Corruptissima Re Publica Plurimae Leges

The more corrupt the State, the more numerous the Laws

Publius Cornelius Tacitus (appr. 58AD-120AD)

Although the Legislative– and Executive branches in democracies were clearly distinguished in the past, the current blurring of the lines has led to a situation in which a single body enacts and enforces legislative actions while simultaneously conducting government business. Over time it seems that the Legislative branch has assumed the power to grant favors to specific voter groups or coalitions of organized interests and thus degenerated into an assembly of ‘wheelers and dealers’.

While the term Law (das Recht) comprises only the prevailing legal system of enforceable rules that governs a democratic society, Legislation on the other hand,denotes specific written Statutes or Acts of Legislation (die Gesetze) that are formally introduced to and passed by the Legislative branch of a state. However current political parlance commits the essential mistake of equating Legislation, Statute or Act with the general constitutional Law that stipulates social order and cohesion of democratic societies. This confusion of caused that genuine Law was falling under the control of the government. Accordingly we have grown accustomed to calling every issued Statute, Legislative Act erroneously a Law without giving much thought that Legislative Acts can easily be turned into legal tools that can restrict individual Rights and thus dangerously undermines the fundamental liberal principles of the “Government under the Law” and the “Rule of Law”.

However, these two fundamental principles can only be meaningfully applied if we clearly distinguish Law from Legislation. They form the limits of the coercive powers of every constitutional state, which has neither discretionary power over its citizens nor any power other than that necessary for enforcing these principles. Thus the flood of sometimes very detailed Statutes (falsely called Laws) renders the legal system muddy and leads to bureaucracy, corruptive uncertainty, and abuse of power by interest groups who have Legislations written to their advantage.

It is for these reasons that Tacitus’ famous quote on corruption remains strikingly relevant today and continues to resonate by offering a timeless warning about authority, greed, and the true nature of state power. However, the translation of his quote confused “numerous Laws” with numerous Statutes or Legislative Acts. It is the corrupt and overpowering state that tends to create and pass “numerous“ Statutes or Legislative Acts, often to disguise political failures or deviousness as attentive governance. In today’s unlimited democracies the Law as overarching legal framework ceases to protect and guide the people. Instead Statutes or acts of Legislation become tools of control, crafted to benefit, restrain or silence. Complexity replaces clarity, power hides behind paperwork and free speech often turns into a personal risk. An excessive and centralized legislative system that issues numerous Statutes does not create order, but on the contrary, is a symptom and instrument of corruption and state arbitrariness. The more Statutes the state enacts, the more unpredictable its actions become. Instead of protecting citizens, this flood of Legislative Acts often leads to a redistribution of Rights in favor of politically powerful coalitions of organized interests. In other words, for Tacitus, the number of Statutes is no proof of justice but evidence of decay.