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The law is a written thing. What is written down is the law, is an important concept for a nation of laws. If you are to be governed by laws it’s important that
by ecshafer 3y ago
The law is a written thing. What is written down is the law, is an important concept for a nation of laws. If you are to be governed by laws it’s important that said laws are enforced and it’s not arbitrary, so therefore we aught to follow what the law says and not what we think the intention of the law maker was. If there is ambiguity then the law maker can and should change the law.
If there is a law that fines you for wearing a blue shirt and you get fined for wearing a red shirt, but the court says “we know the intention was red shirt” then that is arbitrary enforcement of the law, we are just at the whims of the officials in the government and not being run by the laws.
- Doxin 3y agoOf course in practice you want to be somewhere in-between extremes. You probably don't want to allow daft arguments about specific wording when it's pretty clear there's a correct interpretation. On the other hand you don't want guilty/not-guilty to become entirely detached from the text of law. It's tricky stuff with a lot of grey area which is why judges are important people.