Many laws incorporate scaling in terms of damage threshold or magnitude of single incident. We have very few laws that are explicit about scale in terms of overall frequency or number of participants in multiple incidents. City zoning may be one example of success in this area—only allowing so many residents in an area, without specifying who.
There are very few criminal laws such that something is legal only when a few people are doing it, and becomes illegal if it’s too popular. Much more common to just outlaw it and allow prosecutors/judges leeway in enforcing it. I’d argue that this choice gets exercised in ways that are harmful, but it does get the job (permitting low-level incidence while preventing large-scale infractions) done.
Many laws incorporate scaling in terms of damage threshold or magnitude of single incident. We have very few laws that are explicit about scale in terms of overall frequency or number of participants in multiple incidents. City zoning may be one example of success in this area—only allowing so many residents in an area, without specifying who.
There are very few criminal laws such that something is legal only when a few people are doing it, and becomes illegal if it’s too popular. Much more common to just outlaw it and allow prosecutors/judges leeway in enforcing it. I’d argue that this choice gets exercised in ways that are harmful, but it does get the job (permitting low-level incidence while preventing large-scale infractions) done.