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  • A Unified Theory of a Law

    This module is included inLens: John Bosco's Lens
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The Three Permutations of a Law

Module by: John Bosco. E-mail the author

A SYSTEM
As proof that the ideas of A Unified Theory of a Law systematically arrange themselves into a coherent legal ideology, a table has been created showing the connections amongst the three permutations of a law, who decides whether or not to engage upon a course of conduct, the two polarities of conduct, the metaphors that help us understand the opinions of a Lawmaker, the opinions of a Lawmaker themselves, and the vehicles that convey the opinions.


The Three Core Permutations of a Law


THE CURRENCY OF A LAWMAKER
An analogy helpful to understand what a Lawmaker does in the process of making a Law is currency. The currency that a Lawmaker gets to "spend" during the process of making a law consists of three (3) coins. The names of the three (3) coins are:
  • Affirmative Regulation
  • Deregulation and
  • Negative Regulation
Each coin has three sides: two outsides and a middle. The coins have three sides because a Lawmaker has three focuses (foci). One side is for a Lawmaker who focuses on the Source doing conduct. Another side is for a Lawmaker who focuses on the Recipient receiving conduct. The middle is reserved for a Lawmaker whose focus is amorphous on neither or both the Source nor the Recipient. Each side holds 1) a Lawmaker's opinion, 2) the vehicle used by the Lawmaker to convey the opinion and 3) the metaphor that helps explain the opinion.
A Lawmaker engages in lawmaking by "applying" one of the three coins to conduct flowing from a Source to a Recipient through circumstances. The three (3) coins are the only things that a Lawmaker can "spend" in making a law.
Hence, it is helpful to keep these four objects in mind. Three coins and one instance of conduct flowing from Source to Recipient through circumstances. The process of Lawmaking involves these four objects.


OCCAM'S RAZOR AND THE LAWMAKING PROCESS
The doctrine of Occam’s Razor holds that the simplest solution is often the best solution. Therefore, if three (3) coins are sufficient to give our minds a high fidelity model of the lawmaking process then there is no need for any more. In short, any additional "coins" would be counterfeit.


John Bosco
Project Director
The Legal Literacy Project

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Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

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