Why do you obey the law?

[Velveteenfruitbowl]

Something I am reading made me wonder so I want to do a poll. Ignoring situations where the law coincides with your morals (e.g. you think it’s wrong to kill people so you don’t commit murder), why do you follow the law? You can take speed limits for example. Do you not speed because you don’t want to pay a fine or do you actually believe that going a few miles over the speed limit is wrong in some way?

YANBU = I follow the law because it’s the law!

YABU = I only follow the law because I don’t want to be punished.

To misquote Douglas Bader, : “laws are for the guidance of wise people and the blind obedience of fools.”

I don't think it is an either/or situation. I follow the law because, in general I agree with the laws that I come up against in my daily life - not stealing/shoplifting, paying for tickets, obeying the rules of the road, having car insurance etc, and also I don't want to get caught or face unpleasant consequences.

I was also going to mention that bit in the US Declaration of Independence posted above about throwing off unjust laws.

It has been very much that way the world over for centuries in cases such as the US Civil War, the Vietnam War, Tianamen Square, Women’s Suffrage, the Irish War of Independence, the war against Apartheid, the war against the Nazi invasions, the current going's on in Hong Kong etc.

I believe that at times it is necessary to forgo the law to throw off the yolk of oppression that one group has over another. Laws should in theory be there for the betterment of ALL peoples to co-exist in relative harmony with one another whilst taking into account all the differences of race, religion etc.

I am very much against oppressive, controlling laws (my personal opinion is Sharia Law being one) that seems designed for the betterment of one person or group and for the oppression of another person or group. I am very much of the belief that no one person or group is more important/deserving than another and therefore should not have the upper hand.

I believe simple laws for the protection of all - such as lower speed limits in built up areas - certainly have their place in a civilised society to enable to to run coherently day to day and to protect those who need it.

I'm not particularly fond of other laws - eg taxes - however I completely understand the need for them to pay for things we take for granted such as the NHS etc. I do think that taxation laws are weighted fairly inadequately however creating a rich/poor divide. However I don't believe I am best placed or educated in matters of how to correct this and therefore through my democratic right to vote must delegate this to others and hope that it is done fairly.

You’d have to be pretty brave. It always makes me laugh when people talk about things like why the German people didn’t just rise up against Hitler, or why they didn’t do more to stop the Holocaust... and I think, “Because by the time it was obvious what was going on it was fucking terrifying and they had kids/houses/jobs/parents/lives to lose?” It’s easy to talk about being brave.

Some did - and were guillotined as a result ..

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl

DGRossetti

But that’s why I think it’s easy - and quite craven - to talk about disobeying the law with such casual contempt. Here, you’ll probably get a fine - that’s not courage. We live in a kind place.

TV licence was a good example of a law I only follow because I dont want the fine. Some parking laws I only comply with because of the potential fine. Other parking laws, I comply with out of consideration for other people rather than any likelihood of a fine.

I do what I believe is morally right. This mostly coincides with what is lawful. I would be prepared to break the law if I believed it was the right thing to do.

TV licence was a good example of a law I only follow because I dont want the fine.

I'm a little when the laws people "morally disagree with" mysteriously happen to be the ones that have a financial benefit when broken. In terms of taxes, TV licences and the like, then there's a certain shared impact of not obeying the law which can be equated to simply pissing through a variety of strangers letterboxes.

NorthEndGal 100% totally agree.

I personally think some laws are more serious than others. Probably a analogy, but, with durgs they have class A), class B) class C) etc.... i think some laws are like this.
Obviously committing murder is a class A), if you were speeding and say doing 45 in a 40 that's more of class C). Smuggling drugs etc... Class A) etc....
I'm not to my knowledge apartment from the occasional speeding down the motor way I've not broken any laws

I’m with the person who posted this
I don't obey any law that conflicts with my interests 😂
I have no real problem in breaking a law if I don’t particularly agree with it or think it’s stupid .

I’m not talking about stuff like murder or armed robbery though I wouldn’t do that. - well maybe the armed robbery if I thought I could get away with it and it was a serious amount of money 😂

But I also have no problem in accepting the punishment of breaking the law If I were to get caught .
My husband is the same so happily we have no arguments over who is right or wrong
I have my own moral compass that I am quite happy to live by

I have my own moral compass that I am quite happy to live by

Please say you’re kidding that includes armed robbery?

