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Should Laws Always Be Obeyed?

Decent Essays

Should laws always be obeyed? I regard the law as standing under legally enforceable duties to one another. In all fields of law, the emphasis is ever on duty, be it agreed duty, as in a contract, or imposed duty, as in a tort or a crime. Legal obligations upheld by the social contract may limit people’s liberty but do so only in ways necessary to yield benefits for all. The ‘rule of law’ governs the conducts between people and arguably serves the greater interests of all participants in a legal system and puts us all on an equal footing. The right of making laws and enforcing them is what legitimises the political power of a state. The state acts in the best interest of the public and runs a society in an orderly fashion which is a sign of a progressive society. Without a government, men would tear one another to pieces, therefore the law is an instruction of the state and not the citizens. Therefore, as the law is the register of our wills where the public interest is allowed to predominate, I believe we have a moral obligation to obey the law that is willed by the mass ( collectivity). Also, we are obliged to obey the law because we consent to it, not explicitly but rather tacitly so to enjoy the protection and benefits of a state. No state is a better example to support these points than Afghanistan where I lived for the first 14 years of my life. Hamid Karzai became the first ever democratically elected head of state of Afghanistan in 2004 and all preceding

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