Will the cost of law be too high?

(This is a response posted in Buxis’ blog. Her blog is a nice place with original Chinese essays on movies, books, places, etc. Please follow this link if interested: http://wordsneverdie.ycool.com/)

 

Hi. Your blog seems really unattended, just like mine.

I completely agree with your saying that the job of a lawyer is not to defend justice but her client. Justice is for judges

to uphold.

Sooner or later, our discussions about law will be one between an expert and a layman. Please be ready to answer questions

from an ordinary citizen =)

I do have an interesting and distracting (hope not stupid as well) question about law that I hope you can address next time.

It deals with the whole system of law.

I’m not asking that you give some definite answer, but rather shed some light or at least write some thoughts on it. It helps

to think about it.

——–

I’ll word the question here (as concise as I can make it):

Will the cost of law be too high?

————-

Explanations:

For every software you install and every BBS you enter, you will always see a long passage of “terms of condition” that

specifies the legal status of the user and the provider. Did you ever read it? Well, almost no one does so. Why? Because is

it TOO COMPLEX.

Yes, every thing in modern society is governed by law, and law itself is getting more and more complicated. Physics has been

a very demanding subject for 300 years, yet a student with a college degree in physics can grasp most of the concepts of the

whole discipline. And what about law students? Well, after probably eight years of tedious study, you can be expert (if

fortunate) only in some very specific field. Really narrow. And in other fields you know little.

That’s the intimidating size of legal-knowledge – the terrifying, petrifying library of codes, precedents, cases and

different interpretations. It is better in some Roman-law country like China in which the law is somewhat uniform throughout

the country; in United States, crossing a state border means you have to learn a whole new set of rules. What is worse, the

common-law countries rely on precedents whose size is ever increasing with new trials.

In a nutshell, the legal documents are getting thicker every day, every moment, – even at this second when I write this short

essay. Usually we assume that more laws means a better society. But if it gets too much, it can be the opposite.

The very fact that you skip those “terms of conditions” proves that too much can be worse. If there are just a few lines, you

would probably read them. But when there is a long list, you simply give up.

Why give up? Don’t you realize that there is a risk in clicking the “I agree” button when you don’t know what you are

consenting to? The answer is very simple – when the law is too complicated, THE COST (to read it) IS HIGHER THAN THE RISK.

Therefore you would rather take the risk.

How sad.

That “terms of conditions” is supposed to clarify things for the parties involved in the internet activity. But does it?

—–

This is just a glimpse of the whole problem about law. The cost of legal service rises with the complexity of laws, and it is

rising every day. And clearly, the higher the cost, the more “uneconomical” it is for people to use law, and the less

effective is the rule of law.

Well you probably think we should simplify those verbose law books? Well, within the current system, you can do that only by

setting up new laws. You see the paradox?

This is not a specific problem, but rather a potential trouble related to the WHOLE SYSTEM.

It is already affecting our daily life. When you need to defend yourself in terms of law, you need legal consulting, which is

really expensive. That really pulls back you from doing what you should do. For example, a trader cheated you a big sum of

money. But when you calculate, in your dismay, you find out that hiring a lawyer may cost more than the money you can get

back, and that trader may lose all the money when you finally win in the court (it can take years), and that you are not so

sure of winning in the trial, you give up. You give up! What does that mean? It means that law is not functioning properly!

It is fails to protect one of its citizens!

It is exactly the high cost and low efficency of law that makes a lawful society less effective.

The aforementioned senario is a perfect example of what happens when the COST EXCEEDS THE BENEFIT.

In a specific case, cost can exceed benefit. So, isn’t it rational to say that, if the cost of law keeps rising (as it is

now), it may reach a point when the cost exceeds benefit FOR THE WHOLE SYSTEM?

————-

This is indeed a disturbing question to think about. I hope it is not valid, because it challenges the rule of law, which has

been accepted as a basic element of a civilized society.

As some philosophers speculated, we humans left the the “state of nature” governed by natural law to create societies

governed by man-made law. Just like natural laws run nature, man-made laws run society.

However, laws in nature is characterized by simplicity and elegance. Human laws is simple and elegant in spirit (like in

constitutions), but really complicated in specific things.

God created natural laws and designed them with unmatched talent. We, earthly beings, do not possess such talent.

—————–

I hope you can think about this question and address it next time you write, buxi. It is great that you have access to law

professors while I do not.

Again, I do not ask for a definite answer if there is not one; I simply want to know what you think.