Legal rules intentionally incorporate arbitrary detail to maximize certainty and predictability.

Evidence

Law, however, though it also contains much that is of moral importance, can and does contain just such rules, and the arbitrary distinctions, formalities, and highly specific detail which would be most difficult to understand as part of morality, are consequently natural and easily comprehensible features of law. For one of the typical functions of law, unlike morality, is to introduce just these elements in order to maximize certainty and predictability and to facilitate the proof or assessments of claims. — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 534

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 534
• XREF: connects to: A judicial precedent attaches specific legal consequences to detailed case facts. — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 131; Rules allocate decisions to the present while standards hold them open for the future — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 354; Legal directives range from radically open-ended standards to extraordinarily specific rules — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 342 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• A judicial precedent attaches specific legal consequences to detailed case facts. #expands (0.75) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 131