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From: radford@calgary.UUCP (Radford Neal)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Litigation (short laws)
Message-ID: <36@calgary.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-Jan-86 22:44:02 EST
Article-I.D.: calgary.36
Posted: Sun Jan 12 22:44:02 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jan-86 02:43:28 EST
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Organization: University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
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> WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE. (passed by referendum)
> 
> Effective <insert date here> , all legislation submitted for consideration
> by Congress shall be no more than 10,000 words in length. No bill shall be
> enacted that is over 10,000 words in length. 
>
>                                          -the venn buddhist

Here! Here!

For starters, I'd say we need a constitutional amendment saying that the
entire criminal law must fit in a book of 100 pages, written in language
understandable by 90% of the citizens. After all, "ignorance is no excuse".
We're all expected to understand this law...

Maybe 1000 pages could be allowed for civil law. Something anyone could
master with a bit of effort.

I think a limit on the aggregate is essential, not just on individual bills.
This would force obsolete laws off the books, *and* encourage the legislature
to see their task as the maintainance of a *body* of law, not the passage
of ad hoc special-case bills.

     Radford Neal