Conflicts of Law and MoralityPowerful emotion and pursuit of self-interest have many times led people to break the law with the belief that they are doing so with sound moral reasons. This study, a comprehensive philosophical and legal analysis of the gray area in which the foundations of law and morality clash, views these oblique circumstances from two perspectives: that of the person who faces a possible conflict between the claims of morality and law and must choose whether or not to obey the penal code; and that of the people who make and uphold laws and must decide whether to treat someone with a moral claim to disobey differently from ordinary lawbreakers. In examining the extent of the obligations owed by citizens to their government, Greenawalt concentrates on the possible existence of a single source of obligation that reaches all citizens and all laws. He also discusses techniques of amelioration of punishment for conscientious lawbreakers, asking how far legal systems should go to accommodate individuals who break the law for reason of conscience. Drawing from numerous examples of conflicts between law and morality, Greeawalt illustrates in detail the positions and predicaments of potential lawbreakers and lawmakers alike. |
Contents
II MORAL REASONS TO OBEY THE LAW | 45 |
III THE LIMITS OF JUSTIFIABLE DISOBEDIENCE | 205 |
IV INSTITUTIONS OF AMELIORATION | 269 |
Index | 377 |
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Common terms and phrases
acceptance act utilitarian action actor apply appropriate argument attitudes behavior believe benefits burdens chapter choice citizens civil disobedience compliance comply concern conscientious objectors consent consequentialist constitutional conviction defense demands deontological discussion duty of fair duty to obey enforcement evaluation exemption exist fair play favor force H. L. A. Hart harm illegal individual injustice involve J. L. Mackie judges judgment jurors jury jury nullification justice legislative legitimate liberal democracy limited ment military service Model Penal Code moral claims moral duty moral reasons moral right morally preferable morally wrong natural duty norms obedience to law obey the law obligation to obey officials one's overall particular perform person political authority political order position possible principle promise to obey prosecutors punishment question Rawls Rawls's relevant religious response rule utilitarian sense share Simmons situations social society someone Soper standards substantial suggested supra theory tion unfair unjust laws violation warranted
Popular passages
Page 258 - At the level of individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction; it makes him fearless and restores his self-respect.
Page 291 - Conduct which the actor believes to be necessary to avoid a harm or evil to himself or to another is justifiable, provided that: (a) the harm or evil sought to be avoided by such conduct is greater than that sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense charged...
Page 122 - In its bare schematic outline it is this: when a number of persons conduct any joint enterprise according to rules and thus restrict their liberty, those who have submitted to these restrictions when required have a right to a similar submission from those who have benefited by their submission.
Page 199 - Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
Page 188 - Secondly, laws may be unjust through being opposed to the Divine good: such are the laws of tyrants inducing to idolatry, or to anything else contrary to the Divine law: and laws of this kind must nowise be observed, because, as stated in Acts v. 29, we ought to obey God rather than men.
Page 258 - But it so happens that for the colonized people this violence, because it constitutes their only work, invests their characters with positive and creative qualities. The practice of violence binds them together as a whole...
Page 122 - ... produced by cooperation are, up to a certain point, free: that is, the scheme of cooperation is unstable in the sense that if any one person knows that all (or nearly all) of the others will continue to do their part, he will still be able to share a gain from the scheme even if he does not do his part. Under these conditions a person who has accepted the benefits of the scheme is bound by a duty of fair play to do his part and not to take advantage of the free...
Page 195 - Finally, to conclude these introductory remarks, since justice as fairness is intended as a political conception of justice for a democratic society, it tries to draw solely upon basic intuitive ideas that are embedded in the political institutions of a constitutional democratic regime and the public traditions of their interpretation.
Page 117 - An act is right if and only if it conforms with that set of moral rules, general conformity with which would have best consequences.