Just And Unjust Laws Essay

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There are times that civil disobedience may become necessary, such as when a law goes against someone's religious beliefs or morals, especially if they decide to take a non-violent route and are trying to communicate and change it. There are also just and unjust laws.
“How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? 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. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.“ - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail“ What this quote is saying is that an unjust law is a law that goes against what you believe or know to be true and a just law is the opposite, a law that people feel comfortable following and agree with. There are many problematic laws in the U.S. One example could be the zoning law. The zoning law says that even if you own the property, you can only have certain kinds of …show more content…
The Civil Rights Movement is the perfect example. There was quite a bit of civil disobedience during the Civil Rights Movement, and the goal of the movement was to end segregation and discrimination with all African Americans. “The Boston Tea Party was one of the most famous acts of civil disobedience in American history… Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, James Bevel, Rosa Parks, and other activists in the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s used civil disobedience techniques. Among the most notable civil disobedience event in the U.S. occurred when Rosa Parks refused to move on the bus when a white man tried to take her seat.” (citation) Unfortunately, sometimes civil disobedience comes at a price. Martin Luther King Jr. was a nonviolent leader during the Civil Rights Movement and was later assassinated because of

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