for initial proceedings, subsequent appeals, and other points at issue; maintain files on the cases they are engaged with; and negotiate written agreements that might resolve cases. Judges produce written opinions that may then be treated as precedent for subsequent cases.<ref>Tiersma, P. (2008). Writing, Text, and the Law. ''Handbook of Research on Writing: History, Society, School, Individual, Text,'' New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. pp. 125–137.</ref><ref>Tiersma, P. (2010). ''Parchment, Paper, Pixels: Law and the Technologies of Communication''. University of Chicago Press.{{page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref><ref>Tiersma, P & Solan, L. (Eds.) (2012). ''The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law.'' Oxford University Press.{{page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref> Police departments and other bodies charged with the enforcement of laws and maintenance of civil, commercial, or criminal order regularly must produce reports of the interactions with community members, actions taken, the process and results of inquiries, and the disposition of cases.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seawright |first=Leslie |title=Genre of Power: Police Report Writers and Readers in the Justice System |publisher=National Council of Teachers of English |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-8141-1842-9 |series=Studies in Writing and Rhetoric |location=Urbana, IL}}</ref> Such cases are often initiated by written complaints by those alleging injury, thereby opening a file on the case, which then aggregates all the related documents and reports to follow. These files serve as the basis for processing the case, as potential evidence in legal proceedings, and for monitoring and making accountable the working of these departments.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yu |first1=Han |last2=Monas |first2=Natalie |title=Recreating the Scene: An Investigation of Police Report Writing |journal=Journal of Technical Writing and Communication |date=January 2020 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=35–55 |doi=10.1177/0047281618812441 |s2cid=69505178 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carpenter |first1=Michael |title=Put It in Writing: The Police Policy Manual |journal=FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin |date=October 2000 |volume=69 |issue=10 |pages=1–5 |id={{NCJ|185444}} |oclc=4769477311 |url=http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2000/oct00leb.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010913015326/http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2000/oct00leb.pdf |archive-date=13 September 2001 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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