If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.
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Not attributed to Jefferson until the 21st century. May be a loose paraphrasing of a passage from Declaration of Independence (1776): "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."Thomas Jefferson
» Thomas Jefferson - all quotes »
One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."
Martin Luther King
Just Cause: You are debauched and shameless.
Unjust Cause: You have spoken roses of me.
Just Cause: And a dirty lickspittle.
Unjust Cause: You crown me with lilies.
Just Cause: And a parricide.
Unjust Cause: You don't know that you are sprinkling me with gold.
Just Cause: Certainly not so formerly, but with lead.
Unjust Cause: But now this is an ornament to me.
(tr. Hickie 1853, vol. 1, Perseus - for comparison with tr. below)Aristophanes
How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts the human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.
Martin Luther King
All interstate wars intensify aggression – maximize it … some wars are even more unjust than others. In other words, all government wars are unjust, although some governments have less unjust claims…
Murray Rothbard
The law is obligated to punish the transgressor as much as the transgressor is obligated to obey the law — law has no option. Justice has but one function. The necessity of penalty is as great as the necessity of obligation. The law itself is under law; that is, it is under the necessity of its own nature; and therefore the only possible way whereby a transgressor can escape the penalty of the law, is for a substitute to endure it for him. The deep substrata and base of all God's ethical attributes are eternal law and impartial justice.
William Greenough Thayer Shedd
Jefferson, Thomas
Jeffrey, Francis
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