Through the Law, Towards Jinli

Jinli, the Korean word for “truth”, holds a meaning more profound than simply the English translation itself. Jinli is unchanging, eternal, and righteous. And since it is eternal, we humans of transient existence, can never fully understand it. We know what’s right and what’s true, but we can never fully absorb why. This is the very reason the law exists. The law acts as a guide for people to abide by to be as close to jinli as possible, even without full acknowledgment. The law is not the primary notion we are meant to live by— it is jinli. The law is simply a medium we utilize to arrive at jinli. So, what do we do if the law fails to serve its very purpose? We raise our voices and fight en masse for what's right. We hold onto our responsibility upon morality and justice, and perpetually challenge the law so it properly represents jinli.

Once the lawmakers that have been entrusted with the responsibility of crafting laws that stand by justice have let down that trust, the responsibility is then bestowed upon the people themselves; we do not have a legal right to justify breaking the law, but we do have the moral right and responsibility to fix injustice. It is our duty as people under the law to constantly question the law and raise our voices when we believe something is out of line. This is how the law evolves, and this is how we evolve— to be fairer and more just in the future than our past. If it were not for Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, and all the other valorous souls that fought for justice by breaking unjust laws, the world we know of now would not be of existence. 

And it is not only that the trusted lawmakers are capable of fabricating unjust laws— a just law can subsequently be proven unjust since we are always only getting closer to jinli, and never fully there. Racial segregation, women’s suffrage, and potent anti-abortion laws were all ensued under the understanding of jinli of the time being. What happened was that people demanded change as they grasped more of jinli’s true meaning. It is our responsibility to demand change once we spot wrongfulness, for the law is not going to change itself.

The future trajectory of the law depends on us, the people. How extensively the law embodies jinli is in our hands. We look to our past and are grateful for having been able to grow and approach jinli. In the future, we should be able to look back and say proudly, “look how far we’ve come”. So, I want each individual to ask themselves this one question: if a broken law is being broken, is it really being broken, or is it being fixed?

Ultimately, we all strive to fix the broken laws, but perhaps breaking them is not enough. We must remember that there are other crucial factors that may act at our disadvantage, and take steps accordingly. The most perilous factor that must not be overlooked is that humans possess the inclination to be subjective and opportunistic when it comes to their own interests and advantages. Therefore, it is important to put into the equation the need for more practical and applicable tools for society to reach the highest possible representation of jinli. On that account, the law acts as a bigger, more binding force that helps society constrain the self-centered nature of the creatures that comprise it, allowing it to maintain rationality and conformity. Once breaking the law is accepted as a reasonable response to laws one believes to be unjust, people will constantly ignore laws that jeopardize their personal interests. People will start obeying the law selectively, and the law will no longer be the highest form of regulation protecting the people. The abidance of law cannot be flexible no matter the circumstance, for the law cannot fully maintain its purpose and simultaneously be pliable. It is never to be violated, for the sake of the preservation of social order and protection of members from violence.

The people of society’s most prominent duty of obeying the law and respecting the legal system is never to be neglected, for it is the foremost promise that constitutes a government ruled by its people. The importance of law is also reiterated in the social contract theory. The social contract theory states that men must agree to live together under common laws and create an artificially and conventionally superior force than the common man in order to refrain from what we most want to avoid— the state of nature, filled with utter distrust and perpetual war. The significance of the law as a superior guideline is also highlighted in Abraham Lincoln’s 1838 Lyceum Address. Lincoln asserts that the people shall fortify against the “ill-omen springing up amongst us”, the violence, the outrage, and the destruction flaming from whatever cause, by solemnly promising to “never violate the laws of the country and to never tolerate their violation by others”. He also does not fail to clarify that he is not saying there are no bad laws, instead, he acknowledges that although bad laws can exist and should be imminently nullified, they continue in force until then. On these grounds, it is clear that breaking the law should not ever be justified. However, that does not amount to the notion that members of society are forever chained to whatever the law embodies. The law is not flawless, but it is also not indisputable. We can still challenge, question, and change the law, without breaking the law. It is not the breaching of the law, but constant questioning and confrontations of the law that keeps it aligned with humanity’s ever-evolving understanding of morality and justice.

One might assert that breaking or disobeying unjust laws is the most direct and primary action members of society can take against unjust laws. However, fixing laws takes more than just breaking or ignoring them. For a problem to be solved, one must get to the root of it. Furthermore, breaking and ignoring unjust laws may do more harm than good. The Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 are significant instances from American history that aptly demonstrate the importance of taking actions bigger than just breaking unjust laws. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 secured slaveholders a right to reclaim an escaped slave, putting fugitive slaves at risk of recapture for the entirety of their lives, while also labeling children of slaves as property of the mother’s master. After Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave Act, the free Northern states refused to enforce the act, some abolitionists assembled networks of safe houses to assist escapees, and some states passed “personal liberty laws” that directly went against the federal law, breaking it in essence. These responses lacked assertiveness and failed to reach the root of the problem, and therefore led to even more destruction. For instance, the Supreme Court case Prigg v. Pennsylvania, in which the court ruled in favor of Edward Prigg, a man from the Southern states convicted of kidnapping after capturing a suspected runaway slave in Pennsylvania, set a precedent that any state measures or “breaches” of the Fugitive Slave Act were to be succeeded by the federal law. Breaking the law in an attempt to fight injustice resulted in the law in question growing in power. The controversial federal law was also revised and intensified in 1850, requiring officials and citizens of free states to cooperate with the re-enslavement of escaped slaves. Merely breaking or ignoring a law is not going to fix it. Taking lawful procedures to target the fundamental problem, the law itself, is a better, more logical approach that will minimize the damage and expedite the process.

The main purpose of battling unjust laws is to continuously elevate the level of justice society represents; therefore, it must not be forgotten that the process towards a higher achievement of justice should properly represent justice at all times. As soon as one fails to act upon the main principle he is fighting for, he can no longer say he is fighting for that very principle. We are refined through civilization and education, descendants of the august framers and the courageous challengers who had built this thriving society. We must act upon the responsibility we hold— to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, just like our predecessors have, through the law, ultimately towards the pursuit of jinli.