Verified Document

People Obey Or Disobey The Law Many Essay

Related Topics:

¶ … people obey or disobey the law? Many individuals are inclined to feel that the modern society is too rigid and controlling because of the numerous laws that have been imposed through the years. These people consider that humanity was meant to be free and that a free society would function much better than one that obliges its members to take on particular attitudes. However, the truth is that humans are probable to trigger chaos if they are not controlled by a solid system of legislations. This means that a healthy social order would have to understand and respect laws in order for people to be able to live in peace.

Although law is one of the principal tools that assisted mankind in experiencing progress, many communities in the contemporary society have differing understandings of particular laws. While it might seem that the whole world can act in agreement with a certain system of legislations, some groups live in accordance with their own set of rules and believe that it would be absurd for humanity as a whole to respect the same laws. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the best examples that illustrate how people have different understandings of a set of common laws respected throughout the world. "Ideas of right and wrong and good and evil could be found in all communities, but what constituted a human right in one community might be an anti-social notion in another community" (ARE HUMAN RIGHTS UNIVERSAL?).

Not all communities in the world in the present consider that human rights are one of the most important concepts when considering the relationship between the authorities and citizens. Whether they are paranoid or not, many states that are reluctant to adopt the human rights agenda as an essential element of their community. They put across this attitude because they believe that Western powers are trying to start a wave of neo-imperialism by having them behave in a particular...

These groups have been accustomed to performing certain practices for most of their existence. This means that they would virtually need to abandon all of their principles and appreciate human rights as an active element of their society. Taking this into account, it seems less surprising that they believe Western players to have hidden interests in promoting the human rights agenda.
While it seems that it is perfectly normal for some cultures to have different understandings of human rights, the truth is that the majority of people have a clear understanding of the difference between right and wrong and between good and evil. It is practically impossible for someone to claim that he or she encourages practices like genocide or that he or she has no problem with considering women as being inferior. However, the fact that some societies are accustomed to promoting such values makes it difficult for their members to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong.

Surely, it is difficult to determine whether or not it would be right to obey the law as long as one lives in a community where certain values have been strictly set for centuries and even millennia. Even with this, most people are probable to consider that some laws are absurd while others are responsible for preventing the social order from entering a stage of chaos. What the masses need to understand is that "everyone breaks the law sometimes, and some people break it often" (Tyler 3).

Rules need to be obeyed in order to prevent chaos from occurring, taking into account that people would walk the streets stealing everything they can and virtually doing everything they want to without fearing that they are going to be reprimanded as…

Sources used in this document:
Works cited:

Atkins Edmundson, William, "The Duty to Obey the Law: Selected Philosophical Readings," (Rowman & Littlefield, 1999 )

Morris, Stewart, "Do we have an obligation to obey the law?," Retrieved October 29, 2012, from the Stewart Morris Website: http://www.stewartmorris.com/essays/05runciman4.pdf

Tyler, Tom R., "Why People Obey the Law," (Princeton University Press, 17.04.2006)

"ARE HUMAN RIGHTS UNIVERSAL?," Retrieved October 29, 2012, from the Danish Institute for Human Rights Website: http://www.humanrights.dk/human+rights/history+and+documents/are+human+rights+universal-c7-
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Disobeying the Law Have Always
Words: 1405 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

By developing military weapons that can hurt a large percentage of people if deployed, what the country is doing is the exact opposite of what it is required to do. If I am not getting the benefits I expect, this means I can disobey the law if the moral need to do so arises. Gratitude then becomes a vague term. I am grateful to the state for something such as

To What Extent Does International Law Affect State Behavior
Words: 1450 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

international law affect state behavior? How does international Law affect state behavior? International law has been established in order to create civil relations between countries. However, the International Court of Justice has no power to enforce either laws or judgements on the states that violate those laws, and States can obey or disobey the ICJ decisions as they see fit. Usually the states breaking international laws interpret them in a way that

Criminal Justice Law Enforcement Some Things Are
Words: 1827 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

Criminal Justice Law enforcement Some things are fundamental to the history and progressive development of human society. The evolution of technology brings with it new challenges in the management of the security of the state. For this motive that law enforcement systems is set in the society to maintain and promote law and order (Law enforcement, 2002). Law enforcement systems act in organized manner, in the process of promoting adherence to the

Sophocles' Antigone Is Motivated to Disobey Creon's
Words: 2653 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

Sophocles' "Antigone" Antigone is motivated to disobey Creon's edict and give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial because she believes both Eteocles and Polyneices deserve the same honor, to be reunited with their deceased parents to live in death in Hades. Antigone says, (lines 21-22) "Yea, hath not Creon, of our two brothers slain, honored with burial one, disdained the other?" This line shows Antigone's disagreement with Creon's decision to not

Is It Morally Acceptable to Break Unjust Laws
Words: 2366 Length: 8 Document Type: Other

Just, Unjust and Laws of Conscience Just a half a century ago, interracial marriage was still illegal in some states, and it has only been recently that same-sex marriages have been legalized across the country and cannabis has been decriminalized or legalized in more than half of the states. This trends mean that laws that were once widely regarded as just at one point in time become unjust as social views

Alleged Hypocrisy of Socrates It
Words: 1954 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

In the Crito, Socrates discusses the differentiation between the injustice of laws and human beings, and his ability to still obey the law despite flawed human action (Rafferty, 2001). "But, Socrates, obey us, your nurturers, and do not regard children or living or anything else as more important than justice...If you depart now, you will depart having been done injustice not by us laws, but by human beings" (54b-c) Even though

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now