23 Oct 2011
Quote: Simplicity and Law
Where possible — and it usually is possible — laws should be simple enough to satisfy the first requirement of written laws — that the citizens subject to them should be able to understand them and predict the legality of an action. Maybe you need to consult a lawyer to understand it — but you shouldn’t have to “consult” a judge, at trial, because your lawyer can only tell you “It’s really up to the judge.”
That’s not a law. That’s the opposite of law– an ad hoc right of a prosecutor or judge to surprise citizens with their own idiosyncratic, personal “law” for the day.
–Ace of Spades