When would you break the law

[Ken]

So far the consensus seems to be law breaking is not a moral issue if motives are good or if the people around you support it. Is this a fair summary.

I think there are longstanding principles of civil disobedience in which you accept the penalty for your lawbreaking. Such as, for example, the civil rights protestors who broke the law and willingly forced authorities to deal with enforcing unjust laws. I don't think one generally breaks the law without being willing to be held accountable for one's actions.

I think there are special circumstances when that sort of civil disobedience is not called for. For example, during the Holocaust if you were breaking the law by sheltering your Jewish neighbors you would not advertise the fact that you were doing so to the Gestapo in some form of public civil disobedience. As that would defeat the whole purpose of your action.

[justme]

i'm with quietlylistening
if you break the law, be prepared for the consequences, and don't go whining about said consequences.

[barnhart]

1. Is it fair to summarize this thread as containing broad support for the overlooking the law in principle.
2. How does that moral theory of law breaking combine with judgments about the undocumented found in other threads.

[Soloist]

Harvey Silvergate, Harvard professor. He wrote a book about it too.

I haven't read the book. The title sounds like hyperbole, but I'm not a legal expert. Does he support the claim in the title with data?

His book and research have been well-received and he isn’t particularly controversial either.

Is it a case of some people committing a lot of felonies so it averages out to three per person per day?

No. His focus is on the average person (as in, a typical person like you and me) who has no idea he might accidentally be committing a felony by, for example, borrowing his wife’s phone to log on to her bank Sam’s Club account to check for any coupon deals. (Just as an off the cuff example.)

Are there other experts that agree with Silverglate?

Yes. There are.

I'm sure the legal code is out of control, but making a statement like this without proper context seems a bit irresponsible.

He’s a published Harvard University professor with a published book that has plenty of reviews on it out there and it has generally been well received by the likes of Eugene Volokh and other legal experts. I would not say it is “irresponsible.” The problem at hand is that many statutes are very easy to run afoul of and most people don’t have the foggiest idea they are doing such.

Wife:
My 6 year old committed a felony today when I found out she opened someone else's mail. Sure, it was junk mail, but I gave her a stern lecture about not being a criminal, and I guess she added to the daily average.

[MaxPC]

If you choose to break the law for reasons of faith/conscience/belief- and I have no problem if you feel this is what you should do- just also be willing to take the consequences instead of yelling and crying and thinking you should be treated differently.
People who hid the Jews and others in WWII and people who are part of underground churches know that there are consequences if they are caught. Folks in this country go with their conscience then whine and complain about it. And I am generalizing.

I would break the law if I felt that the Lord wanted me to help someone, to live my life as I feel scripture is telling me to and to worship God among other things. I would also know that I may have to pay a price.

Indeed and agreed.

[Josh]

1. Is it fair to summarize this thread as containing broad support for the overlooking the law in principle.

Most people don't think laws they respect should be broken, but some laws they have no respect for, and feel comfortable breaking them as long as they can get away with it. (Example: rolling a stop sign.)

2. How does that moral theory of law breaking combine with judgments about the undocumented found in other threads.

I think it makes sense for countries to have borders (and so does the vast majority of my countrymen). Most people definitely do believe in things like borders and private property and not trespassing, even if they do do things like roll stop signs.

More importantly, the typical illegal alien, when interviewed, will express that they know they are entering illegally and choosing to do so anyway, and when asked about asylum claims will often express that they are just doing what they were told gives them the best chance of getting in for economic purposes, which steps "breaking the law" up to a higher level of "intentionally defrauding and making false statements", which I should hope we can all agree is a bad thing, illegal or not.