law texts feel like a layering problem, like just decoration around decoration to avoid breaking existing 'code' without ever simplifying it

Okay so let’s try simplifying it.

We’ll change the existing murder legislation to “Killing someone is a crime”. It’ll save us thousands of pages.

But does that mean a soldier shooting an enemy is a crime? What about shooting someone who is raping you? What if you shoot someone by mistake, thinking they’re going to kill you? What if you hit them with a car? What if you fail to provide safety equipment which eventually results in their accidental death?

Oopsie woopsie, I guess we need to add another thousand pages of exceptions back to our simplistic laws. It turns out people didn’t just write them for the fun of it.