The Importance of The Gap
20 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2016
Date Written: August 3, 2016
Abstract
One of the central dilemmas of law is what Larry Alexander has called "the gap:" general, determinate rules have significant benefits from the forward-looking perspective of a lawmaker, but generate outcomes that appear wrong from the perspective of individual actors. In this 25-year retrospective of Alexander's initial article on the gap, I examine a possible way out of the dilemma of the gap, and conclude that it does not work.
Keywords: legal theory, rules
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Sherwin, Emily L., The Importance of The Gap (August 3, 2016). Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-28, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2817808 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2817808
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