Regulation

Definition

Regulation is a legal mechanism to control how people people act and how people may interact with one another when conducting business.

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Discussion

The nature of regulation is always prohibitive. Regulation first and foremost prohibits some or all individuals from engaging in a particular activity. By granting exemptions to those prohibitions, regulation is able to control who engages, and how they engage, in any particular activity.

We usually refer to these "exemptions" as licenses, permits, certificates, approvals or other types of authorizations.

Regulation, like criminal law, is a type of public law. This means the rules from regulation apply to individuals without their consent. This is in contrast to private law where only individuals who have agreed to the rules can be bound by them.

While regulation by its nature is contrary to free association and freedom of choice, this is not to say society should not have rules which "regulate" the activity of individuals, including in matters of public safety. However, there are several options aligned with the freedom which safeguard against the same consequences regulation seeks to prevent.