@mekkaokereke Oh my god. That is a thing of beauty.

"If the perpetual term of this Declaration is deemed to violate the 'Rule Against Perpetuities,' or any similar law or rule, this Declaration shall continue in effect until twenty one (21) years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England living as of the date of this Declaration." 🤣

@siderea @mekkaokereke
Agreed, hilariously not in perpetuity but nearly as close to. Something that will be maintained by the United Kingdom government, 🇬🇧 will be public knowledge, indisputable and also +21 years.

👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

@taatm

I wonder if the form of the condition - someone's life plus N years - is a subtle allusion to the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" (actually the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998), which extended copyright in the US to life of the creator plus 75 years. As if Disney's lawyers were saying, "Remember us? We're the folks who *bought ourselves a federal law*."

@mekkaokereke

@siderea @mekkaokereke

It might well be for specifically 21 years but I would have thought it’s more to do with risk management. The first condition could technically be over very quickly as it refers to “King Charles”. It is technically possible for the UK Parliament to vote to switch to a Republic which would introduce doubt to the clause.

This is unlikely for many reasons, including a UK legal detente where Royalists believe Parliament is delegated power from the crown 👑 while Parliamentarians hold that the crown 👑 is the recognised head of state by Parliament, so such a thing could cause a UK constitutional crisis, as our constitution isn’t written down.

The super clever bit is that the crown 👑 (short for kingship) is extra legal to the US and untouchable by US politicians but is also has recognised status in the Magna Carter, a foundation stone of US law. That status is “f*ck off king!” But you need to be recognised to be told to “f#ck off”. So to tackle that bit by US law, the law would fist have to disassembled itself.

The King was no doubt chosen because he can act as a private individual while also having status enshrined in law around the US constitution.

If this all happens, they’ve still got 21 years, which is ‘reasonable’, also a legal concept.

They might not have been the first to do this, but it’s ducking brilliant! 🦆