3 ms·

How is it decided if one law supersedes another? It seems pretty strange to have contradicting laws, especially since the federal privacy act is very broad in i

• sbuttgereit 10y ago
  Given the volume of law that we have, it's not surprising at all that there are laws which contradict other laws. Decisions of which law supersedes another are more often than not up to judges, and sometimes juries, in cases like this. Other laws can be written which try to settle the questions, too, but by and large it's the court cases which settle precedent. This is why who gets to be a judge is such an important question. At the end of the day, the decisions of individual people who are judges can hold an incredible amount of power... and so long as their decisions are well reasoned (or well rationalized)... they can determine how we can live (or not live) our lives. (edited for clarity)
• razwall 10y ago
  In general, a more specific law trumps a more general law, and a later law trumps an earlier enacted law. So the more specific rule of "States may ask for SSN's for tax purposes" would override the general rule of "States may not ask for SSN's". And the exception was presumably enacted after the general rule, since otherwise there would have been no need to make an exception.
• flubert 10y ago
  >It seems pretty strange to have contradicting laws I think you might enjoy: THE MYTH OF THE RULE OF LAW http://faculty.msb.edu/hasnasj/GTWebSite/MythWeb.htm http://faculty.msb.edu/hasnasj/GTWebSite/MythWeb.htm
• nkrisc 10y ago
  This is one of the reasons we (the U.S.) have judges and an appeals process. The legislature can then also act to clarify the laws such that they work in harmony or repeal one of the conflicting ones.