Why are the laws so complex?

I am often told by people that the laws are complicated. They mean, of course, that it is too complicated to do even the simplest things. A no-fault divorce with no assets, for example, still has a confusing number of procedures. The other party has to be served with a “Notice of Intention to Request Entry of Divorce Decree,” with a counter-affidavit, followed twenty days after successful service with a “Praecipe to Transmit the Record.”

There are worse examples. In a divorce with assets, an Inventory, a Pre-Trial Statement, and some motions are required, but discovery deadlines are in there, too. Confusing, except to a lawyer, well, even to lawyers.

There are two main reasons for these rules. Neither of these reasons involves confusing everyone. The first one is the need to guarantee that the other side has been informed of the rights that are at stake and has had several chances to do something about it.

The second reason for these rules is simplicity for the court. Courts are usually overburdened with cases. So the court staff needs to be able to quickly determine if everything has been done properly. They need a quick and easy rule to go by. They look at dates to determine whether deadlines have been followed, they double check to make sure people have been served. If the judge has to do that, the court system would freeze up. So instead, we have black letter rules and they get complicated because of reason number one.