Laws: how much is too much?

I read a fascinating post over at Honourable Fiend, a British politics blog. The post isn't about anything earthshattering or even of much interest to most Americans, but for the following quote:
"...on the sole principle that any government which wants to pass nearly fifty laws a year is simply doing too much legislating..."

This is a fascinating concept. The very idea that our government should wish to pass fifty laws a year--as opposed to tens of dozens--is incredible. That other fully effective governments around the world are capable of doing so--and of having citizens who think 50 laws are simply too many regardless of their content--should give us some pause. How nice to imagine that our legislators could get by with only considering 50 laws in a year. How much pointless and inane legislation would not get passed? How much more streamlined would the government be?

I am reminded of a passage in P.J. O'Rourke's excellent book Parliament of Whores. "The mystery of government is not how Washington works, but how to make it stop."