The Optimal Complexity of Legal Rules
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Description
Legal systems must deal not only with the cognitive limitations of ordinary individuals, but must also seek to curb the excesses of individual self-interest, without conferring excessive powers on state individuals whose motives and cognitive powers are themselves not above suspicion. Much modern law sees administrative expertise as the solution to these problems. But in fact the traditional and simpler rules of thumb that dominated natural law thinking often do a better job in overcoming these cognitive and motivational weaknesses in resolving private disputes. Three types of rules that help achieve this result are rules of absolute priority, rules that judge conduct by outcomes not inputs, and rules that use simple proration formulas to allocate benefits and burdens. Matters are more complex in dealing with government actions, where the optimal strategy typically involves the fragmentation of government power, and the limitation of public discretion.
Source Publication
Heuristics and the Law
Source Editors/Authors
Gerd Gigerenzer, Christoph Engel
Publication Date
2006
Recommended Citation
Epstein, Richard A., "The Optimal Complexity of Legal Rules" (2006). Faculty Chapters. 394.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/394
