Polycentric problems with interdependent judgments resist adjudication
Evidence
Putting the last point more broadly, disputes involving what Professor Fuller, building on the analysis in Polanyi’s Logic of Liberty, calls “polycentric” problems resist effectual resolution by the methoof adjudication. A problem is “polycentric” when it involves a complex of decisions judgment upon each of which depends upon the judgment to be made upon each of the others. Such problems characteristically present so many variables as to require handling by the method either of ad hoc discretion or of negotiation or of legislation.
— Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3342
Categorization
DEFINE: Defines Fuller’s key term polycentric problems — interdependent variable decisions best handled by discretion, negotiation, or legislation.
XREF: Polycentricity is a durable concept for the environmental-justice thread: dam siting, waste-facility siting, and water-allocation disputes are classic polycentric problems. — connects to: Only some dispute types are apt for settlement by adjudication — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3262; The common law can resolve every dispute arising within the social order — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3336; Courts can act on apportionment only where a prior legal standard supplies criteria — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3682 (+5 more)
QUESTION: Could test whether regulatory or adjudicative institutions ever do resolve polycentric problems — e.g., public utility rate regulation as a stated counterexample in the chapter itself.