When in the course of my career I dealt with questions of federal and state law, rightly understanding and applying the law was rarely as easy as looking at one line, or even one section of legal code. One needed to consider all of the other relevant code sections, and perhaps regulations and court decisions as well. Sometimes sections of the law were in apparent conflict with one another, and I had to determine which section(s) took priority. Sometimes a law would apply only if a certain test had been met or if another law didn't apply.