Do You Believe It Is Ever Right To Break The Law?

In many cases it can be very right to break the law, and even wrong to follow the law.

Its about damaging ones freedoms. If you are hurting others, then its wrong. However, if you are not, that is where in my opinion the law dose not belong. Because its damaging everyones freedoms.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan

Originally posted by Death_Kron
reply to post by EnactedEgoTrip

 

Well they do say laws are there to be broken

I suppose the question then becomes what gives us the ability to choose what laws to obey and which to break.

is there a clear victim with a clear loss suffered?

if not, then the law is arbitrary and useless.

Well I don't see a clear victim in the case of under age drinking for example, or with under age sex as long as it's consensual.

Iwas just explaing this to my 11 year yesterday!

Example:

We were driving down a winding road home when a cute young dog appeared at the side of the road sniffing around, we kept going but as traffic approached from the opposite side I would flash rapidly my headlights so as to warn them to slow down, to be ready for the unknown.

My son asked why I did that and how it works, I explained that even though you wont read it in the Drivers manual, it is a unspoken common curteousy to give a blinking of your headlights if there is a cop ahead trying to catch speeders...

I explained that while it was illegal I had done it more times than I could count. he said but there is no cop up there, I told him no but it will make them slow down and be alert, I do it when I see obstructions like cattle or other animals on the road too.

So, yes i do believe that there is a time to break the law and I am not ashamed of my choices when those times do arise.

This is just one example, but yes sometimes the best thing to do is to take it as it comes and make those choices as you come across them.

Originally posted by gandhi
In many cases it can be very right to break the law, and even wrong to follow the law.

Its about damaging ones freedoms. If you are hurting others, then its wrong. However, if you are not, that is where in my opinion the law dose not belong. Because its damaging everyones freedoms.

What about hurting others when someone hurts your wife/children/friends for example?

Originally posted by Death_Kron

I'm talking more about things like Euthanasia, physically lashing out at someone who has hurt your child etc

Glad you like the thread

Well, I personally believe that it is ok to break laws, especially if they protect someone who broke the law in such a way as to harm MY child. Punishment has to fit the crime, and say in the circumstance of child molestation, I wouldnt think twice about breaking the law and snapping someones neck who harmed my child.

Well, ok, I would think twice....I wouldnt kill them, cause I wouldnt want to go to jail for life, but I would do a 30 day stint in jail for breaking thier arms.

I hope that clarifies my thoughts on it.

Originally posted by Death_Kron
reply to post by EnactedEgoTrip

 

Well they do say laws are there to be broken

I suppose the question then becomes what gives us the ability to choose what laws to obey and which to break.

Yep that is an issue. It is ultimately down to the individual. This is the problem with laws - they are only someones opinion (or desire) as to what should be the law. Unfortunately the people who make our laws do not have our interests at heart, and never have done. All they care about is power and wealth. The lawmakers are corrupt so the law is corrupt.

reply to post by antar


Good example

Sticking with driving, would it be wrong to break the speed limit in order to avoid a crash?

Definitely not in my opinion.

I think nearly every one of us probably breaks the speed limit...

reply to post by Darkblade71


Yeah, I agree 100%

So at times it is fine to break the law?

I'm sure there's people on here (do-gooders most likely, no offence) who would say you still broke the law and therefore shouldn't have done it..

The Federal Constitution of Brazil does not consider it a crime if you are in the extreme risk of starving to death and have no means of buying food. Of course, it will have to be proved that the person who stole the food was in such a situation. It is understood similarly to killing in self defense. Although, in this case, it would be stealing food in self defense. That is also the understanding of art 23 of the brazilian Penal Code.

So, that said, I would steal if it was necessary to keep myself and my family alive. Then again, I wouldn't be "breaking" the law, since the law would actually back me up on my actions.

Originally posted by EnactedEgoTrip
Yep that is an issue. It is ultimately down to the individual. This is the problem with laws - they are only someones opinion (or desire) as to what should be the law. Unfortunately the people who make our laws do not have our interests at heart, and never have done. All they care about is power and wealth. The lawmakers are corrupt so the law is corrupt.

Aye, basically a common theme emerging in this thread is to follow your own code of morals/laws without blatantly breaking what people know as "the law"

As a teenager, I was like a bull in a china shop when it came to breaking laws. I've broken some laws thousands of times (no details). As I've settled into my 30s, the value of law begins to make more sense. I still break the law daily, one way or other, but have a lot more respect for what they represent to the fabric of society. In this age, it's hard to not break laws! Crossing a road with the stop sign on red is one that everyone does. Driving with a dead brake light?

Let's say a family member had a warrant out for them and you let them stay over? That's 'harbouring a fugitive,'
or 'impeding the law.' What if the charges were wrongful? What if they were innocent? What if the law was a political one and specific to the period ( Commie witch-hunts of the 50s) or you helped an escaped slave reach the Northern States in the 19th Century?

I think there are very few laws that don't allow for exceptional circumstances whereby they can, or should, be broken. Sexual abuse and anti-cruelty are ones that should be universal and without exception. I was going to add murder, but can conceive of situations where killing someone could be morally justified...in those cases we'd have to study the definition of 'murder' as it applied to the act.

Maybe I've used poor examples...I still think that breaking the law can be morally right.

