The Laws of Liturgy?

Are you interested in figuring out where the Liturgy came from? Well below I have a list of “laws” that some scholars have implemented in trying to discern where and when certain things came into being. The First 2 are the original Baumstark rules, the rest have developed after.

1. The Law of Organic Development – This law states that additions to the liturgy grow up next to older forms, but eventually supplant or cause an abbreviation to older forms
2. That primitive conditions are maintained with greater tenacity in the more sacred sections of the liturgical year – This law points out that ancient customs are preserved more accurately in highly solemn and significant occasions.
3. The Older a text is the less influenced by the Bible it is – This law was formulated by Fritz Hamm, Baumstark’s student.
4. The more more recent a text is the more symmetrical it is – This was also a Hamm addition.
5. The later it is, the more liturgical prose gets charged with doctrinal elements – This was added by Hieronymus Engberding.
6. Certain actions, that began as purely utilitarian by nature may receive symbolic meaning either from their function in the liturgy as such, or from factors in the liturgical texts which accompany them. – This is another Baumstark rule
7. Liturgical prose becomes increasingly Oratorical or governed by Rhetoric – A Robert Taft rule.
8. The development of liturgy is but a series of individual developments – Another Taft rule.

These laws are not intended to be treated as absolutes but they can certainly be a useful handle to grab the history of liturgy with. What do you think of these “rules”?