An unjust law is no law at all, in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''lex iniusta non est lex'', is an expression of
natural law
Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
, acknowledging that authority is not
legitimate unless it is good and right. It has become a standard legal maxim around the world.
History
Throughout history, philosophical and religious writers have often objected to unjust laws. For example, in
Isaiah 10
Isaiah 10 is the tenth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains prophesies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Prophetic Books.Theodore Hiebert, et al. 199 ...
:
In the fourth century AD,
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...
said "for I think a law that is not just, is not actually a law" ("''nam mihi lex esse non videtur, quae justa non fuerit''"). He wrote this when discussing
why evil exists. His conclusion was that it's ultimately a problem caused by people departing from good or just behavior. Should laws be obeyed? Yes, but only if they are just.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
exhaustively examines the legitimacy of man-made laws and whether they should be obeyed, in
Summa Theologica
The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholasticism, scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all ...
. He asks "do man-made laws have to be obeyed?" His answer is no; a law only need to be obeyed if it is legitimate in three ways:
# The Purpose: The law must be for the common good.
# The Author: It must be in the scope of the authority making the law.
# The Form: And its burden should be equal and apply to all.
Aquinas says that the disobedience should not itself cause harm or lead people into evil. He refers to
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
establishing that it is always lawful to avoid oppression.
In
Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
,
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
also called into question the legitimacy of any law that was unjust. He says:
Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 196 ...
, in
Letter from Birmingham Jail, referred to both Augustine and Aquinas, saying that
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
were unjust and should be eschewed, in establishing his rationale for the goodness of
civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
.
India
In
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n philosophy, the idea that a rule is not a true law unless just is based on the idea of
Rita
Rita may refer to:
People
* Rita (given name)
* Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984)
* Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962)
* Rita (Japanese singer)
* Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita
Places
* Djarrit, also known as Rita, ...
, a possible cognate for "right" in English. This natural law foundation establishes rules for what is a "law" or "truth", a form of order so high that even the gods themselves must obey or be in the wrong. They do not govern Ṛita, but manifest it through their ordinances and retributions, their rewards and punishments. They don't "govern" it; they serve it as agents and ministers.
This view is strongly associated with
natural law
Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
theorists, including
John Finnis
John Mitchell Finnis, , (born 28 July 1940) is an Australian legal philosopher, jurist and scholar specializing in jurisprudence and the philosophy of law. He is the Biolchini Family Professor of Law, emeritus, at Notre Dame Law School and a ...
and
Lon Fuller
Lon Luvois Fuller (June 15, 1902 – April 8, 1978) was an American legal philosopher, who criticized legal positivism and defended a secular and procedural form of natural law theory. Fuller was a professor of Law at Harvard University for many ...
.
[Brian Bix, "Jurisprudence: Theory and Context", (Sweet&Maxwell 2009) 70]
References
Sources
*
Law and Morality', Edited by
Kenneth Einar Himma
Kenneth Einar Himma is an American philosopher, author, lawyer, academic and lecturer.
Born in Seattle, Himma earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois in 1985, his masters from the University of California in 1987, and his d ...
, Seattle Pacific University, U.S. and Brian Bix, University of Minnesota, U.S.
*
Philosophical theory and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights', William Sweet (ed.).
Latin legal terminology
Legal terminology