Micro law: paradigms lost

The tyranny of paradigms dominates legal analysis. Traditional mathematical analysis begins with undefined elements and axioms. It then derives theorems from them, in the hope the results will correspond to something useful, so that the system is a model for physical behavior ofinterest. In contrast, legal analysis seizes on a paradigm, explores its implications, and applies them as a tool for resolving conflicting legal interests that the paradigm is supposed to represent. Thus the law has tried to resolve conflicts between factory owners and surrounding property owners objecting to toxic wastes emanating from the factories by vacillating between two conflicting paradigms. The most recent paradigm battle in Micro Law's territory is over defamation on the Internet. Sidney and Jacqueline Blumenthal of Washington, D.C., filed a $30-million libel lawsuit in late August against AOL and its Internet gossip columnist Matt Drudge. AOL carries the Drudge Report, which recounts the latest rumors without first verifying their accuracy.