Unjust Law

Offering sanctuary to women and children seeking protection from despatch to Nauru would break the law. That is a fact. The important question is whether it would be right to break the law. In healthy democracies this question is frequently raised. Bearded protestor at #LetThemStay rally in BrisbaneIn any society it is common for people to break the law and disobey lawful instructions. People fail to move on when instructed by police, evade tax, drive too fast, keep silent about abuse in churches, speak out about abuse in detention centres, trespass on military facilities, and drive when drunk. All break the law and, if caught, face sanction. Many people assert that it is never right to break a law duly enacted by the government. From this …show more content…
From this it follows that laws passed to criminalise harbouring people who seek protection are also unjust, and may legitimately be broken for sufficiently serious reasons. These may include the urgency of the need to rescue people from the harm inflicted on them by unjust laws, or to proclaim publicly the injustice of the policy. The main argument against breaking even an unjust law is that it will bring the law into disrepute. It certainly commits those who break unjust laws to respect law. But respect for law means more than obeying laws. It means respecting the rule of law in society, which is built on the understanding that all people stand equally under the protection of the law. The law and its administration must serve the common good and not sectional interests. The responsibility for upholding the rule of law lies both with individual citizens and with governments. Above all, the laws that governments pass must be just. Unjust laws, above all, bring law into disrepute and foster law breaking. To respect the rule of law while law breaking is a delicate matter. It involves being fastidious in focusing action on the law that is unjust, and not acting indiscriminately outside the