I don't really think Git is the appropriate tool for version control on legislation. There's hundreds of thousands of actions/conversations/motions on each "commit" to a nation's legislation, and all of those actions need to be tracked permanently. Moreover, most countries have an "append-only" approach to legislation, where the original document doesn't get removed, but overridden by the new.
Look at the UK's Hansard[0] as an example. Every word spoken in Parliament leading up to legislation being introduced is tracked and published. Those conversations eventually turn into Bills on the Parliament site[1], and eventually those bills turn into legislation[2]. These websites are all digital versions of the old paper copies which go back centuries.
In my opinion that is a bug with the format of laws and legislation in the UK and especially the US though.
Laws in countries with codified Napoleonic legal tradition have no problems changing the text of the laws on the book. Yes, tracking the parliamentary debate and proposals would be messy, but tracking the changes in the articles of the law isn’t. This is a simple GitHub version of the German constitution for instance (picking an article that actually has been amended, here the one about the military draft and conscription):
>Moreover, most countries have an "append-only" approach to legislation, where the original document doesn't get removed, but overridden by the new.
One of it's biggest flaws, actually. Completely understandable, of course, they were working on paper... weren't any reasonable alternatives.
>Look at the UK's Hansard[0] as an example. Every word spoken in Parliament leading up to legislation being introduced is tracked and published. Those conversations eventually turn into Bills on the Parliament site[1], and eventually those bills turn into legislation
I'm ignorant of how things work in the UK's Parliament. But somehow this all seems doubtful. In the US, legislation isn't drafted in such a manner at all.
Look at the UK's Hansard[0] as an example. Every word spoken in Parliament leading up to legislation being introduced is tracked and published. Those conversations eventually turn into Bills on the Parliament site[1], and eventually those bills turn into legislation[2]. These websites are all digital versions of the old paper copies which go back centuries.
[0] - https://hansard.parliament.uk
[1] - https://bills.parliament.uk
[2] - https://www.legislation.gov.uk