The law is dead, long live the law

Funny, the way the brain latches on to coincidences. I’m having trouble reconciling two things I’ve seen today. One is Philip K. Howard’s TedTalk. He not only identifies what’s wrong with the legal system (mostly, but not exclusively, in the US) but also how to fix it: bring back trust, and allow judges to judge, to throw out frivolous and pointless suits and make decisions on behalf of society rather than individuals. The other is a post by wondrous photo-blogger Paul Butz, who rises up with a plan to bring down the petty jobsworths who harass photographers in public spaces … by using the law against directly them. Of course, in a legal system that wasn’t broken, the jobsworths wouldn’t get away with their absurdities, and it would be neither necessary nor possible to use the law against them. But hey, we’re talking dreamlands here.

Why not be the first to comment