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Original Paragraph:
Obvious–and wrong. The laws we have, the ways we do things,
are not handed down from heaven on tablets of stone. They are human
contrivances, solutions to particular problems, ways of accomplishing
particular ends. If technological change makes a law hard to enforce, the best
solution is sometimes to stop enforcing it. There may be other ways of accomplishing
the same end–including some enabled by the same technological change. The
question is not "how do we continue to do what we have been doing"
but "how do we best achieve our objectives under new circumstances?"
Source: http://patrifriedman.com/prose-others/fi/commented/Future_Imperfect.html#Obviousand_wrong_The_laws_we_have_the_ways_we_do_t
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[Wed Apr 21 08:09:42 PDT 2004-111] wkdecker (NOSPAMwkdecker89@yahoo.com.NOSPAM):
The difficulty is that the "law" as it currently exists is a means for those in power to retain their position; which means that it is going to become ever more rigid, until it shatters.
[Sun Sep 26 18:17:27 EDT 2004-269] Scott (NOSPAMsds49@law.georgetown.edu.NOSPAM):
In regards to the former comment:
This is the comment of a first year law student, so judge accordingly, but from what I've seen, law does anything but stay rigid, and perhaps to its detriment. Rigid law may indeed keep some in power--but flexible law allows others into power, by the same rationale.
This is a reach, but doesn't this smack of the typical monopoly? The powerholders cement their position, drive up the profits after a fashion, and thus as a matter of course, attract new competition to the field?
At any rate, I do not think the law becoming brittle to the point of shattering with time is a realitistc model.
[Fri Oct 29 20:38:52 EDT 2004-302] jomama:
With regard to the last sentence, in the current environment, I do.
In the past, this hasn't occurred.
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