How many laws do we have in our country? Who can say even knowing half? Does what consequences that proliferation of standards with regard to democracy, institutions, human rights or development? Key questions these! Nobody knows how many laws exist in our Republic. Much less, no one will know how many legal rules are in force in Colombia. Moreover, the vast majority of citizens, including lawyers, don’t know, even, how many species of legal rules exist in our normative pyramid! Perhaps for that reason, all legal systems are based on the big lie, contained in the principle of: standard it is said to be known. Ignorance of the law doesn’t excuse, says our Civil Code, following the Latin tradition. It could not be otherwise, because admitting otherwise would give the fret with the rule of law itself. And the previous justification must add that of the immense amount of existing standards.
Quantity bordering on abuse and the disrespect! As there are so many rules, it is necessary to assume absolutely, without being able to prove otherwise, that us them all know! (presumption of law). This is known in the modern world as legislative inflation. (The most expressive say legislative diarrhea!). Precisely, it is called inflation because it produces the same consequences as the monetary: depreciated. Among more quantity of circulating standards less value have them, they are less appreciated, and cheaper. Also this phenomenon resembles any of the excess vehicles on our streets: cause exaggerated con, make us curse, irritate us, trying to pass above the sardinel. But by more desperate the long row does not flow. The same happens with excess standards: deadlock institutionality, raises transaction costs, efficiency makes it impossible, collaborates with corruption (laws excess corrupts the Republic, he said Tacitus), slows down development and makes you lose credibility in the democratic system.
Solutions? To the President of the Congress of Guatemala a sui generis occurred to him: a Commission of notable Jurists proposed to revise all laws of that country, to effect a selection to make the Congress repeal the inappropriate, in the opinion of that Committee, or those in conflict with other laws. Rather, regulating with another law legislative excess! It would be too much, isn’t it? But definitely the topic should be treated sooner or later our State. No doubt the similarity of this solution with that of the economy: increasing the banking lace, for example, to reduce the circulating medium. In the discussed case is necessary to reduce the number of standards and prevent future proliferation of them, starting with the constitutional. But we can’t stop there. It is necessary, above all, to strengthen and modernize our administration of Justice, giving it new powers for the interpretation, and agile mechanisms integration and application of law. It is necessary, also, to be resourceful in the adoption of new procedures to resolve conflicts and, finally, is forced to introduce legal education of our children.
