rule. A rule must be formed in such a way that it can apply to facts. When
rules are formed in these ways they can be used in litigation and transactions.
Changing the World
As the preceding analysis argued, law changes the world. In a rational society
the whole purpose of law is to change the world for the better as the legislators
have judge it. Law changes the world by direct and indirect means. A legal rule
changes the world by indirect means when there are derivative consequences
from the existence and operation of the law. These can be hard to predict, they
can spread out in many directions, they can consist of a chain reaction and
they can continue for some time even after the legal rule has been repealed.
A legal rule changes the world by direct means because the law applies or
potentially applies to part of the world. This function of a legal rule dictates
that a legal rule possesses a definite structure, which will now be explained.
Structure of a Legal Rule
In order that a legal rule can operate in this way it must have three
characteristics. It must delineate the part of the world to which it wants to
apply. Elements of a legal rule perform this function. It must designate the
consequences that it brings when it does apply. The consequences in the legal
rule perform this function. It must command that those consequences apply
when the delineated type of facts occur. A legal rule accomplishes this
because it is and must be framed as a conditional statement.
Elements
Part of a legal rule consists of ingredients, or elements, which is the term used
here. For convenient reference elements are labelled Element 1, Element 2 and
so on. This means that the elements of any legal rule can be described as
Elements 1-n. These labels are purely to distinguish one element from another,
and do not represent a hierarchy or an attempt to value the elements. (And
since each element must be satisfied for a rule to apply, the concept of value
has little relevance to elements.)
Each element delineates or constitutes a category of facts. For example, one of
the elements of the tort of trespass to land is ‘land’ in that the facts must
include a piece of land. ‘Land’ is a category of facts because there are
instances, indeed numerous instances, of land in a legal jurisdiction.
Elements consist of categories of facts so that they can describe or delineate
the part of the world to which the particular rule applies. They constitute the
catchment area of a legal rule. This means that a rule applies to a set of facts
where the set contains facts that fall within the categories of facts delineated by
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