Thanks for your comments. Sometimes when you've been working a problem closely, it is hard to see what isn't obvious to others. It is tough walking a line between being too technical and too vaugue. How do you simplify the issues without losing some essential element particularly on the edge cases. You're statement of the problem is a good one, however, "How to find the shortest statute and degree combination that determines the case type" is short, pithy and to the point. A lot better than my minimal subgroups ... title eh ;o)

It was actually while cleaning and simplifying the code that I hit upon the algorithm I utimately implemented. Thanks for helping me get focused.