THE IDEAL LAW OF GOVERNMENT
The purpose of democratic governments is to secure the rights and liberty of the people as a whole – the citizenry – under the rule of law. To achieve that purpose, democracies must create laws of the highest possible quality and performance. For this reason it is important to define the "ideal law" as the model for the design and operation of laws of democratic governments. The ideal law is an elegant instrument in the service of democracy; it solves societal problems efficaciously in a just and user-friendly manner with minimum burdens on the people. The ideal law has the following characteristics:
It Is Simply Stated, Succinct, And Has A Clear Meaning. It is imperative, if the high purpose of democracy is to be achieved, that those individuals who enforce and interpret the law and those who are subject to the law should readily understand both the letter and the intent of the law.
It Is Completely Successful In Achieving Its Objective. Every law in a democracy has a problem-solving purpose, or objective, that serves the best interests of the people as a whole. The ideal law is completely successful in attaining its objective.
It Interacts Synergistically With Other Laws. Laws often have an effect upon, and are affected by, other laws. The ideal law is designed so that its interaction with other laws is synergistic in the attainment of its problem-solving objective.
It Produces No Harmful Side Effects. All human-made products, including laws, have unintended consequences that may be beneficial, neutral, or detrimental. A law that accomplishes its problem-solving goal is not acceptable if its unintended side effects degrade the established living standards or quality of life of the people, or infringe upon human rights. Therefore, the ideal law produces no detrimental side effects upon the human rights, living standards, or quality of life of the people.
It Optimally Serves The Purpose Of Democracy. The ideal law imposes the least possible burdens upon the people so that the maximum positive net benefit of its enforcement is attained.
The aforementioned characteristics of the ideal law can only be attained through the application of quality programs (quality design, quality assurance, quality improvement) that are inherent in the science of laws. The challenge for the creative and investigative scientific disciplines of laws is to meet these quality requirements in the design and operation of laws that approximate the ideal law.
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