Quantifying Legal Entropy
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. Just a few of these scholars have attempted to formulate a quantitative definition of legal entropy, and none have...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Physics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.665054/full |
| _version_ | 1818571864231903232 |
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| author | Ted Sichelman |
| author_facet | Ted Sichelman |
| author_sort | Ted Sichelman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. 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. 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. In addition to offering a precise quantification of uncertainty and the information content of the law, the approach offered here provides other benefits. 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 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T18:49:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6038638378dc4602b7a8af01ffe7af4f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-424X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T18:49:54Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-6038638378dc4602b7a8af01ffe7af4f2022-12-21T22:51:17ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Physics2296-424X2021-06-01910.3389/fphy.2021.665054665054Quantifying Legal EntropyTed SichelmanMany 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. 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. 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. In addition to offering a precise quantification of uncertainty and the information content of the law, the approach offered here provides other benefits. 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 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.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.665054/fullentropyindeterminacylegal entropyinformation theorymodularityHohfeld |
| spellingShingle | Ted Sichelman Quantifying Legal Entropy Frontiers in Physics entropy indeterminacy legal entropy information theory modularity Hohfeld |
| title | Quantifying Legal Entropy |
| title_full | Quantifying Legal Entropy |
| title_fullStr | Quantifying Legal Entropy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantifying Legal Entropy |
| title_short | Quantifying Legal Entropy |
| title_sort | quantifying legal entropy |
| topic | entropy indeterminacy legal entropy information theory modularity Hohfeld |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.665054/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tedsichelman quantifyinglegalentropy |