… is from page 217 of Clifford Geertz’s important 1983 collection, Local Knowledge:
Fortunately or unfortunately, however, the legal mind, in whatever sort of society, seems to feed as much on muddle as it does on order. It operates increasingly not just in relatively settled waters – criminal offense, marital discord, property transfer – but in highly roiled ones where … plaintiffs are shapeless crowds, claims moral resentments, and verdicts social programs, or where the seizing and release of diplomats is countered by the seizing and release of bank accounts. That it operates less well in such waters is beyond much doubt.
