People keep talking about the Law of Demeter. It's a pretty good law - although it seems like a hard one to break in a modern programming environment.
Anyway, I'd like to propose another law based on a classical mythical character: The Law of Damocles: All code exists with a sword poised above its head.
Shit code is better deleted than mutated. Ensure the behaviors are properly specified with tests, delete it, and start writing good code until the tests are all green again.
