Thanks for this question. Do please check the labels at the right to see what else I have written about this; there's background in earlier posts which should be helpful. I'm not sure if anyone ever asked "why not?" before. Lauras are colonies of hermits, and those of c 603 hermits are composed of solitary hermits professed and consecrated apart from a community. They must therefore be able to exist as a specifically solitary hermit should a laura dissolve or otherwise fail. (I have read that the success rate of lauras is really very small. They apparently fail far more frequently than they succeed.) If their vows were made as part of a community commitment, and the community dissolved or was suppressed or something, the hermits left would need to have those vows recontextualized canonically (transferred to another group) or have them cease to be binding due to a material change in the hermit's circumstances.
The second but related reason is that there are already other canons which govern the foundation of institutes of consecrated life. Canon 603 is not meant to be used as a way to sidestep these canons and the process established by them. The foundation of religious communities is a complex and demanding project. This is true even when the founders are possessed of an evangelical genius. The church governs the formation and development of new institutes so that they grow in a healthy way, embody gospel values and represent sound theologies and praxis of consecrated life. It takes time and there are a number of stages which must be negotiated before the community is considered an institute of consecrated life and members are admitted to profession and/or consecration. Such institutes are ecclesial just as diocesan hermits are ecclesial. They represent religious life lived in the name of the Church and for that reason the church governs their establishment formation, and life canonically.
Some of the commentaries on the revised Code of Canon Law discuss the prohibition of using c 603 for the establishment of communities. The one I have by Coriden et al, speaks of this. I have written some about the differences between lauras and communities several years ago. There may be some work done on this in Canon Law journals, because there are now groups that began as lauras which morphed over time into actual communities, but I can't point you to anything in these. If I find anything myself, I'll add it to this post. Meanwhile, your best resource is apt to be canonists specializing in consecrated life. Therese Ivers, JCL is one who can be reached online or by email and might be directly helpful or able to refer you to someone else who is.
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