by ohthatpatrick Wed Jul 18, 2018 1:09 pm
Picture a couple real world subsets:
"Sorry! I didn't know whether I was dealing with a cat or a feline."
This excuse works if the person was charged with mishandling a cat,
but it doesn't work if the person was charged with mishandling a feline.
If they're charged with mishandling a cat, but THEY thought they were dealing with some other feline, then they can say, "Sorry, I didn't realize I had to follow cat-rules. I was following feline-rules." (i.e. thinking you're dealing with a some generic feline wouldn't compel you to care about specific cat rules)
If they're charged with mishandling a feline, but THEY thought they were dealing with a cat, then they have no excuse. Since a cat IS a feline, thinking you're dealing with a cat would still compel you deal with feline rules.
Treat (C) as reality, and say
NATIONAL CODE = rules A, B, C, and D
LOCAL CODE = rules A, B, C, D, and E
If the defendant was charged with violating local codes, he could have said, "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize I needed to follow rule E. I thought we were only worried about national codes."
Since we was charged with violating national codes, he can't say, "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize I needed to follow rules A/B/C/D ... I thought I was only worried about local codes." (Local codes still have rules A/B/C/D, so this excuse is unacceptable)
Hope this helps.