The shift from benefit-giving to conduct-regulating statutes fed litigation and judicial policymaking.

Evidence

During the nineteenth century, federal statutes primarily involved the distribution of benefits to citizens (e.g., the Homestead Act, which made public lands available to settlers), and such legislation rarely provoked disputes. Beginning in the twentieth century, however, statutes substantially expanded the scope of federal and state regulation of private conduct, and this in turn prompted challenges by those affected by the regulatory legislation. Often these disputes over the interpretation and application of regulatory statutes have wound up in the courts. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2831

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Common-law judging habits now shape statutory interpretation too. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 117; Government expansion, not activist judges, explains the growth of judicial policymaking. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1499; Technological control over risk expanded legal rights and lawsuits (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Legal uncertainty creates disputes, litigation, and judicial discretion #expands (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 214
• Formalizing law expands the judiciary into an omnipresent public service #expands (0.78) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 945