Introduction
One commonly speaks of "the law" as if it was a thing, something permanent, with an independent existence, out there somewhere, which is supposed to guide or control our behavior. Actually there is no law but rather thousands of laws, which amount to statements written in law books or in documents prepared by legislative bodies. New laws are written every day. What was not the law yesterday is the law today. Some laws are repealed and are no longer part of the law. Sometimes laws are merely proclaimed by a new dictator who has not had time or bothered with the formality of having the statement written in legalese, the language spoken by lawyers. Laws, then, are rules made by people who may or may not have the power to enforce them. Commonly a mechanism or bureaucracy is set up for enforcement purposes, with a police force, courts, a judiciary, and so on. The enforcement machinery may be corrupt, indolent, or very active. Because there are so many laws, there is rarely sufficient staff available to enforce all of them to the letter, and the consequence is that many laws are broken with no consequence. Most lawbreakers are not caught, and if they are, they may escape the consequences stipulated by the law in question in various ways. Compared to the number of lawbreakers, the actual number of those who go to jail, for example, is miniscule. Authorities may proclaim that prisons are overcrowded, but this may only mean that they are too small or too few. The percentage of the population behind bars is less than one-half of 1 percent. Actually, the number of crimes that are perpetrated is not known because not all are reported. Many cases of rape, child abuse, extortion, and vandalism are never brought.......
