"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"

Tacitus, the renowned Roman historian, offers a stark observation about society and governance. When a state becomes deeply corrupt, legal codes tend to proliferate with increasing detail and complexity. Rather than indicating a high degree of civilization or a well-ordered society, the multiplication of laws often betrays underlying disorder and even moral decay. Law, ideally, serves as a guide for fair conduct, a framework for justice, and a stabilizing force in communal life. But when laws become excessive, minute, and continuously expanding, it suggests that natural virtue, public trust, and basic honesty have eroded.

In the context of corruption, those in power frequently enact more and more regulations, partly to project an appearance of control, justice, or reform. Yet these laws may only respond to the symptoms of societal dysfunction, not their root causes. Rather than inspiring moral behavior or civic virtue among citizens, such proliferation often signals a desperate attempt by authorities to regulate and micromanage every aspect of life, since informal bonds of trust have broken down. As corruption spreads, so does suspicion, requiring ever more detailed statutes to cover loopholes or to check the cunning methods by which officials and citizens alike evade justice.

Excessive legislation can also serve the interests of the corrupt. When the body of law is vast and convoluted, it becomes difficult for the average citizen to understand their rights or obligations. Ultimately, this creates opportunities for those who wield power to interpret or manipulate the law to their favor, extract bribes, or punish enemies with arbitrary enforcement. Thus, instead of being a shield for the people, the law becomes a tool for exploitation. Tacitus’s observation provides a cautionary reminder: a flourishing and just society relies not on the sheer quantity of its laws, but on its capacity for virtue, integrity, and public trust.