As Orin wisely notes in the immediately preceding post, the typical law review article first footnote disclaimer ”all errors are the author’s alone” provides no useful information to the reader. Below are some alternatives which I have used:
“All errors are society’s fault.” 29 Hamline L. Rev. 520.
“Any errors are the fault of no-one in particular; rather, society itself is to blame.” 68 Alb. L. Rev. 305.
“All errors are the authors’ sole responsibility, but persons aggrieved by any such errors are encouraged to sue the companies which manufactured our computers.” 34 Conn. L. Rev. 157.
“Any errors in this article are the fault of society, and cannot be blamed on an individual.” 18 St. Louis U. Pub. L. Rev. 99.
“Errors are entirely the responsibility of sinister unknown forces, not the authors.” 30 Conn. L. Rev. 59.
Feel free to use any of these, provided of course that you include a citation to the original source. :)
Orin’s post may also be considered an oblique foreshadowing of the 2014 bestselling book: Barack Obama, My Autobiography, Part III: The Four Presidential Years, with the first footnote stating, “All my errors were because I did not listen to Cass Sunstein.”
asg says:
Also:
“Please blame only the author for all errors; he promises to do better next time.” 111 Tax Notes 373 (Lexis: 2006 TNT 74-30).
September 7, 2010, 5:20 ambill. says:
“And yet, I blame society — society made me what I am.”
otherwise known as the Repo Man disclaimer.
September 7, 2010, 7:48 amArkady says:
How about
* If you take any of this seriously, it’s your own fault.
September 7, 2010, 8:35 amwfjag says:
“All errors are those of the students who helped research and edit this article.”
September 7, 2010, 9:13 amJustin says:
Cute. Socialist, but cute….
PS – The definition of a Kopel has expanded from “a post purportedly defending Obama but containing a random, unrelated, and hackish criticism of Obama,” to “any post containing a random, unrelated, and hackish criticism of Obama.”
September 7, 2010, 9:23 amBrent says:
Defensive graciousness is weak. Better “All errors are fantastic projections of your inferior mind. Seek help.”
September 7, 2010, 9:24 amgeoff lefkowitz says:
Why own only the downside? “All errors, salient points and brilliant analysis are mine and nobody else’s.”
September 7, 2010, 9:38 amstephanie says:
I pwn ALL error.
All your error are belong to me.
September 7, 2010, 9:43 amB.D. says:
“If you feel that this article contains any errors, kindly write them down on a roll of toilet paper and mail it to my toilet.”
September 7, 2010, 10:01 amChris Travers says:
How about:
“Author is omniscient. All errors are due to the failure of the reader to comprehend.”
September 7, 2010, 10:30 amwhizzer_white says:
“all errors are george bush’s fault.”
September 7, 2010, 10:45 amEMB says:
Shouldn’t that be “that” instead of “which”? I think we may need some more information about your computer…
September 7, 2010, 10:51 amB.O. says:
“All errors can be
September 7, 2010, 10:52 amfixedignored with a round of golf.”nineure says:
More to the point:
“All ‘errors’ shall be explicated away in a follow-on tract.”
September 7, 2010, 11:04 amfred says:
Any and all errors in this paper belongs to I.
September 7, 2010, 11:11 amhumankind says:
errers
September 7, 2010, 11:18 amAnonny says:
How very green of you to recycle that joke.
September 7, 2010, 11:36 amyankev says:
PEr Douglass Adams, Restuarant at the End of the Universe,
September 7, 2010, 12:44 pmBill N says:
My favorite is from a book–can’t remember title or author–who thanked his parents, siblings, spouse, and children, then blamed the children for any errors that remained.
September 7, 2010, 1:28 pmguy in the veal calf office says:
Fix the problem, not the blame.
September 7, 2010, 1:49 pmUgh says:
I like these alternatives better than the “all errors are the fault of the author alone” variety because they do, in fact, provide useful information to the reader about the author.
September 7, 2010, 2:07 pmDyspeptic Curmudgeon says:
“I am an adult. I take no responsibility for anything I say or do. If any of my actions hurt or offend anyone, it is not my fault. These actions are the result of some childhood trauma which I have repressed.”
A Credo for the post-modern world…
September 7, 2010, 2:20 pmwhoopee says:
How very green of you to recycle that joke.
How very devastating of you to cut in eco. Do you also put “methane” cushions on chairs?
September 7, 2010, 4:21 pmChris Travers says:
Another possibility:
“Any errors are the result of the courts misunderstanding my divine insight.”
September 7, 2010, 5:04 pmohwilleke says:
My blog’s disclaimer reads includes the following:
September 7, 2010, 5:19 pmHarry Schell says:
I would be pleased if Obama neglected to listen to Cass Sunstein.
Would that he add Marx, Wright, Keynes, Michelle and few others to that list.
September 7, 2010, 5:54 pmPeter Porcupine says:
When I was in grad school a fellow grad student used to read over many drafts of my papers for me. When the first one was published I inscribed his copy, “Any errors remaining in this paper are entirely your own.”
September 7, 2010, 9:05 pmDave Hardy says:
The errors of great mane are more valuable than the truths of lesser ones. So bite me.
September 7, 2010, 11:36 pmVariations on the standard author disclaimer says:
[...] “Any errors are the fault of no-one in particular; rather, society itself is to blame.” And: “All errors are the authors’ sole responsibility, but persons aggrieved by any such errors are encouraged to sue the companies which manufactured our computers.” [Kopel/Volokh] [...]
September 8, 2010, 1:24 amSupremecourtjester says:
In the introduction to my book, The Supreme Court Jester I wrote:
I would like to thank all my colleagues who were so generous with their gratuitous advice, censorious comments, and annoying suggestions that indicated that they did not get my point. If their are any errors of fact or judgment in these chapters, they are the fault of all that officious interloping.
September 8, 2010, 8:52 amBlack Bellamy says:
“We don’t need to see his identification. These aren’t the errors we’re looking for. You can go about your business. Move along!”
September 8, 2010, 10:06 amGuy says:
(emphasis mine)
You should tell your colleagues about the difference between “their” and “there”!
I make that mistake sometimes, but given the topic, it was too much to resist.
September 8, 2010, 1:33 pmCarl The EconGuy says:
“All remaining errors in this article are due to inadequacies in the review and editing processes of this generally esteemed journal.”
September 9, 2010, 10:47 am