Scott Reynolds <scottreyn@gmail.com> wrote:
> One might even get the impression that everything is decided on a "case
> by case" basis, which is to say arbitrarily.

Case by case, but nevertheless usually under fair consideration of the
general rules.

If you ask me, that is basically a sound approach, and I would call it
"Optimality Method" (I picked that name named after the "Optimality
Theory" in language). It works like this: you have a set of rules that
you obey not absolutely but to the extent possible, which means, if
there arises a conflict between any two rules, you violate the lower
ranking one to obey the higher ranking one.

Al