I've got a really wild idea: what if you change the shape of the anchor so that it's actually getting resistance against the water itself instead of having to hit the sea floor. You'll have to pull it out if the water once you're done moving it and then drop it in again. Maybe put it on the end of a big stick. I'm thinking about calling this type of anchor an "oar."
Not only that, you're using the friction between the anchor and the seafloor, so even the recoil of a propulsive ballista will allow you to perform work.
I stumbled on it when figuring out just how the hell tall ships docked and undocked without tugs. Turns out they did use tugs in the form of rowboats but they also extensively used shoreside rigging and warping.
Edit: and I should add, they very rarely actually docked in the first place because it was such a pain in the ass, so they used tenders instead mostly
Oh I'm all for radical change up to and including the redistribution of property and the abolishment of common law. I just don't think that's happening anytime soon.
To be sure. The lawsuit is fine, if you build capacity for the state and they don't use it, they still need to pay for the costs of having that capacity. Actually creating a situation where a business must increase incarceration to create a profit is actually the potential for a much darker path than a fucking lawsuit.
Administrative law is complicated by them having to follow their own procedures and the courts deciding to completely ignore changes to those procedures or make new ones up out of whole cloth.
The autonomy is a strength in some ways compared to parliamentary democracy and ministers, but the courts have really fucked around with it.