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Incomprehensible! A Study of How Our Legal System Encourages Incomprehensibility, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do About It

Incomprehensible! A Study of How Our Legal System Encourages Incomprehensibility, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do About It

Author: Wendy Wagner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781107400887
Published In: July 2019
Format: Paperback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

Details

The legal system is awash with excessive and incomprehensible information. Yet many of us assume that the unrelenting torrent of information pouring into various legal programs is both inevitable and unstoppable. We have become complacent; but it does not have to be this way.

Incomprehensible! argues that surrendering to incomprehensibility is a bad mistake. Drawing together evidence from diverse fields such as consumer protection, financial regulation, patents, chemical control, and administrative and legislative processes, this book identifies a number of important legal programs that are built on the foundational assumption that 'more information is better'.

Each of these legal processes have been designed in ways that ignore the imperative of meaningful communication. To rectify this systemic problem, the law must be re-designed to pay careful attention to the problem of incomprehensibility.

Introduces the concept of 'comprehension asymmetries' as an important feature of legal design
Identifies how law incentivizes incomprehensibility, even for well-meaning actors
Provides a conceptual model for exploring comprehension asymmetries that transcends the six legal programs examined in the book

Acknowledgments

Part I. The Concept:

1. Introduction

2. Modeling comprehension asymmetries

3. The implications of comprehension asymmetries for the law

Part II. Application:

4. Comprehension asymmetries and consumer protection law

5A. Comprehension asymmetries in financial regulation

5B. Comprehension asymmetries in the law of patents

5C. Comprehension asymmetries in chemical regulation

6. Comprehension asymmetries in administrative process

7. Comprehension asymmetries in legislative processes