8 Ways for a Legal System to Fail

by Lon L. Fuller

  1. The lack of rules or law, which leads to ad-hoc and inconsistent adjudication.
  2. Failure to publicize or make known the rules of law.
  3. Unclear or obscure legislation that is impossible to understand.
  4. Retroactive legislation.
  5. Contradictions in the law.
  6. Demands that are beyond the power of the subjects and the ruled.
  7. Unstable legislation (ex. daily revisions of laws).
  8. Divergence between adjudication/administration and legislation.