People always get upset when I propose mathematical formalization of law and using e.g. metamath verifier as a judge.
At least the metamath verifiers will not bend over backwards and come up with absurd inconsistent counterarguments.
It's the most humiliating thing for citizens when the legal cadre of a nation pretends in the national journal that everybody falls for its lies... openly mocking the concept of truth itself with absurdism.
Other than genuine self defense, I disagree with every single “justification” you listed. So yes, in my eyes (and the eyes of many other people I expect), the law could be substantially simplified.
You can disagree but no one has to care...unless you can mobilize an army.
Anyway it seems like much of this discussion presupposes the virtue of law and or has amnesia regarding its origins and its service to power. Sure there are exceptions, not every civilization has turned into a tinpot dictatorship because they adopted having a legal system. But without exception, it's those in power who make the rules. And quite often the powerful make rules that benefit them...often benefitting them exclusively.
I would rather live in a society with just laws than not, but again who settles what is just and what is not? Some people clearly have very different ideas. And yet geopolitics and world history aren't determined by the discourse.
And anyway, the law and justice are two different things. Many judges and attorneys will tell you so, I've known more than a few.
DoctorOetker · · focus · HN ↗
At least the metamath verifiers will not bend over backwards and come up with absurd inconsistent counterarguments.
It's the most humiliating thing for citizens when the legal cadre of a nation pretends in the national journal that everybody falls for its lies... openly mocking the concept of truth itself with absurdism.
MisterMunchkin · · focus · HN ↗
Consider a simple crime, murder. Let’s simplify it to “if you kill someone, that’s murder and you get life”
But then what if I’m being stabbed by the person I kill?
Okay so self defence.
But then what if I say it’s self defence but factually that’s incorrect, but I genuinely believed it was self defence?
What if I’m a soldier and I’m shooting an enemy?
What if I shoot them because they’re raping my child?
What if I’m shooting them because they raped my child ten years ago and I’ve been plotting my revenge ever since?
What if someone said they’ll shoot me if I didn’t shoot them?
What if I was in psychosis and thought they were going to kill me?
What if I thought they were a deer and shot them by mistake while hunting?
It turns out we have all these laws in this particular way because of thousands of years of work dealing with all of these issues.
p-e-w · · focus · HN ↗
2muchcoffeeman · · focus · HN ↗
And if you can’t sympathise with any of those cases, I hope you’re never called upon to decide anything involving other people.
bird0861 · · focus · HN ↗
Anyway it seems like much of this discussion presupposes the virtue of law and or has amnesia regarding its origins and its service to power. Sure there are exceptions, not every civilization has turned into a tinpot dictatorship because they adopted having a legal system. But without exception, it's those in power who make the rules. And quite often the powerful make rules that benefit them...often benefitting them exclusively.
I would rather live in a society with just laws than not, but again who settles what is just and what is not? Some people clearly have very different ideas. And yet geopolitics and world history aren't determined by the discourse.
And anyway, the law and justice are two different things. Many judges and attorneys will tell you so, I've known more than a few.