My palm pilot dictionary has the following for two, of several, definitions of the word arbitrary:

marked by or resulting from the unrestrained and often tyrannical exercise of power <protection from ~ arrest
and detention>

based on or determined by individual preference or convenience rather than by necessity or the intrinsic nature of something

This demonstrates what I love about language. Contained in each definition is the connotation of the other. 

In a class today we discussed records management and archiving. I was fascinated by what I saw as the arbitrary nature (second definition above) of the rules used to declare something as record-worthy or distinguish a record from a document because the arbiter of the rules can gain or maintain enormous power through the rules. See the first definition.

I do not dispute the need for records and archives, but goodness we must maintain awareness of how and why the rules are created. Who do they benefit? Who, if anyone, is constrained by the rules?

Every structure provides someone a benefit and someone a constraint. We want benefits for some people and we want, perhaps unfortunately, constraints for some. Are those other people? The same people? Who decides? Who controls? Who cares?