No, Red Lobster won't call the police immediately when they see 10 people eating 1 buffet option.
In a civilized society it's a series of escalations:
Fine print in the menu will say the buffet deal is only available for 1 person, and the restaurant reserves the right to cutoff any customer at anytime without a given reason.
Now when Red Lobster sees 10 people eating from one buffet option, they have a contract justification to have an employee go over there and gently say, please don't do this.
When that doesn't change behavior, Red Lobster has justification to charge the table for 10 buffet meals with the cheque at the end.
When the table refuses to pay, then Red Lobster has justification to take the table to the small claims court.
When the table refuses to pay in court, NOW finally the cops get involved over criminal behavior
Now jail becomes an option because of breaking big laws
This process can break down at any point due to the enforcers lacking will or ability to straightforwardly enforce the law.
However when the system works, it can enforce numerous arbitrarily small contracts (Red Lobster buffet fine print) with the threat of overwhelming force.
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No, Red Lobster won't call the police immediately when they see 10 people eating 1 buffet option.
In a civilized society it's a series of escalations:
Fine print in the menu will say the buffet deal is only available for 1 person, and the restaurant reserves the right to cutoff any customer at anytime without a given reason.
Now when Red Lobster sees 10 people eating from one buffet option, they have a contract justification to have an employee go over there and gently say, please don't do this.
When that doesn't change behavior, Red Lobster has justification to charge the table for 10 buffet meals with the cheque at the end.
When the table refuses to pay, then Red Lobster has justification to take the table to the small claims court.
When the table refuses to pay in court, NOW finally the cops get involved over criminal behavior
Now jail becomes an option because of breaking big laws
This process can break down at any point due to the enforcers lacking will or ability to straightforwardly enforce the law.
However when the system works, it can enforce numerous arbitrarily small contracts (Red Lobster buffet fine print) with the threat of overwhelming force.
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