Dreadful art.

The rule of law is a simple principle which says that all people in a society are equally subject to the same laws. But this idea, so simple in the abstract, requires a number of additional features to function in reality. One of those is that the law be clear enough and simple enough that any individual can reliably know at any given moment whether he is or is not in violation of it.

But when the law becomes too complex, even those trying to be law-abiding citizens find themselves uncertain. Their presumption that anything they do is allowed unless it violates some clear prohibition switches to the fear that anything they do might be found unacceptable by a persnickety cop or judge. Some enforcers will of course use wise judgment, but others will find a way to make jail people because they want to do so. But for the rule of law to function, it needs precisely to not depend on the whim of individual personality.

Eventually, the people learn to avoid doing anything new or innovative because they are afraid of being prosecuted for inadvertently violating some aspect of the law they didn’t even know about. They become inclined to self-censor out of fear rather than to experiment out of hope. Thus, a too-complex system of laws undermines the creativity the rule of law is supposed to ensure and the prosperity which comes from that creativity.

I wonder whether anyone has ever advocated a “rule of theology.”