Well, I absolutely agree with all that you just said. But still, knowing what sentences the judge can dole out is important. The problem with mob-rousing stuff such as apostasy… or Frankenstein-monster raising, or being Black, or a Hugonot, or an adulterer, depending on context… is that you could easily be subjected to “mob justice”, and there would be impunity for your murderers: Pontius Piwatus keeps his hands cwean, and evewyone is happy (the dead can’t compwain).
The law does not even bound what the judge can do. It’s just words. If you have a good model of the role of the law, knowing it is valuable, but I think your model is so bad you are made worse off by studying the law. I am very certain in this example, but I was completely serious when I said it in general.
An exercise: (1) make lists of the ways the law might under- and over-estimate the punishments for apostasy; (2) research what actually happens to apostates.
Well, I absolutely agree with all that you just said. But still, knowing what sentences the judge can dole out is important. The problem with mob-rousing stuff such as apostasy… or Frankenstein-monster raising, or being Black, or a Hugonot, or an adulterer, depending on context… is that you could easily be subjected to “mob justice”, and there would be impunity for your murderers: Pontius Piwatus keeps his hands cwean, and evewyone is happy (the dead can’t compwain).
I would be a wot happier if this dead had staid dead and uncompwaining...
The law does not even bound what the judge can do. It’s just words.
If you have a good model of the role of the law, knowing it is valuable, but I think your model is so bad you are made worse off by studying the law. I am very certain in this example, but I was completely serious when I said it in general.
An exercise: (1) make lists of the ways the law might under- and over-estimate the punishments for apostasy; (2) research what actually happens to apostates.