1 ha\ c emphasized elsew here that one often eomes across a notion that I ha\e termed 'Law keeps out.’'^ Some problems are often not reg^ulated hy law. It is, 1 suggest, \ er\' rexealing for the postulates of a particvdar system that it applies legal rides where another system ax’oids such regulation. 'Law keeps out' is important for understanding Lhe Last Best Cdiance. Lhe Last Best Cdiance often occurs in a particular system precisely where other systems ayoid resolution hv law ot the (ten real) problem." IX I ha\e claimed that Lhe Last Best Cdiance invoKes an abuse of law. More importantU', though less oh\ iousK', it functions to presetye the integritx of the sx stem. Lhus, for the biblical curse more is im ()1\ ed than a husband w ishing to he rid of his wife. L)i\ i)rce for the male was easw"'' But the husband in this situation wanted and dernanded \ engeance though he had not sufficient proof of the adidter\’. Lhe curse was an innoi ation to a\ oid tampering w ith and reducing the strict standards of proof that were insisted upon for all capital-indeed all criminal-cases.' 'Lhe Icgis actio .uicniWC7iro pro\ ided to allow law to develop for situations not c(wered. Ciontrol was e.xercised because the elected official responsible would not allow the case to proceed to the ne.xt stage unless he felt the plaintiffs claim had some merit, d'he iusiura}uliim i)i litempreserv ed the principle that all awards in a pri\ ate law sint shoidtl he money. I'rial by ordeal in 54 Spirit, pp. 172ff. 55 But 'Law keeps out' is wider in scope than The Last Best Chance. For instance, most societies would not regulate the issue of how long a mother should suckle her baby; but it is provided for-not by a dodge-in the Prussian Altgemeines Landrecht fur die preussischen Staaten of 1794: 2.2 67ff. 56 Deuteronomy 24.1. 57 Deuteronomy 19.15. 147
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