ISSUE17 [jet小组] 第八次作业

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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."


From the inception of the human civilization, laws have been part and parcel of our society and the justice of laws has been all the time a foremost and inspiring topic whether in an authoritarian or in a democratic nation. Although I agree that there exist just laws and unjust laws, the author's statement that every individual in a society has a responsibility to disobey and resist unjust laws goes far beyond feasibility and practice.

As is known to all, the functions of laws are fundamentally to ensure an orderly society by make rules to regulate people's behaviors and establish a series of criterion to solve interest conflicts among people. It should punish those who break the rules and stipulate gouges to judge human deeds and finally reconcile the disputes between people; otherwise, the society would be plunged into chaos. Once a law is legislated, it requires absolute authority to ensure everyone's equality before the law and everyone's obedience to the rules.

Admittedly, from the inception of the emergence of the law, there are two kinds of laws: just and unjust. Just laws are those who ensure the equality and justice of everyone in a society rather than bias and discrimination which are the major characteristics of unjust laws. In authoritarian epochs, unjust laws were designed to protect the interests of aristocrats and to bereave the labor, property and freedom from slaves, civilians and the public.  Until the 16th century, the dawn lights of the Renaissance enlighten the Dark Ages; people have been expressing an ardent craving for the justice of laws, no matter philosophers, thinkers, reformists and even the mass. So the appeal to abolish the unjust laws is pressing.

However, it is not so wise to ask everyone in a society to resist unjust laws primarily because it will bring us the disorderliness and disasters and even destroy the benefaction of the public. The crucial spirit of a law is the authority, without which it means nothing. Just as a certain types of rules for a game, no matter you like or dislike, no matter you believe it just or unjust, once you are in the game, you should comply with them in order to prevent dispute and clash when seeking the success. Similarly, once laws are passed by legislation, every individual in the society should admit and obey it. One example that aptly illustrates this point involves Socrates, a great philosopher in ancient Greece, who sacrificed himself to maintain the authority of Athenian law by refusing the rescue from his friends. The spirits showed by his decease illustrated the essence of laws and had become the origin of western juristic civilization.

Then the key problem is how we can abolish the injustice and inequality of certain laws if every individual still have to obey them. An example in 1960s America can offer us a feasible way. Dr Martin Luther King, fight for the equality for negroes by leading people to assemble, to demonstrate, to refuse to take a bus, which are all endowed by the laws of America, so he won the respect of both the whites and the blacks for his peaceful and effective ways to require amendments of unjust laws. So, when confronting really unjust laws, we should seek a peaceful and legal way to amend them rather than directly and rashly disobey and resist them. Nothing is more important than the authority of a law, on which the justice is based; hence every individual should still obey laws before the amendment comes out.

In sum, the absolute authority of laws should be ensured in that every individual in a society should obey its laws whether they are just or unjust. Still, peaceful and legal ways seeking to amend unjust laws by the majority of the society is required to ensure the ultimate justice of humanity.