Why is law obeyed?
Many factors operate to compel general respect for and obedience to the law. The law awards damages and other forms of remedies to the injured, to repair any damage done to him. It also inflicts punishment for crimes, apart from being aimed at protecting the society, is intended to have corrective and deterrent effect on people.
In his Studies in History and Jurisprudence,10 Lord Bruce enumerated five grounds of compliance with rule of law: Indolence,Deference, Sympathy,Fear and Reason in that descending order of importance. By indolence, he means sheer mental inertia. The majority always prefer to follow the line of least resistance and will willingly and loyally accept what is laid down for them as guiding principles of behaviour, since they are themselves too lazy to question either the ruler or the rules.
His second reason involves deference, either to the personal authority of the law givers(s) or to the impersonal authority of the tradition. It is not good to flout authority and so disturb the basis of the accepted other of social life.
The third reason enunciated by Bruce is sympathy for one another, the ruler for the ruled and vice versa, in the delicate task of social adjustment rendered necessary by the facts of a common political life.
The fourth reason is fear. According to Bruce, people obey the law for fear of punishment, whether by human authority or by divine intervention. The power of the State to penalize infractions of its laws, or that of supernational agencies to castigate gir outrages against divine ordinances, often acts as a sufficient deterrent to would-be offenders.
The fifth reason why men obey law is because they consider it the reasonable thing to do. It is unreasonable to defy the law. Reason dictates that law is essential to the achievement if the purposes of social existence, and that in any case obedience pays.
It may be added that religious and magical sanctions as well as ridicule, ostracism or economic exclusion contribute much in securing compliance with rules of established law. An american attorney once said about sanction in American society:
The sermon in the pulpit,
the pressure of trade
unionism, the opprobrium
inflicted by the press,the
ridicule of friends, the
ostracism of colleagues,
the sneer, the snub and
countless other devices,
these are all non-statutory
instruments by means of
societies exert coercion,
by means of which they
achieve and preserve unity.
'Coercion' could
unfortunately be rather
painful, but it is generally
effective in ensuring that
individual behaviour does
not become dangerously
irresponsible. The
individual is not an
anarchic unit. He lives in
orderly surroundings and
the achieving of these
orderly surroundings calls
for methods both explicit
and subtle.
In his Studies in History and Jurisprudence,10 Lord Bruce enumerated five grounds of compliance with rule of law: Indolence,Deference, Sympathy,Fear and Reason in that descending order of importance. By indolence, he means sheer mental inertia. The majority always prefer to follow the line of least resistance and will willingly and loyally accept what is laid down for them as guiding principles of behaviour, since they are themselves too lazy to question either the ruler or the rules.
His second reason involves deference, either to the personal authority of the law givers(s) or to the impersonal authority of the tradition. It is not good to flout authority and so disturb the basis of the accepted other of social life.
The third reason enunciated by Bruce is sympathy for one another, the ruler for the ruled and vice versa, in the delicate task of social adjustment rendered necessary by the facts of a common political life.
The fourth reason is fear. According to Bruce, people obey the law for fear of punishment, whether by human authority or by divine intervention. The power of the State to penalize infractions of its laws, or that of supernational agencies to castigate gir outrages against divine ordinances, often acts as a sufficient deterrent to would-be offenders.
The fifth reason why men obey law is because they consider it the reasonable thing to do. It is unreasonable to defy the law. Reason dictates that law is essential to the achievement if the purposes of social existence, and that in any case obedience pays.
It may be added that religious and magical sanctions as well as ridicule, ostracism or economic exclusion contribute much in securing compliance with rules of established law. An american attorney once said about sanction in American society:
The sermon in the pulpit,
the pressure of trade
unionism, the opprobrium
inflicted by the press,the
ridicule of friends, the
ostracism of colleagues,
the sneer, the snub and
countless other devices,
these are all non-statutory
instruments by means of
societies exert coercion,
by means of which they
achieve and preserve unity.
'Coercion' could
unfortunately be rather
painful, but it is generally
effective in ensuring that
individual behaviour does
not become dangerously
irresponsible. The
individual is not an
anarchic unit. He lives in
orderly surroundings and
the achieving of these
orderly surroundings calls
for methods both explicit
and subtle.
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