PW: Conspiracy Fines detailed, so far...

[pwalker8]

Many would agree with you, yet as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr famously said "This is a court of law, young man, not justice". So the purpose of the court system in the US is to administer the law, rather than the common law tradition of a judge coming to a "just" decision, making up the law as he goes. Eventually, if the law is viewed as unjust by enough people, it will be changed.

The issue is that people can and do disagree on what is just. However, if you go by the law and prohibit de facto (after the fact) laws, then at least people have a shot of knowing up front what is legal and what isn't.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The issue is that people can and do disagree on what is just. However, if you go by the law and prohibit de facto (after the fact) laws, then at least people have a shot of knowing up front what is legal and what isn't.

Exactly. There is ample debate about imperfect/unjust laws, often passed with the best of intentions.
You don't need to go very deep into recent mainstream news to see where the two concepts diverge and where attempts to force the law to go where it can't is only making things worse for everybody.

As a rule, the law, whether common or napoleonic tends to lag real world developments, particulary in technology which makes it reactive rather than pro-active. In that lag there is opportunity for those willing to game the system.

[storax]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

... yet as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr famously said "This is a court of law, young man, not justice".

That's a good quote, but he also said "Law is the handmaiden of justice."

Personally, I prefer the latter sentiment. It is, after all, why we have trial by jury.

[Angst]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

[snip] First off, as far as the settlement goes, in most settlements of this kind, the people who were allegedly injured, i.e. the customer, almost always only gets a coupon. The vast majority of the money goes to the lawyers [snip]

I always hate the fact the injured party gets coupons while the lawyers make millions. If the settlement is so good for consumers, why is it not also good for the lawyers? The lawyers should receive their compensation in the same manner as the consumers: $2.00 coupons!

[ProfCrash]

The original email sent out to people who would receive money from the settlement stated specific refunds for different types of books (best sellers and some other catagories that I am forgetting). The email from Amazon said that the refund would come in the form of a gift card that could be used at Amazon.

I am fine with the gift card approach, I buy a good amount from Amazon and having a gift card would work for me. I am hoping that the amount per book in each catagory would go up based on the additional settlements and Apples being found guilty, but who knows.