Discuss how one determines whether a law is just or unjust

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A just law is a manmade 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 the writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority but that is not binding on the majority itself. In contrast, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority that that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote.