gistfile1.rb

class Section < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :articles, :order => 'position'
end

class Article
  default_scope :order => 'published_at DESC'
  named_scope :by_author, :order => 'author'
  named_scope :by_position, :order => 'position'
end

Article.by_author
# Expected:
#   …ORDER BY author, published_at DESC
# Actual: 
#   …ORDER BY author

Article.by_position.by_author
# Expected:
#   …ORDER BY author, position, published_at DESC
# Actual: 
#   …ORDER BY author

Section.first.articles.by_author
# Expected:
#   …ORDER BY author, position
# Actual:
#   …ORDER BY position, author