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Another good reason to abolish common law.
by staticautomatic 6y ago
Another good reason to abolish common law.
- thephyber 6y agoI'm a critic of all of the foundations of the US legal system, but I would want to know more about the effects of something like "abolish common law" before we jump right in. I see that a little like someone yelling "let's abolish gravity" without stopping to consider: "what continues to exist if gravity no longer applies?"
- nemosaltat 6y agoI first encountered Chesterton’s Fence [0] in an HN thread about a year ago. I think your comment echoes that principle nicely. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Chesterton%27s_fence https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Chesterton%27s_fen...
- staticautomatic 6y agoI've spent more than a decade working in the courts. Also there is an entire section of the Wikipedia page on common law called "alternatives to common law systems".
- staticautomatic 6y agoImagine a system in which every time you encounter a new problem or a new variation on a known problem, the only acceptable response is one which comports with what you've done before. That's common law.