public static Date min(Date date1,Date date2){
  if (date1 == null) {
    return date2;
  }
  return date2 != null ? (date1.before(date2) ? date1 : date2) : date1;
}

public static Date min ( Date date1 , Date date2 ) { if ( date1 == null ) { return date2 ; } return date2 != null ? ( date1 . before ( date2 ) ? date1 : date2 ) : date1 ; }
returns the earliest of the two given dates .
