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Obeying both just and unjust laws

Laws are a critical part of society and are created by leaders in the society with the main

aim being to create consistent behaviors in addition to ensuring that people live among each

other with peace, harmony, and respect. Notably, some laws have been put in place which part of

the society views them as being unjust based on their situation. However, it is the duty of the

legal system to decide on which laws are just and unjust as opposed to the general public.

Therefore, it is paramount that every member of the community obeys all the laws put in place or

fight the unjust laws through the right and stipulated procedures.

The issue in this case is that when people consider obeying part of the laws which they

consider just, even the just laws will fail to be effective. Obeying certain laws and not others will

result in society losing the spirit of the law. Rawls (244) adds that at times, strict laws are put on

place for the better good of everyone in the society. When people decide to obey certain laws and

leave others, society will be at some point considered as lawless as no one will be obeying or

following the laws. It means that there are times when people will consider the just laws as

unjust and decide that they shouldn’t be followed (Rawls 245). Failure to ensure that all laws are

followed will result in a lack of proper implementation both for the just and unjust laws.

Additionally, it is subjective on what one will consider being just or unjust law.

Depending on one’s situation, they will find certain laws to be just while others regard to the law

as just. For instance, take the case of someone who is running late to work and decides to run
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through a red light. To them during that moment, the law is limiting them towards achieving the

course of reaching at work earlier (Nonet 23). However, breaking this law will endanger the lives

of others. In another case, consider a law that prohibits the manufacturing firms from dumping

waste to the river. To the companies, this is unjust as they will incur more expenses on cleaning

up the waste products and thus less profit. However, failure to obey this law will result in

environmental pollution and killing of aquatic animals. Therefore, all laws have to be followed at

all times for the benefit of everyone.

Besides, proponents of breaking the unjust laws argue that there are times when civil

disobedience is justified. Martin Luther king notes 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” (Teson 67). There are cases when breaking the law has been justified for a noble cause.

However, the individuals breaking the law have to ready to face the consequences. Also, there

are set rules that should be followed by society when they consider certain laws to be unjust.

Teson notes that instead of breaking laws, the society through lobbies and representations should

seek amendment of the unjust laws to ensure that they aren’t found on the wrong side of the law.

To sum this up, laws are critical in the governing of the society, and they must be

followed to the letter for proper governing and protection in society; civil disobedience results in

chaos and unrest in the society. In addition, in the cases when people in society consider the laws

to be unjust, they should follow the laid down procedures towards amending the unjust laws and

construct them in a just manner. Even though there are times when breaking the law can be

justified, the society should strive to ensure that they follow the right channels to recreate the

laws considered to be unjust.

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Work cited

Nonet, Philippe, Philip Selznick, and Robert A. Kagan. Law and society in transition: Toward

responsive law. Routledge, 2017.

Rawls, John. "The justification of civil disobedience." Arguing about law (2013): 244-253.

Teson, Fernando. A philosophy of international law. Routledge, 2018.