The institutionsUsually the Legislative Power is in charge of ruling the Laws by which society is governed, and the Judicial Power is in charge of ruling the sanctions in cases where there are inconveniences in terms of compliance with legal regulations.
However, there are times when the legal system is not enough to determine the resolution of a conflict, and therefore the personal appreciation specially trained individuals: a case like these is that of the loopholes of law.
Even if the legal structure is so large, in any case Justice is always in the hands of human beings. These are not, in any case, people who limit themselves to reading and resolving conflicts without applying their criteria, but rather have a clear intervention. And this is because the legal system does not cover, nor does it pretend to cover, the totality of human actions.
There are usually two classes of susceptible events to be considered ’empty’ or of ‘absence’ of sufficient regulation.
- Gaps in law. They are those situations in which the Law omits the specific regulation of a certain situation, for which there is no specific legal answer: there, those who apply the law must substitute the absence by means of a specially prepared technique to obtain an effective response.
- Gaps in the Law. Where a specific case cannot be adjusted to any category of moral norms: the resolution here is simpler, through other legal sources such as doctrine or jurisprudence.
The resolution of the legal loopholes It can occur in many ways, highlighting the analogy: there the judge applies rules that are dictated for similar situations, at his discretion. Although the norm does not exist, the judge creates it through common sense.
Other forms of resolution they are the extensive interpretation of a nearby norm, or the consultation of other sources of law, equating this kind of loophole to the legal loophole.
Examples of loopholes in law
- When the time comes to resolve a business situation, one of the parties has begun to have a disability that does not allow him to face the decision. As this possibility had not been contemplated in the contract for the conclusion of the agreement, it is the judge who must decide how it is resolved, since the date is close and no legal representative has yet been chosen for the incapacitated person.
- The Law allows all those who profess a certain religion to have a holiday on a certain date. However, all the surgeons in a hospital profess this religion and therefore there would be no surgeons that day. If the conflict were to go to court, it would be a loophole in law.
- Sometimes, changes in certain regulations cause there to be exact dates or times when it is not known which regulation is valid. As these are individual exceptions, they are legal loopholes.
- It is common for airplanes to be prohibited from entering with knives. However, it is not allowed to enter with a sharp object other than a knife, with the intention of doing so subject to sanction. This is a case of loophole of law, where the procedure is by analogy and by the spirit of the norm.
- If there is a prohibition to enter somewhere with an animal (dog), and a person enters with another (cat). The ban could fit the same way.