diff --git a/_posts/2017-03-30-law-is-better-without-monopoly.md b/_posts/2017-03-30-law-is-better-without-monopoly.md index d1f5fce..92fb729 100644 --- a/_posts/2017-03-30-law-is-better-without-monopoly.md +++ b/_posts/2017-03-30-law-is-better-without-monopoly.md @@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Why should we expect any better results from a government monopoly on law? And w Unlike top-down *dictated* statutory law, laws should be *discovered* in free human interaction in the same way as prices are — the aggregate of individual preferences, the meeting point of supply and demand, common sense of justice balanced by the actual costs and benefits of enacting it. This is akin to *common law* or *customary law* which is readily found in tribal societies and in some countries supplementary to statutory law (although monopolistically enforced in developed countries). -Characteristic of customary legal systems such as the [early Irish law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Irish_law), the [ancient Germanic law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Germanic_law#Principles) or the still practiced Somali [Xeer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeer) is the prevalence of compensation over punishment. That tends to happen when lawmaking is not detached from the real world, i.e. is subject to real costs and benefits instead of popularity in parliamentary elections. Laws that cause more harm than benefit would go out of business. +Characteristic of customary legal systems such as the [early Irish law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Irish_law), the [ancient Germanic law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Germanic_law#Principles) or the still practiced Somali [Xeer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeer) is the prevalence of compensation over punishment. That tends to happen when lawmaking is not detached from the real world, i.e. is subject to real costs and benefits instead of popularity in parliamentary elections. Laws that do more harm than good would go out of business. Few would pay 50,000€ a year out of their own pocket to keep an offender in prison, when he could be made to follow a compensation plan instead. If you refuse to compensate for your crimes, your tribe would likely disown you, as going to war over it would be too expensive. You would become an outlaw and might need to go into hiding, essentially isolating yourself at your own cost.