Most people conform to law and even wrongdoers crave legal certainty

Evidence

In thinking of “the law,” one tends to think in terms of a body of established, authoritative rules. There is considerable truth to this notion. Obviously, most people most of the time understand what the law requires and conform their conduct to its requirements. According to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, a famous justice on the U.S. Supreme Court in the twentieth century, this applies to bad people as well as good ones. For even the bad man, Holmes suggested, craved certainty about the law, so he could predict how far he could go without running afoul of governmental authorities. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 182

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Holmes’s famous ‘bad man’ theory of law, a foundational view of legal realism that the course will build on.
• XREF: connects to: Even lawbreakers rely on legal certainty to gauge how far they can go — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 187; Common folk views of law overstate its certainty and finality — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 186; Laws shape behavior even among those who violate them — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1047 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Even lawbreakers rely on legal certainty to gauge how far they can go #expands (0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 187
• Laws shape behavior even among those who violate them #expands (0.82) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1047
• Common folk views of law overstate its certainty and finality #complicates (0.78) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 186
• Most litigation arises because the meaning of law is uncertain #complicates (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 195
• Most normal people obey authority figures even to inflict harm #corroborates (0.75) — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 319
• Legal prohibition shifts normalcy even for those who still practice the behavior #expands (0.73) — , The Rod and the Child, 7963
• Potential offenders perceive risk more accurately than law-abiders do #expands (0.72)
• Law is most determinative when clear, but attitudes still influence the choice. #qualifies (0.72) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2649