{"id":1197,"date":"2014-12-14T20:33:32","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T01:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1197"},"modified":"2014-12-14T20:33:32","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T01:33:32","slug":"eric-garner-and-the-natural-law-what-to-do-when-a-law-is-unjust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2014\/12\/eric-garner-and-the-natural-law-what-to-do-when-a-law-is-unjust.html","title":{"rendered":"Eric Garner and the Natural Law: What To Do When a Law is Unjust?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Garner, many libertarians seem to think, was innocent <\/em>as far as the natural law <\/em>is concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cNatural law\u201d is an ethical tradition with an illustrious pedigree stretching back millennia.\u00a0 From this perspective, natural law is a transcendent moral order that provides the standard of justice for \u201cpositive law,\u201d i.e. human legislation: If a human law contradicts the natural law, it is unjust.<\/p>\n

The law forbidding the sale of loose cigarettes that Garner violated (repeatedly) is unjust, for it <\/em>violated Garner\u2019s <\/em>\u201cnatural right to dispose of his own property (\u2018loosies\u2019) at will,\u201d as one libertarian writer put it.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s assume for the moment that the above argument is correct and that the law forbidding the sale of untaxed cigarettes violates the natural law. \u00a0So what?\u00a0 One of two implications follows from this assumption:\u00a0 (1) Garner acted rightly, for there is no moral <\/em>duty to comply with an unjust law; or (2) Garner acted wrongly in breaking the law, for even though it is<\/em> unjust, there is <\/em>a moral <\/em>duty to comply with, or at least not resist, laws enacted by recognized authorities (like legislators).<\/p>\n

Neither line of reasoning bodes well for Garner\u2019s natural law supporters.<\/p>\n

The problem with the argument in (2) should be self-evident: If Garner had a duty to refrain from breaking the law, though it was unjust, then he acted not only illegally, but immorally. In resisting arrest, then, he was in the wrong.\u00a0 Why, though, would a libertarian and Garner supporter possibly want to make this <\/em>argument, when it is so clearly harmful to their case?\u00a0 The injustice of the law forbidding the sale of untaxed cigarettes is a reason to abolish the law.\u00a0 It is irrelevant to the Garner case.<\/p>\n

The argument in (1), however, is also flawed in that the conclusion\u2014Garner acted justly\u2014does not <\/em>follow from the premise\u2014there is no moral or natural duty to comply with an unjust law. \u00a0Few and far between are those natural law thinkers who would contend otherwise, and the number of history\u2019s great <\/em>natural law theorists who would contend otherwise is approximately zero. <\/em><\/p>\n

Socrates, for example, refused to disobey even the law under which he was unjustly convicted and sentenced to death<\/em>. He implicitly contracted to abide by a system of law from which he reaped a lifetime\u2019s worth of benefits, Socrates argued.\u00a0 It would be immoral to disobey this <\/em>law, just because he now is harmed by it.<\/p>\n

A good person and citizen, he told his friend, must \u201cdo what is his city and country order him\u201d to do or else<\/em> strive to \u201cchange their view of what is just [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

In his magisterial, Commentaries on the Laws of England, <\/em>William Blackstone writes that \u201cin relation to those laws which\u2026forbid only such things as are not mala in se <\/em>(wrong in themselves), but mala prohibita <\/em>(crimes, because forbidden)\u201d\u2014like peddling untaxed \u201cloosies,\u201d say\u2014our moral obligation is to either <\/em>comply with the law or, \u201cin case of our breach of those laws,\u201d submit to the penalty<\/em>. Whichever course of action a person chooses, \u201chis conscience will be clear [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

Blackstone further notes that if everyone went about breaking those laws that they disliked\u2014\u201cif every such law were [viewed as] a snare for the conscience of the subject\u201d\u2014then \u201cthe multitude of penal laws in a state would not only be looked upon as impolitic, but would also be [seen as] a very wicked thing [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

He further adds that \u201cdisobedience to the law\u201d is \u201can offence against conscience\u201d only if it \u201cinvolves\u2026any degree of public mischief or private injury [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Aquinas, a \u201crock star\u201d of the medieval era and among the greatest of Western philosophers generally, said is that an unjust law \u201cis not a law, absolutely speaking, but rather a perversion of law<\/em>\u201d (italics added) [.]\u00a0 However, a perversion of law, \u00a0even when it emanates from a tyrant<\/em>, still contains \u201csomething in the nature of a law,\u201d for \u201cit is an ordinance made by a superior to his subjects, and aims at being obeyed by them [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

An unjust law \u201chas the nature, not of law, but of violence,\u201d but it nevertheless \u201cretains some appearance of law<\/em>\u201d in \u201cbeing framed by one who is in power [.]\u201d \u00a0Thus, even an unjust law \u201cis derived from the eternal law<\/em>; for all power is from the Lord God\u201d (italics added) [.]<\/p>\n

To be clear, natural lawyers have always insisted that there are <\/em>unjust laws that demand <\/em>disobedience.\u00a0 But there are two things to bear in mind here:<\/p>\n

First, the law in question, like a law requiring murder, must be wildly offensive to conscience.<\/p>\n

Second, the disobedience should be open and conducted in a manner that is consistent with respect for law as a whole.\u00a0 This way, the disobedience distinguishes the disobedient from cowardly criminals while drawing the public to the injustice of the specific law.<\/p>\n

The early Christian martyrs, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the \u201ccivil rights\u201d activists of the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s are among the scores of believers in natural law from throughout history who civilly <\/em>disobeyed unjust laws.<\/p>\n

Eric Garner is not to be included in their number\u2014or even mentioned in the same breath.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eric Garner, many libertarians seem to think, was innocent as far as the natural law is concerned. \u201cNatural law\u201d is an ethical tradition with an illustrious pedigree stretching back millennia.\u00a0 From this perspective, natural law is a transcendent moral order that provides the standard of justice for \u201cpositive law,\u201d i.e. human legislation: If a human…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEric Garner and the Natural Law: What To Do When a Law is Unjust?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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