From Pyramids to Stories: Cognitive Reconstruction of Local Government Authority

Abstract

This article describes a cognitive science approach to law, uses it to critically evaluate conventional "pyramid" legal analysis of local government authority, and suggests stories as alternative models for defining such authority. The article suggests that stories better reveal what is at stake in regard to local government authority and thus helps us to arrive at better solutions. The article illustrates the storytelling analytical approach in three situations: a local government's condemnation of private property for resale to a private developer, the delegation of land use control authority to neighborhood groups, and local government attempts to zone out nontraditional families.

Keywords: local government law, cognitive science, chaos theory, eminent domain, takings, zoning, nontraditional families

JEL Classification: B30, D70, D71, D73, D74, D78, D81, D83, G30, G38, G39, H10, H11, H19, H80, H82, H89, K10, K11, K19