Should the law be broken if you believe the law is unjust?
“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” These are the very words penned down by Martin Luther King Jr. in his ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’. They are representative of a wider belief that an unjust law is no law at all. In the words of Italian philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas, “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”
To shed further light on this view, it is essential to delve deeper into the intricacies of this belief that have been disputed and proven historically. The ‘Salt March’ in 1930 as part of the Indian Independence Movement represented disobedience towards the ‘1882 Salt Act’ that prohibited Indians, under British colonial rule, from producing, collecting, or selling salt. To defy this law, which was considered unjust, Mahatma Gandhi effectuated the concept of satyagraha, a form of resistance based on the primary principles of truth, non-violence, and peaceful protest. The protest led to the imprisonment of Gandhi and his followers but sent out a clear message of intent to the British and the rest of the world — injustices carried out on Indian soil would not be tolerated.
This belief, however, is not shared by all individuals. To examine this contrasting viewpoint, a relevant example to consider would be that of former CIA systems administrator and IT specialist Edward Snowden who illegally shared confidential government documents about American surveillance programs with the press pertaining to the United States National Security Agency (NSA). This was in direct violation of the ‘Espionage Act of 1917’ which identified the disclosure of secret information as an act of treachery. Snowden, however, defended his stance by suggesting that his act of ‘whistleblowing’, regardless of its legality, was important for the welfare of American society, to apprise citizens about the violation of their privacy.
While the previous two case studies portray how breaking the law, if unjust, can be beneficial for society, historically, philosophers thought otherwise. Socrates was accused of impiety and for ‘corrupting the morals of the youth’. Despite being sentenced to a death penalty, he refused to abandon Athens and flee. Instead, he believed in that it was his responsibility to obey the commitments he had in place with other members of society and the city of Athens itself that had significantly influenced his growth and evolution as an individual.
Despite the equivocal nature of this concept, it is worth pondering over; the recent emergence of draconian laws in democratic societies makes this question extremely relevant. There is a clear dichotomy present in different factions of society with regard to whether unjust laws should be obeyed or rebelled against. It is an ambiguous concept that can be viewed from a multitude of perspectives. A definite conclusion is, therefore, extremely difficult to reach due to the constant evolution of thought processes and beliefs in society.
- “15 Examples of Civil Disobedience (Which Have Made a Difference).” Extinction Rebellion, rebellion.global/blog/2020/11/03/civil-disobedience-examples/.
- Martin Luther King Jr. on Just and Unjust Laws — JFK Library. www.jfklibrary.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/Birmingham%20Letter%20Excerpts%20for%20Activity.pdf.
