Niall Ferguson(I)

Niall Ferguson is a professor of history at Harvard University.

We have fallen into the trap of believing that very, very complex laws addressing every conceivable contingency are good. But,in fact, common-law systems in England and in North America were once highly conducive to economic innovation because they adapted, they were evolutionary rather than prescriptive. We have slipped into what I call codification mania, a very dangerous road to go down, leading to the rule of law being replaced by the rule of lawyers because the rules are no longer transparent or simple, nor is access to justice relatively easy.