Ethics 7: When Can You Break A Law? Laws (2)

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

When can you break a law? When is it morally acceptable to break a law?

Don't panic. This question isn't difficult. If you're not sure still, keep reading on but formulate your own answer as you read.

Let's first begin by defining what a law is again. I gave two definitions, the literal definition and my definition.

Literal: Law is a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior.
Me: Law is a system of rules designed to protect and grow the society and also punish those who break the rules.

They are quite similar (they should be) and the only difference is that I added a bit of detail to the "govern behavior" part in the literal definition. You will see how this comes into play a little later.

But how does knowing the definition help with answering my question?

Well, to break a law means to disobey a law. When somebody disobeys a law, they do the opposite of what is legal. For instance, murder is the opposite of preserving life. Therefore, if you murder somebody, you are breaking a law.

Since we're asking when it is morally acceptable to break a law, we can think about it like this (I strongly encourage you to reason in your own words to yourself or somebody else):

1. Laws are designed to protect and enforce.
2. If I break a law, then I will be making it less safe for the society.
3. If the law however is NOT morally right (people have a sin nature...it happens!) and I break that law, I will be doing the opposite of the law (morally wrong) which would then be morally right.

You can't break it all down into numbers and science, but that's one way to think about it. Here's another way:

1. Man has a sin-nature.
2. Man uses (not invents! God invented laws because He is an orderly God) laws to fulfill its job (protecting, enforcing, etc.).
3. Man can thus make laws that aren't always morally right.
4. Do what is right, even if it means breaking that law (Disclaimer: don't just go out and purposefully think about breaking laws though. I'm not writing this to start a lawbreaking movement. I am simply bringing up an ethics related question).

This is where I would like to show a huge difference between the two definitions of "law" presented here.

If we go by the literal definition of law, then no matter whether or not the law is moral or not, it is still technically a "law" by definition.

However.

If we go by the definition of law that I presented, an immoral law couldn't even be called a "law" because it wouldn't fulfill its definition.

That is why I will be using the second definition of law for the rest of the articles.

SO. To finally answer the question:

It is IMMORAL to break laws (as presented in definition 2). Because if you do, then you would be doing the opposite of a law put in place that is moral.

 

It DEPENDS on the situation (based on the first definition of law). In Nazi Germany, the "law" was to kill the Jews. That is an immoral law however, so breaking this "law" would be moral.

I would like to note one more thing. Our nation was founded on Christian principles. If you look at the Declaration of Independence, you will see clear Christian themes: freedom, equal rights, etc. As Christians, we should never break God's laws. We should only live by His laws.

Hope you enjoyed this massive post-Labor Day chunk of text. On a more serious note though, if you have any questions, feel free to ask on the blog or on Google+.

See you next time,
~Caleb