When logic lays down the law

Abstract

We analyse so-called computable laws, i.e., laws that can be enforced by automatic procedures. These laws should be logically perfect and unambiguous, but sometimes they are not. We use a regulation on road transport to illustrate this issue, and show what some fragments of this regulation would look like if rewritten in the image of logic. We further propose desiderata to be fulfilled by computable laws, and provide a critical platform from which to assess existing laws and a guideline for composing future ones.