A lawmaker engages in three activities in the process of making a law. Each of the three activities has a different focus. The focus can be upon
In this chapter of 'A Unified Theory of a Law', we shall explore the process of making a law when the focus is upon the lawmaker. This component of the law making process is called 'issuing a law' and is depicted in Columns 3, 4 and 5 on the Periodic Table of the Elements of a Law®.
From her perch at the acme of the Triangle of Law®, a lawmaker looks down upon a flow of conduct from a source to a recipient in circumstances at its base and ponders:
- Do I like it?
- Am I indifferent to it?
- Do I dislike it?
RecalL that a flow of conduct has the property of polarity . A lawmaker's opinion drives the polarity a lawmaker desires.
A lawmaker who likes conduct desires that the flow of conduct be turned on. Like and a positive polarity go together. A lawmaker who dislikes a flow of conduct desires that the flow of conduct be turned off. Dislike and a negative polarity go together. Betwixt like and dislike is indifference. An indifferent lawmaker lacks both a desire that conduct be on and a desire that conduct be off. Indifference, therefore, is companion to both polarities of conduct.
A lawmaker can hold the opinion of like, indifference or dislike toward a flow of conduct and entertain the corresponding desire towards its polarity; but, how does a lawmaker express the opinion held and polarity desired? Fortunately for lawmakers, our language has evolved intrinsic grammatical structures to accommodate the expression of
- Dislike that drives a desire for negative conduct,
- Indifference and a lack of desire for either positive or negative conduct,
- Like that drives a desire for positive conduct.
Our language’s intrinsic grammatical structures are a command and a permission.
A command is a sentence in what grammarians call the imperative mood. The word, ‘command’, describes a law in which a lawmaker has formed an opinion of like or dislike toward a flow of conduct and hence desires to turn it on or off. A clue to a command is the appearance in the sentence holding the law of the helping verb, ‘shall’.
A permission is a sentence in what grammarians call the permissive mood. The word, ‘permission’, describes a law in which a lawmaker is indifferent and hence there is an absence of a desire for either positive or negative conduct. A clue to a permission is the appearance in the sentence holding the law of the helping verb, ‘may’.
A command and a permission are the two fundamental flavors of a law. There are no others. Unlike ice cream that has more flavors than vanilla and chocolate, a law has only two.
The command for positive conduct, the permission for either positive conduct or negative conduct and the command for negative conduct appear as Rows A, B, and C of the Periodic Table of the Elements of a Law®. These are the three permutations that a law can take with regard to a particular flow of conduct from source to recipient in circumstances
During this activity of a lawmaker - issuing a law - a lawmaker does not differentiates a source or recipient out of a flow of conduct from source to recipient in circumstances but views a flow of conduct from a source to a recipient in circumstances monolithically. Although a law has three legal components, at the most basic level - while issuing a law - , a lawmaker does not make the three distinctions.
In summary, in this chapter of 'A Unified Theory of a Law', we learn three more constant - variable -values relationships:
- The opinion of a lawmaker, It holds only three values: like, indifference and dislike
- The polarity the lawmaker desires. It holds three values: on, both on and off, or off.
- The law into which and by which a lawmaker expresses the opinion held and polarity desired. It holds three values: a command for positive conduct, a permission for either positive or negative conduct or a command for negative conduct.
