Foundation for law

[eviljeff]

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One fundamental rule should be that laws should be designed to punish those who hurt others.

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I think a better fundamental rule would be that laws should minimize the harm done.

ex. There are 3 people left on the island, you, B, and C. B and you are close and get along famously. B hates C and kills C. punish B? why?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One fundamental rule should be that laws should be designed to punish those who hurt others.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think a better fundamental rule would be that laws should minimize the harm done.

ex. There are 3 people left on the island, you, B, and C. B and you are close and get along famously. B hates C and kills C. punish B? why?

[/ QUOTE ]

This makes much more sense than my initial suggestion.

[bearly]

ok, since the op is unwilling to clarify, let's try this: the planet is deserted hence it has no stores (it wouldn't be deserted if it did) no food or water supply, no shelter, and the ad hoc prediction of a life-expectancy of 2-3 days. now, what is a good legal system for our little 'society'?................b

[salloch]

The sole purpose of a legal system is to inform people of the rules that will govern their actions, and to administer and enforce those rules.

The alternative to this "rule of law" is "the rule of men" where people are subject to the arbitrary decisions of other people instead of objective rules.

The rules themselves cannot assure any outcome.

Trying to 'design' a legal system is a fools errand, similar to trying to 'manage' and economy, or set prices, or gaurantee certain outcomes.

Oliver Wendell Holmes summed it up perfectly when he said (and I paraphrase slightly, I think): "Law is made for the bad man." Absolute genius. That is, laws are designed to channel human instinct/motivation to achieve whatever goals you want to reach.

Of course, "good" and "bad" must be defined externally to the law, but once those are determined, laws need should be designed to reach those objectives. "Good" men don't need an external set of rules with associated punishments (laws) to do "good," because they're "good." But the "bad man's" badness must be counteracted with a set of rules which provide incentives/punishments for bad behavior, thereby encouraging him to be good. Law is therefore made for the bad man.

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Of course, "good" and "bad" must be defined externally to the law, but once those are determined, laws need should be designed to reach those objectives.

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Cool! I think something is "good" to the extent that it increases happiness.

[DrButch]

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I will go first. One fundamental rule should be that laws should be designed to punish those who hurt others.

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Close... but not quite. I claim there are two fundamental and complimentary purposes of laws. First, to avoid harm to others (and therefore promote a peaceful socienty), and second, to protect the rights of individuals (since a group my define "harm" such that it makes impositions on the freedoms of individuals). This is an incredible delicate balance.

[Scotch78]

Though the intent of laws may be to facilitate a healthy society, intention is only one component of action, and often the least affective one. I was unable to find the particular quote I had in mind, but the sense of it was that good men do not need laws and bad men will not be stopped by them. If one truly wishes to improve society, then study the humanties and social sciences, and most importantly, become a teacher.

Scott

What's wrong with you retards? If you want to quote the person you are responding too thats cool... but I am not gonna scroll three pages for each reply.

[chezlaw]

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What's wrong with you retards? If you want to quote the person you are responding too thats cool... but I am not gonna scroll three pages for each reply.

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I'm sorry, got carried away. I'm going to stand in the corner for 5 minutes [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

chez