A law is deserving of respect to the extent, and only to the extent,
it is just. A law which is not just deserves only the level of
obedience one gives to any group or individual who says “do this, or
I’ll hurt you.” That is, to the extent that you believe their threat is
credible, you may choose to obey to avoid the adverse effects of being
caught disobeying.
The recent imbroglio over Aaron Swartz has seen a lot of people using the word “proportionality”. It does not matter if someone is guilty of a crime if the punishment is disproportionate. In England the penalty for stealing a chicken, at one point, was death or being sent to a penal colony (Australia). Juries started refusing to convict people even in the face of incontrovertible evidence of the accused’s guilt. The sentencing had to be changed: stealing was no made legal, rather the penalty was reduced.
Read more: http://www.ianwelsh.net/justice-is-not-law-law-is-not-justice/
The recent imbroglio over Aaron Swartz has seen a lot of people using the word “proportionality”. It does not matter if someone is guilty of a crime if the punishment is disproportionate. In England the penalty for stealing a chicken, at one point, was death or being sent to a penal colony (Australia). Juries started refusing to convict people even in the face of incontrovertible evidence of the accused’s guilt. The sentencing had to be changed: stealing was no made legal, rather the penalty was reduced.
Read more: http://www.ianwelsh.net/justice-is-not-law-law-is-not-justice/
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