Seminar Response 10-14

Law is the way of the land, the rules that govern it and the way its citizens are to act. In a way it is the code of conduct for its citizens. "The law appears impersonal. It is on paper, and who can trace it back to what men? And because it has the look of neutrality, its injustices are made legitimate(111)." When one does break the law, there has to be someone to administer the law to the law breaker.

When one breaks the law, justice comes into play. Justice is how the law is served to those who break it. "There is also justice, meaning the fair treatment of all human beings, the equal right of all people to freedom and prosperity(109)." This sounds very similar to what the enlightenment thinkers or more famously John Locke said and what we adopted in our deceleration of Independence, the pursuit of happiness and freedom. Justice is typically served in the courtroom (can be other places such as a traffic stop) and typically ends in a fine or a jail sentence.

Law and justice are necessary to society because they keep order. Without laws and justice, people would just act the way they want to and that would cause lots of conflict between people. In a way law and justice make life fair for all, they are the directions to a board game. "The idea behind 'accept your punishment' is that whatever your disagreement with some specific law or some particular policy, you should not spread disrespect for the law in general, because we need respect for the law to keep society intact (122)."

Over time law and justice have generally stayed the same. The basics of our laws were the same when the colonies were formed and the birth of our nation. Of course as time went on, more specific laws were developed for specific situations as we experienced them. With every new piece of technology comes more laws governing how we use them. When these new laws are developed there has to be new justice in what the punishment for breaking these laws.