Editing Heuristic (section)

===Law===
In [[legal theory]], especially in the theory of [[law and economics]], heuristics are used in the [[law]] when [[case method|case-by-case analysis]] would be impractical, insofar as "practicality" is defined by the interests of a governing body.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Gigerenzer|editor-first1=Gerd|editor-last2=Engel|editor-first2=Christoph|year=2007|title=Heuristics and the Law|location=Cambridge, MA|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|isbn=978-0-262-07275-5}}</ref>

The present securities regulation regime largely assumes that all investors act as perfectly rational persons. In truth, actual investors face cognitive limitations from biases, heuristics, and framing effects. For instance, in all states in the United States the [[legal drinking age]] for unsupervised persons is 21 years, because it is argued that people need to be mature enough to make decisions involving the risks of [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] consumption. However, assuming people mature at different rates, the specific age of 21 would be too late for some and too early for others. In this case, the somewhat arbitrary delineation is used because it is impossible or impractical to tell whether an individual is sufficiently mature for society to trust them with that kind of responsibility. Some proposed changes, however, have included the completion of an alcohol education course rather than the attainment of 21 years of age as the criterion for legal alcohol possession. This would put youth alcohol policy more on a case-by-case basis and less on a heuristic one, since the completion of such a course would presumably be voluntary and not uniform across the population.

The same reasoning applies to [[patent law]]. [[Patent]]s are justified on the grounds that inventors must be protected so they have incentive to invent. It is therefore argued that it is in society's best interest that inventors receive a temporary government-granted [[monopoly]] on their idea, so that they can recoup investment costs and make economic profit for a limited period. In the United States, the length of this temporary monopoly is 20 years from the date the patent application was filed, though the monopoly does not actually begin until the application has matured into a patent. However, like the drinking age problem above, the specific length of time would need to be different for every product to be efficient. A 20-year term is used because it is difficult to tell what the number should be for any individual patent. More recently, some, including [[University of North Dakota]] law professor Eric E. Johnson, have argued that patents in different kinds of industries – such as [[software patent]]s – should be protected for different lengths of time.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Eric E.|year=2006|title=Calibrating Patent Lifetimes|url=http://www.eejlaw.com/writings/Johnson_Calibrating_Patent_Lifetimes.pdf|journal=Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal|volume=22|pages=269–314|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005052244/http://www.eejlaw.com/writings/Johnson_Calibrating_Patent_Lifetimes.pdf|archive-date=2011-10-05}}</ref>