Full Idea
A law ought to be capable of playing some role in explaining the phenomena that are governed by or are manifestations of it.
Gist of Idea
Laws should help explain the things they govern, or that manifest them
Source
Tim Maudlin (The Metaphysics within Physics [2007], 1.2)
Book Reference
Maudlin,Tim: 'The Metaphysics within Physics' [OUP 2007], p.8
A Reaction
I find this attitude bewildering. 'Why do electrons have spin?' 'Because they all do!' The word 'governed' is the clue. What on earth is a law, if it can 'govern' nature? What is its ontological status? Natures of things are basic, not 'laws'.