标题: Issue17 by zephyrqq [打印本页] 作者: zephyrqq 时间: 2008-2-19 16:17:09 标题: Issue17 by zephyrqq
ISSUE17 - "There are two types of laws: just and unjust. Every individual in a society has a responsibility to obey just laws and, even more importantly, to disobey and resist unjust laws."
字数：419 662 用时：01:00:00 加了50分钟 日期：2008-2-19 15:09:36
Can laws be divided into just laws and unjust ones as the title statement asserts? What is the standard for that division? Is it a responsibility for citizens to not only obey just laws but also to violate or even resist the so-called unjust laws? In order to find answers to all these questions, there is a necessary for us to come to the definition of law first.
Laws, a series of regulations and rules established by government, severs as a coercive means to limit people's behaviors and maintain the relatively stability of society. The main purpose of making laws is to keep our society from being disorder and protect the interests of all the social members as a whole. Thus, hardly can any kind of laws take care of the rights, profits and preference of each individual at the same time.
As a matter of fact, the fairness and justness of laws cannot judged by any individual, for an individual might tend to make his or her judgement about laws according to the personal interests or value system of his or her own, without thinking of those of others. Whether a certain law is just or not? It is quite understandable that people from diverse standpoints and various backgrounds would hold total different or even opposite opinions towards this question. For example, a law which justify the practice of mercy killing might be advocated by clinic workers who believe that it is a goodness to put an end to the unbearable suffering for incurable patients. While this law might also incur drastic blames from people, especially those who hold religious beliefs, view life as one of the most precious and holy things and therefore cannot be deprived for any excuse, even a decent one. This case illustrates clearly that to judge the justness of laws is a matter of subjective, not objective.
The foregoing tells us the very reason why individual cannot violate or even resist the so-called just laws. Since no law is absolutely just, everyone might have good reason to think any laws as unjust ones. In this sense, to resist unjust laws, as the speaker says, actually means to disobey any laws. However, this situation would be worrying: if it is safe and justifiable to defy any laws, the society would suffer from chaos and people would not be able to enjoy a serene life at all any longer. Hence, every individual is incumbent to obey laws. In order to guarantee the complying of laws, legislation institution have made a set of corresponding penalties and remedies. Without the compulsory nature and coercive power, the existence of laws make no sense. The fairness of laws lies in this: anyone who violate laws could not escape from being punished.
Although it is the responsibility of every individual in a society to obey all the laws, it does not imply that laws are completely unchangeable, nor we cannot do anything about the shortcomings of our laws. History tells us that laws always change to adapt the development of human society. Take the slavery for example. This peculiar institution was once recognized by law in many areas all over the world, but as the increasing consciousness of freedom and equality, it has been abrogated by a considerable number of countries now. Furthermore, at present most democratic nations have established legal procedures to amend their laws several years a time. In the light of this statement, the proper way for a individual to contribute to minish the unjust respects of laws is not to disobey laws for the mere reason that they have their own inevitable faults, but try to remind authorities to notice the unjust parts of laws through legal procedures.
To sum up, there is no laws but be imperfect. It is rational for every individual to obey laws strictly and help to amend laws legally. Only in this way can laws manage to serve the well-being of the whole society.