Nomocracy

The standard definition of Nomocracy is "government by the rule of law or a legal code." It should be noted, however, that the interposition of a large bureaucracy interpreting law effectively diminishes the purpose and intent of the rule of law, since the interpretation, if the legal code is overwhelmingly complex (the standard raison d'être for the bureaucracy) the interpretation becomes increasingly arbitrary.

On might plot a graph of the relationship between the size of the legal code and its uniformity of interpretation. The result would compare to the plot of y = a*b/(a + x) for some constant value, "a" representing a minimal coherent code size and "b" a constant representing optimal coherence of interpretation, with values smaller than "b" being a measure of decreasing coherence. With such a graph, when "x", the complexity "padding" factor increases without bound, the coherence, "y", of the system approaches zero asymptotically. If one adds a consideration of social and legal stability to the analysis, one can contemplate a threshold value, "c" for the coherence value such that when y = a*b/(a + x) < c, the system begins to collapse through what might be called systemic thrashing.