Winter • January 28, 2023 10:56 AM

@keithpeter

In the UK we have the word ‘reasonable’ in various laws and regulations.

Actually, almost every country has this in their law or procedures.

US law is different. In the 1990’s I read “The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America” by Philip K. Howard.
‘https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/239430.The_Death_of_Common_Sense

For me as a non-American, this was an eye opener. The basic philosophy of US legal thinking is explained as the principle that nobody can be trusted. Therefore, law should be written as algorithms with no option for interpretation, not by judges, not by prosecutors, not by lawyers.

This leads to all the idiocies of USA legal practice where, e.g., people are jailed for life for stealing a bicycle [1] or breaking into a car [2].

The underlying mistrust of everyone leads to a system where the law is a quagmire where no human being is safe. [3]

[1] ‘https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bike-Thief-s-3-Strikes-Sentence-Judge-says-3035160.php

[2] ‘https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/us/california-prison-three-strikes-law.html

[3] Don’t Talk to the Police (really, really watch this)
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE

Because, you will be guilty of something:
Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process When Everything is a Crime
‘https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2203713
‘https://newjurist.com/ham-sandwich-nation.html
‘https://economicthinking.org/ham-sandwich-nation-due-process-when/