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The Dignity of Laws

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The Art of Legislating

Part of the book series: Legisprudence Library ((LEGIS,volume 6))

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Abstract

The social state, an institutional formula that has so far successfully managed to combine freedoms, rule of law and economic and social development, is exposed to criticism. Since the 1970s, and even more so after the economic crisis of 2008, the capacity of the social model has been called into question by arguing that social states discourage investment and economic development (given the costs of public services) and disincentive work (through the universalisation of social benefits). This ideological atmosphere is reflected in the constant criticism of normative interventions in the form of laws and decrees. There is too much legislation—hence the topic of legislative inflation—and the quality of legislation is poor, because laws are neither effective (they do not achieve the social goals they were assigned by governments and parliaments) nor efficient (because their costs are greater than the benefits they generate). This is where the insistent demands of privatisation and deregulation (in a broad sense) originate. The defence of our social states requires us to respond to such criticisms by adopting measures that improve the regulatory process as a whole.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In fact, the concern for the problems of effectiveness and efficiency of norms is shared by political figures adhering to different ideologies. And so, both conservative and progressive governments have instituted legislative and regulatory evaluation bodies—especially since the 1980s (see OECD 1989). As a proof of the growing interest for the improvement of regulation, important initiatives have been taken in numerous countries, most notably under the auspices of the OECD and with the involvement of the EU: see e.g. OECD (1999, 2010a, b, 2018a, b, 2019; cf. also Chap. 11 in this volume).

  2. 2.

    Cf. e.g. Held (2004), Kaldor (2003); or Beck (2003).

  3. 3.

    On the new “global regulators”, see e.g. Zapatero (2003, 2006).

  4. 4.

    See e.g. Corsale (1979), de Palma Fernández (1997); or Arcos Ramírez (2000).

  5. 5.

    In Spain, comprehensive or transversal “superstatutes” were enacted in the 2000s to fight gender violence (2004) and to effectively assure gender equality (2007).

  6. 6.

    For a more precise notion of legal efficacy , see especially Navarro (1990) and Hierro (2001a, 2002).

  7. 7.

    The “norm explosion” topic was recurrently discussed in the 1970s and 1980s: see, to name but a few examples, Barton (1975), Berner (1978), Hillermeier (1978), Sendler (1979); or Starck (1979).

  8. 8.

    In this context, valid indicators might be the number of laws, the number of norms in general, or the number of provisions in normative texts. In addition, it is possible to distinguish, as Tomasic (1979) did, between important laws and minor legislative reforms. Yet another indicator—which facilitates comparative assessments—might be the number of pages in the official journals or gazettes devoted to publishing norms.

  9. 9.

    In Latin America, in general, and in Argentina in particular, “the phenomenon presents special virulence. Every politician feels compelled to dictate countless new laws, replace or reform the existing ones and project future laws in prodigious abundance. Such is the magnitude of the problem that, in order to promulgate the first 5000 laws, our legislators took 44 years (from 1862 to 1906), for the next 5000 laws they hardly consumed 9 years (1906–1915). In the last 20 years 7000 laws where dictated, not counting the numerous decrees and other general norms that may well be categorised under the general term of legislation” (Alchourron and Bulygin 1993, p. 410).

  10. 10.

    As for the headers in Table 2.1, according to the 1978 Spanish Constitution (CE) “organic laws” are those relating to the development of fundamental rights and the regulation of the electoral system, as well as to the autonomous regions’ constitutions (Estatutos de Autonomía) (Art. 81 CE); “decree-laws” are pieces of legislation issued by the Cabinet in cases of extraordinary and urgent need (Art. 86 CE).

  11. 11.

    The situation of overflow in EU law is so significant that a program was implemented to eliminate all the norms that had become unnecessary. See the Rapport de la Commission au Conseil européen sur l’adaptation de la législation existante au principe de subsidiarité COM(93)545 final (29 Nov 1993).

  12. 12.

    It is in the framework of this kind of state that three different processes have taken place that are worth remarking. In the first place, the function of the state changes. It is no longer limited to creating an order that allows the free play of market forces, but rather intervenes actively in the market to correct its errors. Secondly, the legitimation system of the state changes as a result of the materialisation of law: the state is legitimised by the results achieved in society by means of regulation. And finally, the state structure changes: what is important in laws is no longer their generality but the definition of the social goals they aim at, an operation that requires abandoning the Kelsenian ideal of a “pure” law and embracing the participation of other social sciences, both for the production and the interpretation of norms. For this reason, as Teubner (1987, p. 3 ff) notes, juridification not only entails growing numbers of norms, it also means that the interventionist social state produces a new type of law, i.e. regulatory law.

  13. 13.

    I borrow the titles of this section and this chapter from Waldron (1999).

  14. 14.

    In Spain, this school subject was introduced into primary and secondary education in 2006—with conservative sectors and the Spanish Catholic Church levelling fierce criticism at this measure.

  15. 15.

    For a critical review of Sunstein’s ideas, see Williams (1991).

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  1. Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

    Virgilio Zapatero Gómez

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  1. Virgilio Zapatero Gómez
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Zapatero Gómez, V. (2019). The Dignity of Laws. In: The Art of Legislating. Legisprudence Library, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23388-4_2

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