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Julian Robinson
Ms. Thompson
Honors British Literature Block 3 Skinny A
March 11, 2015
A Law That People Might Break: Publish Ready
Unjust Laws: What's in Your Back Pocket?
"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. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964. He advocated for racial equality and was
perhaps the largest leader in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. Today, there are
laws in place that are unjust enough to break without negative consequences. A couple of
examples are: it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in ones back pocket on Sunday and cars
cannot be driven in reverse in Glendale, Arizona. MLK would say some laws are ok to break
because they are outdated and do not take both the victims and the perpetrators point of view
into consideration.
First off, MLK would have believed that carrying an ice cream cone in ones pocket on
Sunday is an unjust law in todays society. because it is outdated. The point of this law was to
keep people from stealing horses from peoples pastures. This was relevant back when the law
was first made, but it is silly now. The morality of the law does not makes sense. For example,
someone could be walking down the street and need to store their ice cream quickly. Ones back
pocket it perfect for that. Another example is that it is a extremely convenient way to store a

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creamy, dreamy, and delicious delicacy on a hot and humid summer day. The other laws are
mainly unjust because of their ignorance to both sides of the story.
Also, laws are unjust because they do not see both sides of the law as equal. In the law
about the car, one drives in reverse a lot, for example, to back out of parking lots, driveway, etc.
A law like this forbids Glendale citizens to reverse for seemingly no good reason. Simply
practicing driving will fix the problem this law is solving. This is alike to making a law that
states that people can only read a book from its front cover to its back cover. It doesn not matter
how one reads the book, one would get the same information. With cars in reverse, no one is
going to get hurt as long as the driver pays attention to where they are backing up.
In conclusion, Martin Luther King Jr. would say these are fair laws to break because the
laws are unjust. What is an unjust law? A law that does not use morality to prove itself just. A
solution to a law such as this would be to modify the ice cream law to only apply where people
could steal horses. In modern times, this is not relevant, and this law should be removed, or else
people are going to break it. The solution for the car law would to be to just get rid of the law. It
does not do the state any good to have a law that limits citizens in an unnecessary way. MLK was
a imperative figure in the Civil Rights Movement, and he broke many laws(Jim Crow) of his
time. Considering that the Jim Crow laws are not in place anymore, one should take into account
MLKs view on these subjects, as he obviously was a informed person on the topic.