Analysis: Should We Be Allowed To Break The Law?
Should We Be Allowed to Break the Law?
Every country around the world as well as every community within its given country has laws, but what exactly are laws? According to the Oxford Dictionary a law is, “the system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties,” (Oxford, 2013). Keeping the definition in mind it is undoubtedly obvious that laws are created with a purpose behind them. That purpose being, to better society as a whole, by adhering to given laws. The question is should civilians be allowed to break these laws? The answer is yes, however there must be a greater positive outcome in doing so.
The greatest responsibility given to civilians is to oblige to the laws of their place of residence. The idea however can be argued that, “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws,” (Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail). Some laws are meant to be overstepped on the basis of a higher morale, such as laws that infringe on human rights.
Sharing music online, j-walking and running red lights are all things society does without even giving a second thought that laws are being broken. Society as a whole accepts the minor laws we break, but even so, does that make everyone a criminal? The idea of being a criminal is based on subjective opinions. If peoples’ understanding of what is incriminating differs based on circumstance, we should change our legal outlook in order to accommodate our mutual understanding or adapt laws and create new methods of doing things.
Every law has a consequence for breaking it whether it is as petty as a fine or as serious as time spent in a correctional facility. There will always be laws that society does not believe in and they will always attempt to overstep them, so yes, we should be allowed to break the law so long as it is done without any heinous intentions.
References
King, Martin. Luther. (1963). Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Law. (n.d.). In Oxforddictionaries.com.
Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/law
Every country around the world as well as every community within its given country has laws, but what exactly are laws? According to the Oxford Dictionary a law is, “the system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties,” (Oxford, 2013). Keeping the definition in mind it is undoubtedly obvious that laws are created with a purpose behind them. That purpose being, to better society as a whole, by adhering to given laws. The question is should civilians be allowed to break these laws? The answer is yes, however there must be a greater positive outcome in doing so.
The greatest responsibility given to civilians is to oblige to the laws of their place of residence. The idea however can be argued that, “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws,” (Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail). Some laws are meant to be overstepped on the basis of a higher morale, such as laws that infringe on human rights.
Sharing music online, j-walking and running red lights are all things society does without even giving a second thought that laws are being broken. Society as a whole accepts the minor laws we break, but even so, does that make everyone a criminal? The idea of being a criminal is based on subjective opinions. If peoples’ understanding of what is incriminating differs based on circumstance, we should change our legal outlook in order to accommodate our mutual understanding or adapt laws and create new methods of doing things.
Every law has a consequence for breaking it whether it is as petty as a fine or as serious as time spent in a correctional facility. There will always be laws that society does not believe in and they will always attempt to overstep them, so yes, we should be allowed to break the law so long as it is done without any heinous intentions.
References
King, Martin. Luther. (1963). Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Law. (n.d.). In Oxforddictionaries.com.
Retrieved from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/law