Lol do people have no sense of humour on here. did you not see the little smiling emoji to mean I was joking.
But I still stand by that I have my own moral guidance that I am happy to live with

Most things, I obey the law not because there is a law, but because I have been brought up to behave well. Speeding, I obey the law most of the time because I don't want to get caught, have to pay a fine, or get points on my licence, the only place I break the law is on a local bypass where in the 20 years I have been driving I have never seen any mobile speed traps, I know there are no static cameras, I only drive above 70 when I know the road is quiet, if the weather conditions make it safe to do so, I never go mad but may drive just above the 70mph limit, am always in control & know I can slow down easily if needed.

Well, most of the time because I believe it's the right thing to do (see stealing) or because I have absolutely no desire to do it (rape, murder, GBH).

I have broken the law when using drugs as a teenager but in some cases I believe that the law is wrong (see decriminalisation of weed to discourage gangs and trafficking)

However, there's never really been much chance where I want to break the law

Although actually speeding would be because I don't want a fine yes

For serious things, I follow the law because I havnt had a good enough motivation to break it. But that could change. If someone raped one of my kids, I honestly don't know I'd I would leave it to our justice system to handle, because they never handle cases like that well. I really don't know what I would do, but I can't say that I would never hurt that person because I might. The punishment might not factor in for me.

I'm sure I've broken some by accident, and for driving offences like speed limit... I usually drive about 80 on the motorway, but every other road I stick to the limit.

I follow the law because I want to. Because I want others to too, as that enables us all to loive happily together. It's definitely not 'fear of punishment is my deterrent'. More like 'fear of anarchy if we don;t all have laws and adhere to them.'

Interesting question.

If a law was unjust there would be justification in breaking it; simply wanting to get home faster doesn't seem like much of a justification (the speeding example). A lot of laws were created to protect property and the interests of the ruling class though so hardly 'justice' in all cases. For example, segregation laws in the US etc.

Having actively campaigned against a few law changes (Criminal Justice Bill and Section 28) and for other law changes (animal welfare) I'd be an idiot to blindly follow an unjust law. So there are a few categories:

Laws I'd keep because they're moral
Laws I don't care enough for either way so I'd keep (easiest)
Laws I'd break

Good point Lulualla.

The bloke who poured acid over Katie Piper was released after just nine years in prison. That is not enough. Rapists can be out after half that. I wouldn't blame any parent who took the law into their own hands in such circumstances.

I don’t break the law intentionally but I’m no legal expert, and ignorance is no defence.

I will turn a blind eye to others’ minor law breaking. By that I mean I don’t ring the police if I see one of the local underage kids drinking a can of cider.

I generally treat others as I would like to be treated myself, and not worry about it further.

I follow laws that are moral. If not moral then I won't follow them.

Also if I would get caught I follow them. And if I can get away with it, then I wouldn't follow it. Some laws are pointless. But I don't want to go to prison so I'll make a decision based on that.

Morality comes first though and I think it should. So everything else I said comes after that.

I think I follow the law because I'm concerned about the consequence for myself or others if I didn't. From taxes & the state of public services if lots of people avoided taxes, to drugs or speeding - I could get hurt or hurt someone else.

I think I'd break the law if the benefits outweighed the potential consequences, e.g. killing someone if the alternative was them killing someone else.

Almost certainly I will break laws that I don't know about, but it doesn't trouble me that I have done so, because I don't go about acting maliciously

The problem with this is that the law does not care that you are ignorant of it. If you beak the law, regardless of whether you know about the law, you could be prosecuted. Just one of the many reasons I mostly agree that the 'law is an ass'

Except for things like murder, violence rape etc which I believe are morally wrong and which I don't need a law to tell me not to do it; I am law abiding because I don't want to be caught or prosecuted and that is about it really .

I have very little respect for 'the rule of law' or any such nonsense but I am not particularly brave or in any dire financial need so I try to abide by the law as that is the most likely to result in less trouble for me in the long run. I think a lot of petty criminals think like I do but they are just desperate enough or brave enough to just break the law anyway and risk the potential outcome.

For instance, I don't really think that 'shoplifting' is necessarily that bad, though I can honestly say I have never done it or been tempted to in my life. I also can completely understand why some people steal if they have very little and see people all around them with so much more.

I know that if I were in dire straights and I thought I could get away with it, I'd probably steal. I was astonished at the people on here saying that the American woman who drove on the wrong side of the road and killed a motorcyclists, should volunteer to come back here to face prison when she had the option not to. Whilst I understand the moral argument, when I really think about it, I doubt I would be brave enough to do that.

Because without laws, society would descend into chaos. If I don't obey them, why should I expect anyone else to?