Proof of Imperfection
The Law is a Fractal: The Attempt to Anticipate Everything - Andrew Morrison Stumpff*© 2012
INTRODUCTION
“And they say he’s a skillful commander,” rejoined Pierre.
“I don’t understand what is meant by ‘a skillful commander,’” replied Prince André ironically.
“A skillful commander?” replied Pierre.
“Why, one who foresees all contingencies . . . and foresees the adversary’s intentions.”
“But that’s impossible,” said Prince André as if it were a matter settled long ago.
- Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1869
"No man is so wise as to be able to take account of every single case, wherefore he is not able sufficiently to express in words all those things that are suitable for the end he has in view. And even if a lawgiver were able to take all the cases into consideration, he ought not to mention them all in order to avoid confusion." - Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, ca. 1270
Define an inappropriate rule as a rule that, if followed literally, would in at least some cases produce results that can be concluded with reasonable certainty to have been unintended by and unacceptable to even the rule’s author. Even under this definition, it is impossible for a rulewriter to write an appropriate and objective rule to cover every situation in advance. Rulewriters nonetheless act today as though they were unaware of this long-acknowledged impossibility of perfect advance enumeration, and their persistent attempts to achieve it have imposed enormous, under-recognized costs on regulated populations.