The rules are as they are mostly for backwards compatibility. But it is rarely a problem since there is only one object with a given name.

:class:`Cookie` within the docs for cookielib would not be able to link to Cookie.Cookie since it is not found in its scope. :class:`Cookie.Cookie` works, as does :class:`~Cookie.Cookie`.

When you use the "find-in-any-namespace" syntax, i.e. :class:`.Cookie` the type *will* be taken into account.