System viscosity

Background

So, our legal system is slow. Like, really slow. Even without taking into account appeals and the like, it can often take years for even legitimate cases to get from filing to trial. And even when we all agree that something we're doing is dumb to do or something we're not doing would be smart to do, consensus is slow to effect effects, wikiality be damned. Sometimes, this is tragic, as injustices persist despite widespread opposition. Other times, it's a good thing, putting the brakes on social change and protecting the public from its own fickleness (ironic that the inefficiency of the system makes it more efficient by avoiding the need for frequent revision). Most of the time, it just is what it is.

This is true also of the satellites and subsidiaries of the legal system, including all or most of its internal bureaucracy and infrastructure. An unfortunate consequence of this is that all bureaucracies take their cue from the legal one.

One of the clear and major downsides to highly viscous systems is that they quickly become unwilling or unable to accept inputs from outside the system; today, this is most obvious as new and powerful technologies are developed with increasing frequency while bureaucracies cling to how-we've-always-done-it. Which brings me to...

My Beef
Suppose for a minute that you're a landowner and you're looking to rent out one of your properties. A potential client comes to you and you negotiate terms until you both find them agreeable. You shake on it. You draft a contract outlining those terms in writing and present it to your soon-to-be tenant, who signs it, eager to move in.

"What's that?", you exclaim. "No, no, we'll have none of that scribbling. All you did was write your name! Anybody could do that, so there's no way to verify that you're the one authorizing this document. No, you run home and get your signet ring, and we'll drip some hot wax on the contract and then you can put your seal on it, and then we have a deal."