Neutral Rules

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
--Tears for Fears

Prof Williams discusses the notion of neutral rules as they pertain to the law. Neutral rules are the kind of rules you would be ok with even if your worst enemy was in charge of enforcing them. As such, neutral rules are agreeable to all. They are known and durable.

Rules that are not neutral are 'living' and can be adjusted on the fly by governing officials. Once the discretionary rule-making power of those officials is recognized, people will concentrate their energy on lobbying, bribing, or other forms of influence to get the officials to tilt the rules in their favor.

Imagine the betterment if we demanded that Supreme Court justices, instead of playing favorites, returned to being arbiters of neutral rules.