3 ms·
It's an interesting idea. It appears that laws accumulate (that is, there is less friction to adopting new laws than there is to repealing old ones). Given this
by Kliment 16y ago
It's an interesting idea. It appears that laws accumulate (that is, there is less friction to adopting new laws than there is to repealing old ones). Given this, having a mandate from the people, so to say, might make it easier to argue a repeal.
- inerte 16y agoAlso, laws accumulate because the public demands government action on certain crimes, and they believe stronger laws are what's going to stop these crimes, so the laws escalate. Since we cannot stop 100% of the crimes, usually laws only get tougher with time.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- zandorg 16y agoThey used to have capital and corporal punishment for thievery in England 200 years ago. Now it's less tough.
- eru 16y agoAnd the Germans decriminalized adultery, homosexuality and lots of other stuff around the sixties. Prostitution was legalized a few years ago.
- arethuza 16y agoI would like to see a delay in the implementation of laws that are introduced in reaction to specific events (terrorism, dangerous dogs, Dunblane etc.). Rather than having a knee jerk reaction to create new laws to "do something" - the government should be able to propose new laws but these would sit in limbo for a reasonably long time period (say 2 years) and then have to be voted on again before they actually become law.
- jamesbritt 16y agoAre there not cases where some event points out serious issues with the current laws or conditions, where prompt action is required? I'm much less concerned with laws passed in haste than I am with laws passed for eternity. All laws should have a sunset clause, something very cumbersome to override, so that two years or so down the line, if there's no longer a strong case for a law, it goes off the books. Having to constantly work to keep existing laws on the books would make it harder to add new laws as well. (The downside is you know this would lead to lawyers trying to craft new laws that combined multiple existing laws, using impenetrable language, leading to the point where we have just one law: "Sorry, whatever it is you're doing is illegal.")
- gaius 16y agoWell, a recent example is the banning of meow-meow after someone allegedly died of it. The law was passed then a bit later the coroner reported that the drug was nothing to do with it. A lot of people criminalized for no reason, and instead of buying 99% pure drugs from the Internet, people instead bought 30% pure drugs cut with God knows what from a dodgy geezer in a club toilet in Brixton. Nice one Nu Labour.
- JacobAldridge 16y agoOr just more sunset clauses, which I believe are more common in the US. An immediate legislative response may be required, but having the law expire in some future period of time (2/5/7 years) means the government is forced to vote again if it's worth keeping.
- marcusbooster 16y agoMost new laws are in fact not so new at all. Adding a word here to the statute, removing a word there. On the surface this seems like a poll for general housekeeping, but I suspect it's just an attempt to do away with tax laws.