HeyBub wrote:
....
Like most "regulations," there is no requirement that a "reason" be given.
Often the regulation is arbitrary and based on emotional satisfaction rather
than science (silicone breast implants, arsenic levels in municipal water
systems).

Other times, like having a licensed electrician (or union member), be
responsible for changing a light bulb, the underlying reason is political or
economic.

Sometimes, like the regulations prohibiting PEX in California, the
regulation is merely a pride issue.

Some of those _may_ have some merit, but I'm doubtful of most...

W/ the NEC, there is a very long and involved process of building the
Code and while it isn't required (nor even very meaningful) to publish
every nuance of "why" underlying the actual code provisions, there are
defensible reasons for them and there has to be sufficient basis to win
the approval of a sizable number of participants. At last time I looked
there were some 80,000 members of the NFPA and the NEC had something
otoh 5,000(!) peer reviewers. With that many folks involved, anything
_too_ arbitrary or one-side simply isn't going to fly.

It may appear arbitrary, but like most things, the details are far more
complex than they may appear from the outside.

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