Norm inflation

The term norm inflation appears to be a generalization, towards all sources of law, of legislative inflation, defined as a disproportionate increase in the volume and length of legislation. As with monetary inflation, the overabundance of sings risk causing their devaluation (Carbonnier). Is this a benign illness or the symptom of systemic pathology of the legal system? Is it specific to our time or has it been known before? Are the effects visible throughout the law or confined to particular areas of it? If norm inflation produces undesirable effects that deserve our attention, we should look at this scope, now and in the past, its foreseeable effects, its possible causes and remedies that might counter it. This article looks at the phenomenon of norm inflation, with reference mostly to Canada, France, the UK and the USA, and with a glance at the Iranian situation. The article demonstrates how economic analysis can be used to broach the matter.