Law and Justice: Mr. King, Socrates, and Plato - Coursework Example

Law and Justice Introduction Law and Justice has been misinterpreted and misused by human being even from the beginning of human history. Even the first human Adam has violated the law, formulated by God for his life in Aden, as per the bible. Struggle for dominance is a common thing as far as living things are considered. All animals try to dominate the weaker ones and the same way each human also tries to establish their supremacy over others one way or other, though human is considered to be the wisest living thing on earth. Wisdom and intelligence are the main aspects which separates human from other animals. The meaning of wisdom has been misinterpreted many ways in most of the societies in order to establish dominance irrespective of whether the society is current or ancient. Civilization and other advancements seems to be only at the surface level and the weaker ones always struggled to exist under the immense pressure from the dominant ones. The black community in America has experienced the dominance of the white people for a long period and the struggle against the white dominance was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He has been jailed many times for leading the agitations of the black community for their human rights protection. The Letter, send by Dr. King to his fellow clergymen from a Birmingham Jail is famous because of the interpretations Mr. King has given to law and justice. This paper briefly examines the interpretations of Mr. King and Socrates/Plato about law and justice, relationship between law and justice, and also the reflections of law and justice in a just and unjust mirror. King’s interpretation of law and justice “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (Ali-Dinar) The consequences of injustice is not limited to the society where it happens, it can affect anybody in the world one way other as per the views of Mr. King. For example, the massacres against the black community in America can affect the community living in Africa as well because of the cultural dependence of human population across the world. The whites in Africa may definitely think that they have something special inherited in them to make the black community oppressed after taking motivation from the American examples. Thus injustice at one place can affect others also directly or indirectly. Law and justice must be uniform to everybody, anywhere, anytime under any circumstances as well. Nobody can claim that they have privileges over others because of their class, culture, race or community. God has created human being as males and females rather than white or black. Relationship between law and justice “Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals.” (Ali-Dinar) Group behaviour may be more dangerous than the individual behaviours. At least some Individuals in the group may have some elements of morality, but such feeble voices of a small segment in a group will never come out because of the dominance of majority in the group. It is difficult for a group to give up their privileges compared to an individual because of the dominance of group opinion over individual opinion. For example, India has been ruled by the British for a longer period. It was extremely difficult for Britain to grand independence to India, though some individuals argued for that in Britain. Law is meant for the preservation of justice. But quiet often the saviours of justice (law) become the destructors of justice. The laws for the social set ups and security must be uniform for each people irrespective of their region religion class or race. But this equality of law and justice to all remained on papers alone in the past. It is same at present and will be same in future as well. As per the social customs in many countries, the law seems to be favouring the stronger ones. For example, a person who kills another one can escape from law if he is able to appoint an intelligent advocate for arguing his case. On the other hand even an innocent who was not able to appoint a good advocate could be punished if the opposition has a strong intelligent advocate in the court. Thus law seems to be biased towards certain segments of the society as per Mr. King. There seems to be two types of laws; one for the black and another for the white, one for the rich and another for the poor, one for the Americans and another for the Iraqis, one for males and another for females, one for Christians and another for Muslims. Justice can never be ensured through such discriminations as per Mr. King. Can laws be unjust? The answer to the above question is quiet clear to everyone as the evidences of unjust laws are everywhere in the past, at present and in future also. “Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application”. A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.” (Ali-Dinar) Apart from the moral laws, other laws were formulated by man alone. Moral laws quiet often have the base of belief in God where as the man made laws always have the roots in dominant groups in the society. “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” (Ali-Dinar) Human personality is not based on their race or wealth. It is based on culture and civilization and hence in a civilized society just laws must provide equal justice to all. The white American and the black Negroes have their own personalities and culture which should be honoured equally under the perspective of just laws. But the American laws were seems to be ignoring the basic rights of black during the time of Mr. King and hence he has ridiculed the discrimination of laws based on race through this letter send from the Birmingham jail. “An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law” (Ali-Dinar) The laws must be formulated with the equal participation of all the segments of society. Laws formulated by one segment of society should not be allowed to implement on another segment. During the period of Martin Luther King the black American has not been allowed to exercise their voting rights. The American parliament was filled with whites alone and hence most of the laws formulated by the parliament were against the interests of black community during this period. Mr. King has blamed the uncivilized political system in America for the agitations against his community. The laws were just for the white Americans and unjust for the black Americans during this period. Socrates’/Plato’s contribution to law and justice “Plato gives us his own theory of justice according to which, individually, justice is a human virtue that makes a person self-consistent and good; socially, justice is a social consciousness that makes a society internally harmonious and good. According to Plato, justice is a sort of specialization. (Bhandari) The strength of a society lies in the sharing of equal rights to all belonging to the same society. The society must have a strong consciousness about what is justice and how it can affect the cohesion of a society. Like many other social customs, Plato considered justice as some of the essential requirements for the well being of a society. In Socrates’ opinion, Justice implies superior character and intelligence while injustice means deficiency in both respects. (Bhandari) As per Socrates, intelligence and characters are directly proportional to justice. In a society where intelligence and character lacks, justice will not prevail or in other words justice and intelligence are the two sides of the same coin. The people in a society where intelligence and justice prevail, the people will be more effective in their actions whereas in an opposite society, only stupidity will increases. Conclusions Law and justice must be equal to all irrespective of class, culture, or race. Most of the laws were formulated by human for the well being of the society and hence the involvement of all the people is required while formulating the law. Only an unintelligent and uncivilized society will prevent some people (based on their race or culture) from the law making process. For the growth of a society or a country, justice must be allocated equally to all irrespective of their individual differences. Works Cited 1. Ali-Dinar Ali B., Ph.D., "Letter From a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]", Retrieved on May 13, 2009 from http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html 2. Bhandari D.R., Platos Concept Of Justice: An Analysis Retrieved on May 13, 2009 from http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Anci/AnciBhan.htm Read More