Res ipsa loquitur? The rule against perpetuities? Sovereign immunity?

Also, what criteria or decision rule would you use in determining which legal rule or principle is ready for retirement?

FYI, these questions are inspired by this year’s Annual Question at the “online salon” edge.org–What scientific idea is ready for retirement?  Previous annual questions include “What have you changed your mind about?” and “How is the Internet changing the way you think?”  The “retirement question”, however, is an especially contentious and provocative one. As one commentator wrote in last week’s Science Times:

The true currency of science, after all, is not faith or even truth, but doubt. It’s hard to imagine a similar effort coming out of the College of Cardinals or the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. In science, as in democracy, everything has to be up for grabs. When the scientists and other intellectuals stop squabbling, then we will know we are in trouble.

Hat tips to Dennis Overbye for the pointer and xkcd for the cartoon.