Lesson plan
Smithy code
The Smithy code is a series of letters embedded, as a private amusement, within the April 2006 approved judgement of Mr Justice Peter Smith on The Da Vinci Code copyright case. The judge publicly admitted that "I can't discuss the judgement, but I don't see why a judgement should not be a matter of fun." It was first broken, in the same month, by Dan Tench, a lawyer who writes on media issues for The Guardian, after he received a series of email clues about it from Justice Smith.
Article summary
The Smithy code is a series of letters embedded, as a private amusement, within the April 2006 approved judgement of Mr Justice Peter Smith on The Da Vinci Code copyright case. The judge publicly admitted that "I can't discuss the judgement, but I don't see why a judgement should not be a matter of fun." It was first broken, in the same month, by Dan Tench, a lawyer who writes on media issues for The Guardian, after he received a series of email clues about it from Justice Smith.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.