  This paper looks at a common law legal system as a learning algorithm, models
specific features of legal proceedings, and asks whether this system learns
efficiently. A particular feature of our model is explicitly viewing various
aspects of court proceedings as learning algorithms. This viewpoint enables
directly pointing out that when the costs of going to court are not
commensurate with the benefits of going to court, there is a failure of
learning and inaccurate outcomes will persist in cases that settle.
Specifically, cases are brought to court at an insufficient rate. On the other
hand, when individuals can be compelled or incentivized to bring their cases to
court, the system can learn and inaccuracy vanishes over time.
