Wednesday, 20 May 2015

Whose law is it?


  • Law is made by lawyers.
  • Lawyers are employed by those who can pay.
  • Ergo: Law is controlled by people who have money.
It seems like a mathematical theorem. And it almost is. It generally serves as a good starting pount for considering the law and its applications. 
"Who Whom?" is always a sound question to ask: "Who is doing what to whom?". This is not quite the question as Lenin intended it -  but you get the gist!
"Who gains? Who loses?"  is a good alternative way of putting it. We can always be sure that the lawyers will gain - even when the law's substance is good, it generally require lawyers to implement it. And they are often the main beneficiaries - rather than those whom the law was meant to benefit.

But we need to get beyond this and ask: to what extent should we uphold the law per se?

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