Laws, Customs, and Justice: Understanding the Role of Civil Disobedience

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[...] However, it must be noted that certain laws or traditions, far from guaranteeing in all situations the natural equity sought, can on the contrary harm the fundamental principles of justice II - The laws are not always guarantors of absolute justice Some laws can serve particular interests to the detriment of the common good We can therefore conceive that there are unjust laws, to which the individual must disobey. According to Rousseau 'the people subject to the laws must be their author'. He establishes laws in accordance with the general will, that is to say, what is common in the particular will of each. The laws cannot therefore be illegitimate. [...]

[...] In turn, Hannah Arendt conceptualized the idea of a right to disobedience as a safeguard against political tyranny. For the philosopher, when a despotic regime seriously violates fundamental freedoms and establishes terror, citizens are legitimized to peacefully break the law in the name of superior democratic principles. Their civic duty may then require disobedience in the face of a dictatorship. This idea is embodied in various historical movements of resistance. In the United States, Henry David Thoreau refused to pay a tax to the State until it had abolished slavery and recommended 'Obey only the laws that seem moral to you', creating the expression of 'civil disobedience'. [...]

[...] Thus, in exceptional contexts, can individual consciousness guide towards disobedience as a civic duty in the face of tyranny. The limits of disobedience as a means of political action Civil disobedience needs to be handled with caution because it has limits as a means of political action. If everyone started disobeying independently and arbitrarily, it would risk a form of anarchy where no one would respect the law anymore. Moreover, every act of disobedience engages the responsibility of its author. [...]

[...] Thus, until a recent time, various cultural traditions implicitly justified the domination of women or ethnic groups. In many societies, patriarchy was deeply rooted in customs, relegating women to subordinate roles. Similarly, racism was long normalized in the name of unfounded cultural prejudices. For example, the system of racial segregation that existed in the United States before the 1960s can be taken as an example. Based on an ideologically racist conception that attributed a supposed natural inferiority to American blacks, this segregationist regime had deeply penetrated social customs. [...]

[...] I - Laws and customs allow us to live justly together Role of laws in the just organization of society Laws play a fundamental role in the organization of a just society. Laws are, in fact, a set of rules that constitute positive law and are established conventionally by men and for men. Their purpose is to facilitate and organize their life in society, giving each person the same rights and duties to ensure order and fairness for all. Men, unable to do without each other, therefore need rules to live in society so that the 'law of the strongest' does not reign. [...]