The Law is a Ass 

Heather Dunlop 

The following essay was penned by Heather Dunlop for a Grade 12 Law class assignment. 

Heather is the middle daughter of Perry & Helen Dunlop

April 9, 2008                                               

The Law is a Ass  

Is it ever justifiable to disobey the law? Absolutely! 

One of the greatest benefits of living in a free society is the ability to use the legal system to redress grievances or to right wrongs that have been done to us. Another great benefit of a free society is our inherent right to question those very same rules and laws; follow our conscience and take up civil disobedience if we do not agree with the fairness or morality of those same laws. 

I can think of several times throughout history and up to the present day where laws were written and enforced, but they were neither right nor served any noble purpose other than for the State to flex it’s muscle over the people and force them to submit to their power. In these cases, it is not only justifiable to disobey the law, but I submit, essential if we are to maintain any shred of human decency, morality and compassion. 

As King Arthur said, “Might is not right!” 

In 1935, Adolf Hitler developed the “Nuremberg Race Laws”. These laws deprived German Jews of their rights of citizenship. The laws also made it forbidden for Jews to marry or have sexual relations with Aryans. He later developed more race laws such as the “Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor”, the “Reich Citizenship Law” and followed these with a dozen supplemental Nazi decrees that eventually outlawed the Jews completely, depriving them of their rights as human beings. 

As the world was to discover, Hitler demanded strict compliance to his laws and as a result he killed 11 million people. Six million Jews and another five million people of other ethnic origins. At the end of the war Hitler’s judges, lawyers, officers and Nazi followers all claimed that they were only “ following the law”. There were a number of attempts made to justify or at least excuse their conduct by saying that they were “victims” of their legal training, that they were fearful of losing their lives or that they were all acting under duress.

Would any of those Germans have been justified in disobeying Hitler’s laws?

Absolutely. Would any of the invading armies that liberated Europe from the tyranny of Hitler’s regime have found his deserters guilty? I think not. Some laws are written for evil purposes. Some laws are written to control the thoughts and actions of a certain segment of the population. Some laws are written to quell social dissent. Would it have been justifiable to disobey Hitler’s laws that resulted in unparalleled brutality? 

Absolutely! 

Fast forward to China on June 4th of 1989. The Tiananmen Square massacre was the result of an act of widespread civil disobedience to the oppressive rules and laws of the government of the Communist People’s Republic of China. Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly students, protested because the government would not allow them to petition for political reform. Thousands of people were killed as a result of the governments tyranny. Public criticism of the government was outlawed. People were forbidden to gather in crowds to demonstrate.In short, free speech was against the law if it in any way reflected negatively against the communist government. To this day, due to strong Chinese government censorship, the news media is forbidden to report anything related to those protests in any way, shape or form.  The Chinese government will not even admit that any of its’ citizens died that day. Were those people justified in disobeying the law?  

Absolutely! 

Now I want to bring the question closer to home. My father is sitting in an Ontario jail tonight because he has been charged and convicted of “contempt of court”. He received a six month sentence with no time off for good behavior, no reduction of sentence for time served and no hope of filing an appeal. When he has served his time, he is being forced back to court for further sentencing on another contempt charge. His crime?...Following his conscience and refusing to participate in a government funded cover-up of crimes committed by pedophiles and their supporters. The law stated that he had to testify at a Public Inquiry even though he was told on numerous occasions that “he would not be forced to testify and that no one would be compelled to attend under duress”.  The government is trying to force my father to act against his conscience and submit to their coercive tactics even though they themselves are breaking the law. 

Is he justified in disobeying the law? Absolutely! 

Disobeying a law, or committing civil disobedience is a public, non-violent breach undertaken by someone with the aim of bringing about change in our laws by refusing to be bullied by law makers and the laws they hide behind. People who practice civil disobedience are willing to accept the legal consequences of their actions. This proves that they have deep moral fiber and are truly loyal to the “Rule of Law”. Most acts of civil disobedience are morally justifiable. Most dissenters are sincere people with deeply held beliefs of right and wrong. They have strong moral conviction and a deep sense of self respect. These qualities are rarely respected by policy makers or the gatekeepers of the law! Disobeying the law is a tactic of resistance. It is not a theory or a religion. It should make us stop and focus on the type of society we as citizens wish to build and live in. There are many “unjust laws” and it is very important that we recognize this fact. Many of these laws were created to silence dissenters, pacify the elitists and repress activism. 

In conclusion I would like to use a quote from the author of my title for this essay, the famous novelist,  Charles Dickens. He wrote a wonderful classic called “Oliver Twist”. In it, there is a great line by Mr. Bumble who very bluntly says, “the law is a ass - a  idiot”. I couldn’t agree more! And if disobeying the law was good enough for the likes of great men like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and Perry Dunlop, then it is certainly good enough for me.  

Heather Dunlop

Grade 12