Coordination and expertise foster legal textualism

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2206531119
• Publication Date: 2022-10-25T17:56:17Z
• Authors: Ivar R. Hannikainen; Kevin P. Tobia; Guilherme da F. C...; Noel Struchiner; Markus Kneer; Piotr Bystranowski; Vilius Dranseika; Niek Strohmaier; Samantha Bensinger; Kristina Dolinina; Bartosz Janik; Eglė Lauraitytė; Michael Laakasuo; Alice Liefgreen; Ivars Neiders; Maciej Próchnicki; Alejandro Rosas; Jukka Sundvall; Tomasz Żuradzki
• Keywords: Variation (astronomy); Literal (mathematical logic)

A cross-cultural survey experiment revealed a dominant tendency to rely on rule’s letter over its spirit when deciding which behaviors violate the rule. This varied markedly across ( k = 15) countries, owing variation in impact of moral appraisals judgments rule violation. Compared with laypeople, legal experts were more inclined disregard their evaluations acts altogether and consequently exhibited stronger textualist tendencies. Finally, we evaluated plausible mechanism for emergence textualism: two-player coordination game, incentives coordinate absence communication reinforced participants’ adherence rules’ literal meaning. Together, these studies (total n 5,794) help clarify origins allure textualism, especially law. Within heterogeneous communities members diverge involving purpose, meaning provides clear focal point—an identifiable point agreement enabling coordinated interpretation among citizens, lawmakers, judges.