When there is a law that is unjust, it is our moral duty to disobey it.

Unjust laws persist because we do not break them.

Originally posted by Maxmars
When there is a law that is unjust, it is our moral duty to disobey it.

Unjust laws persist because we do not break them.

I'd agree.

But I can imagine a lot of us sitting in prison before they the actual law was abolished...

reply to post by Death_Kron


Perhaps we already are sitting in a prison.....

Ironically, that would make our 'selected' leaders the jailers, wouldn't it?

On another note, laws are broken left and right all the time. I will give you a few examples that I see daily here in Brazil.

1) Avoiding taxes.

Brazil is known as one of the countries with the greatest numbers of taxes. Anything you do around here gets taxed. Since the country is too big and the public administration is filled with bureocracy, nepotism and incompetence, there is a HUGE ammount of people AND companies that don't pay their taxes.

It actually pays off to break those laws, depending on where you live. When they finally catch you, they will notify you, then you will negotiate your debt to a smaller ammount and divide it into dozens of parcels. Happens ALL the time.

2) Avoiding bureocratic procedures.

Some cities have laws that are overtly bureocratic, written by systematic people years ago. But those procedures are so bureocratic, costly and hard to put into practice, that nobody does it. New and easier procedures are put into practice to the benefit of everyone. This will be hard to translate to english, but it deals with accounting books. I have seen the laws in some cities that obligates companies to go to extremes in terms of documentations. It is so absurd that the city government doesn't enforce any of it, because that would also mean a lot more work for them. So, until a new law is passed creating new procedures, people just ignore what says in the law.

3) Sound Pollution.

In many cities, it is forbidden to generate loud sounds after 10pm(or any other time determined by the law). Still, you see that law disrespected ALL the time. Why? Because the sound police doesn't do a thing.

It just turns out that if you are throwing a party at your place, that you will be breaking that law as well.

4) Fiding money on the street.

According to the law, you can't keep that money since it is not yours. But a lot of people would just put it in their pockets. DOesn't have to be a lot of money. A 20 dollars bill.

Well, those are some examples.I know that if I wanted, I could provide more. But that's enough, I guess.

5) Driving over the speed limit.

Self explanatory. =P

6) Drinking alcohol under the legal age.

Self explanatory. =P

7) Smoking pot

Self explanatory. =P

8) Abortion

Even in countries where it is illegal, I bet people do abortions.

9) Homossexualism

It is ILLEGAL in many countries. If you are homossexual and you live in a country where it is ilegal to be homosexual, just by breathing you are breaking the law.

EDIT TO ADD:

RIght now, I am breaking a law. My drivers license expired in February and I still didn't renew it. I am breaking the law everytime I drive with an expired drivers license.

CONCLUSION: I don't think it is right to break the law. But there are many laws that people break everyday, because it is just TOO HARD to regulate every little aspect of everyones lives.

There are times when I break the law. I ride my bike to work on a regular basis. Sometimes I run arterial stop signs because I can clearly see that there are no other vehicles approaching.

I consider myself a safe rider and ride with the spirit of being safe but sometimes I don't obey the letter of the law.

reply to post by antar

I explained that even though you wont read it in the Drivers manual, it is a unspoken common curteousy to give a blinking of your headlights if there is a cop ahead trying to catch speeders...

Hell yeah. It's a dying art in England and I applaud people flashing their lights to warn about speed traps and police.

Another dying art is flashing your lights to let someone into traffic and they just sit there staring...wondering why?! Annoys the hell out of me....what else can they possibly think we're flashing our lights for?

Here in Canada, the worste laws are the ones surrounding violence. Everything here is based on equal force. You can't kick someone who punches you, you can't stab someone who mugs you, and you can't shoot someone if they threaten to stab you. Now, I know in some states just setting foot on your property somehow grants you the role of God, and I don't agree with that, but if I was at home and someone broke through my window and held a knife to me, he would be as good as dead right there, God only knows where the body would show up. Some laws just don't make much sense, and I'm not about to wait around for them to change; I no longer expect politicians to do anything useful with our money.

Also, our age of consent here is 14, so if someone went under that.... eh.... use protection; let's not ruin any families with surprise children. Otherwise, none of my business. I certainly had my first sexual encounter when I was 13 and nothing bad came out of it.

Alcohol definitely needs to be controlled. It's obvious that children do not know how to handle it; every time they get their hands on it they intentionally intoxicate themselves and then flop around the city streets until tey get arrested for vandalism or disturbing the peace. Most adults just have a drink or two every so often.

reply to post by henriquefd


It's a pity this self-defensive food theft law is not adopted by other countries. It seems quite enlightened to me that someone who is destitute should not be criminally convicted for wanting to live.

Do you know how this was made law? Did the government create the law?

There are always reasons to break the law.

You might have a reason and still get pulled over or arrested, when that happens the judge usually throws the case out or excuses payment of a ticket.

I got a ticket going 100 mph when my wife got into labor. I went in front of the judge and told him I might have overreacted, but it was my first child and he laughed and threw the ticket out. I might add that I was going 100 in a 45. The only reason I didn't get my car impounded on the spot was because my wife, bless her heart, cursed out that policeman so bad he gave us an escort after he wrote the ticket.

The policeman apologized afterwards with a note that came along with flowers and balloons for my wife.