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Sadly, laws aren't written like executable code. They're something vaguely resembling executable statements that require a lot of judgement by the person (tryin

Sadly, laws aren't written like executable code. They're something vaguely resembling executable statements that require a lot of judgement by the person (trying to) interpret them to actually get to something that can finally be acted upon. As such, law contains many places (usually preambles and stuff) that are there to just give context and aid the interpreter in filling in the gaps, when he centuries later tries to decide on what elected officials that formulated the law were hoping to achieve. It's sort of like having "0" == 0 in PHP .. "How on earth can this be a programming language?" .. but ultimately its still here and gets the job done .. and in some niches its even borderline-useful .. because it's written by people that ultimately are imperfect and guided by lizard brains .. and the target audience are imperfect people too ..

DominikR 11y ago
I know that, but not all laws are unspecific like that one. In fact, most laws specify in which cases they apply. But with such a law it is impossible to specify anything. It just states that private property is to be used for the "common good". What is the "common good"? I have my understanding of the common good which might be different from yours, so how are you going to codify that? This is a prerequisite to judging entities for infractions against this "common good".
- king_of_nouns 11y ago
  ..and that's why you get lawyers to plead their clients cases, various chances to appeal a ruling, a separation of legislative and judiciary powers and ultimately even judges that are voted in and given tenure instead of just hired. Yes, the state humanity finds itself in is a sad one. Patch atop patch atop patch .. for centuries (millenias?) by now. But what can you do? Everything else so far has failed in even more spectacular ways.
paulddraper 11y ago
"The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please." - Thomas Jefferson

DominikR 11y ago

I know that, but not all laws are unspecific like that one. In fact, most laws specify in which cases they apply. But with such a law it is impossible to specify anything. It just states that private property is to be used for the "common good". What is the "common good"? I have my understanding of the common good which might be different from yours, so how are you going to codify that? This is a prerequisite to judging entities for infractions against this "common good".

king_of_nouns 11y ago
..and that's why you get lawyers to plead their clients cases, various chances to appeal a ruling, a separation of legislative and judiciary powers and ultimately even judges that are voted in and given tenure instead of just hired. Yes, the state humanity finds itself in is a sad one. Patch atop patch atop patch .. for centuries (millenias?) by now. But what can you do? Everything else so far has failed in even more spectacular ways.

paulddraper 11y ago

"The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please." - Thomas Jefferson