![]() ![]() Several scholars (e.g., Katz and Bommarito Friedrich et al. It goes without saying that the law and legal systems are uncertain to a significant degree. In general, much of the “work” performed by the legal system is to reduce legal entropy by delineating, interpreting, and applying the law, a process that can in principle be quantified. For example, it offers a more comprehensive account of the uses and limits of “modularity” in the law-namely, using the terminology of Henry Smith, the use of legal “boundaries” (be they spatial or intangible) that “economize on information costs” by “hiding” classes of information “behind” those boundaries. In addition to offering a precise quantification of uncertainty and the information content of the law, the approach offered here provides other benefits. Here, relying upon Claude Shannon's definition of entropy in the context of information theory, I provide a quantitative formalization of entropy in delineating, interpreting, and applying the law. Just a few of these scholars have attempted to formulate a quantitative definition of legal entropy, and none have provided a precise formula usable across a variety of legal contexts. Many scholars have employed the term “entropy” in the context of law and legal systems to roughly refer to the amount of “uncertainty” present in a given law, doctrine, or legal system. School of Law, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |