I understand that AI researchers are trying to create AI designs that allow for desired behavior without undesirable side-effects. A classic example of an attempt is Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. This idea seems to have been debunked due to its vague phrasing. In particular, I realize that the exact 3 laws from the stories can't work, but surely there is a set of more robust ones that can limit an AI to good behavior in the same way that people are restricted by law.
Why have AI researchers not accepted an idea like the following (just making the laws more specific):
What if the UN voted for the country with the fairest laws and all utility functions have 2/3 of their points made up of not breaking any of those laws. If the ai has a question, it could look at court precedent just like a judge would or ask humans (with two-thirds of its points on the line, it should be pretty cautious).
People have been looking for loopholes in law for thousands of years and there may not be any catastrophic ones left. (It certainly wouldn't be violent)
I must be missing something if this is still an open problem.