[EM] FWD - Reply to DD via Judges and Juries

[Donald E Davison]

  ------------ Forwarded Letter -----------
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 12:37:08 -0700 (PDT)
To: donald at mich.com (Donald E Davison)
From: John Lowry
Subject: Re: Direct Democracy via Judges and/or Juries

Donald,

        "Judicature" is not my idea.  It is just the best such "replacement"
scheme I have come across.  When I was a young man, interested in solving
the world's problems, I thought to study law, but was disuaded by a
distinguished lawyer of the time who said, "The Law dosen't work."  So I
studied economics, shifting to the statistical path when I realized the
assumptions my professors were assuming about human behavior or conditions
of the "market" weren't so.  Working as a statistician in business led to an
education in "management," which I feel is a lever that might move the
world.  Not Law, of any kind.  As a manager I know that "order" cannot be
imposed, except in very limited areas for short periods of time.  To endure,
order must be generated by acting from a sense of goodwill, which, in time,
earns respect and builds trust. Even military officers understand that the
way to obtain instant obedience in battle is to spend non-crisis time
earning respect.  Indeed, as a general idea, I believe it is a waste of time
to "make Law."  People are free.  No act of government makes them so.  The
one law we must all obey, eventually, is that everyone must get along with
the neighbors.  In light of that, I feel a system of peer judicature is more
compatible with nature than a system of legislated higher authority.

Take care,

John