Comment by skrebbel

13 years ago

Sometimes, I fantasize about turning that around. What if parts of the law (say, fiscal law sounds like a candidate) are chosen to be as black and white as the logic of a computer?

Policymakers could get automated compile errors when trying to craft conflicting laws. They could instantly compute what the effect of a law change is on this and that demographic or persona.

5 comments

skrebbel

rat87 13 years ago

There are serious problems with trying to make laws black and white. A certain amount of flexibility is frequently a good thing. Let the judges knowledge/judgement decide. An example of problems with the alternative is 3 strikes laws.

tsahyt 13 years ago

> automated compile errors when trying to craft conflicting laws

That just made my day :)

It's actually a good idea, I think. I'm just not exactly sure whether that would work because laws govern the real world and in the real world, logic isn't binary.

However, such laws would at least be understandable for mere programmers ;)

gosub 13 years ago

    data Offense = MensRea | ActusReus
    CriminalLaw :: [Offense] -> Punishment
    ExtenuatingCircumstances :: CriminalLaw -> [Circumstance] -> ExtenuatingEffect -> Punishment

icebraining 13 years ago

Logic in computers doesn't have to be binary either. There are plenty of implementations of fuzzy logic, including some programming languages.

mjwalshe 13 years ago

What and remove the ability of thier lawyer collegues vast sums of money to interpret the fuzzy nature of the law :-)