While ill-defined rules create certain problems, the opposite type of rules creates other problems. These are overly precise and specific ones, so fastidious that they are difficult or even impossible to abide by. They can turn well-intentioned, perfectly law-abiding citizens into criminals for failing to meet a fine detail of an administrative rule.
Because these rules are so particular, they cannot be consistently enforced, resulting in administrative agencies having to determine which rules they will strictly enforce and which ones they will let slide. Just as with ill-defined rules, this results in administrative agents independently determining who is criminally liable and who is not, weakening the rule of law. A few examples are provided below.
The Mobile Home Commission Act of 1987 authorizes LARA to promulgate rules covering mobile home parks, including the business practices of mobile home manufacturers, dealers, installers and repairers.[47] In short, LARA is authorized to write rules concerning just about every aspect of mobile homes. Not surprisingly, the rules span 83 pages and contain 591 “shall” orders.[48] Anyone who violates these rules is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a daily fine of up to $500 and up to a year in jail.[49]
Aspiring mobile home park owners must get all their t’s crossed and i’s dotted when seeking official permission to build a mobile home park. They must submit plans that include a cover sheet with all of the following information: “the name and location of the community, a comprehensive sheet index, list of abbreviations, schedule of symbols” and “a location map of the project depicting its relationship to the surrounding area.”[50] The cover sheet must by 24 inches by 36 inches.[51] Each page of the plan also must be dated, and each page must be numbered and contain the total number of sheets in the plan.[52] Obviously, formatting standards make it easier for regulators to process these plans, but should leaving out one of these details result in a misdemeanor?
There are many decrees in this rule set that are equally specific, and they make it difficult for even a meticulous mobile park owner to comply. For instance, all roads, driveways and sidewalks must be “reasonably free” of holes, upheavals, buckling, depressions and rutting or channeling.[53] Mobile home retailers may not use the phrases “close out,” “final clearance,” “going out of business,” “at cost,” “below cost,” “below wholesale,” “below invoice,” “above cost,” “above wholesale,” “above invoice,” “no retailer has lower prices,” “the retailer is never undersold,” or “statements of similar meaning, unless the statements are true.”[54] Of course, only the retailer is going to know if these phrases are true, so enforcing the rule seems an impossible task.
Advertising by retailers of alcohol is also stringently regulated. The Michigan Liquor Control Commission is authorized to promulgate rules about retail sales of alcohol and violators are guilty of a misdemeanor.[55] An alcohol retailer selling liquor, such as a grocery or convenience store, must only use signs that are unilluminated and have a total surface area of less than 3,500 square inches.[56] That means, if a sign is a square, it cannot be more than 59.16 inches on each side. In addition, the total area of any sign that is attached to this sign or “a necessary part of” it counts towards the 3,500 squared-inches limit.[57]
The intent of these rules is clear, but they are so specific that they may do more harm than good. It is not clear that the more detailed a rule, the better it serves its purpose. A rule must not be as ill-defined at the ones discussed in the previous section of this report. But certainly it is possible to create rules that are easy to understand and make it possible to know when a person is in compliance.