The rational legislator whom we have here in view would accordingly
always take expert advice as to whether the desired object could be
achieved by legal compulsion; and as to whether a projected law which
satisfied the condition of being workable would give a balance of
advantages over disadvantages.

In connexion with a proposal for the prevention of sweating he would,
for instance, take expert advice as to whether its provisions could be
enforced; and whether, if enforceable, they would impose added
hardships on any class of employees or penalties on any innocent class
of employers.

In like manner in connexion with a proposed modification in criminal
procedure, the rational reformer would defer to the expert on the
question as to whether such modification would secure greater
certainty of punishment for the guilty without increasing the risk of
convicting the innocent.

In connexion with the second category of evils--the category under
which would come those of drinking and betting--the rational
legislative reformer would recognise the complete impracticability of
abolishing by legislative prohibition physiological indulgences and
the evils which sometimes attend upon them.

He would consider instead whether these attendant evils could be
reduced by making the regulating laws more stringent; and whether more
stringent restrictions--in addition to the fact that they would filch
from the all too small stock of human happiness--would not, by paving
the way for further invasions of personal liberty, cripple the free
development of the community.