Injunctions function as primary commands when underlying law is too vague

Evidence

Yet equity on occasion may act, formulating a specific direction for the guidance of future conduct, in situations in which the law’s prior command was so vague as to have had little possibility of sucessful operation. In such cases a retrospective sanction, such as a judgment for damages, would be felt as unjust; and the injunction, with its purely prospective operation, has many of the aspects of a primary command. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 800

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ch6 claim about drafters deliberately using flexible standards where scope mattered. — connects to: Prior checking before activity enables preventive rather than retrospective justice — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 753; Vague moderation terms proliferate rather than settle disputes — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 235; Legal uncertainty creates disputes, litigation, and judicial discretion — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 214 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Judicial power to issue mandatory injunctions prevents reckless property investment in zoning disputes #exemplifies (0.85) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1073
• Vague moderation terms proliferate rather than settle disputes #expands (0.80) — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet, 235
• Legal uncertainty creates disputes, litigation, and judicial discretion #expands (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 214
• Vague judicial mandates expand lower judges’ discretion to limit rulings #corroborates (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3188
• Litigated cases self-select to those where both sides have plausible legal arguments #expands (0.72) — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 253
• Vagueness itself functions as an instrument of domination #complicates (0.72) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 114