What are your views on breaking the law?

• You would never do it because the law is the law
• If you felt strongly that a particular law was wrong, you would break it and face the consequences
• If you felt strongly that you could gain from breaking the law as long as you didn't get caught, you'd give it a go
• Not all laws are equal, you wouldn't murder someone but you would deliberately speed (just one example)
• Any other answer!

In my fishing days a famous angler was interviewed having just got back from serving a prison sentence of 5 years 11 months in Ireland. The way the chat went, it sounded like he was a bit of a character; as in poaching trout with worms after dark. But when he said that he had no respect for laws he didn't understand, I began to wonder what he'd been locked up for.

Laws are there for a reason and it doesn't matter if you personally don't 'get them'. All in all, we legislate for idiots. 

As it turned out, the guy got jailed again soon after. Back behind bars where all paedophiles belong.

I think it really depends on the law. Some are so out of date that they should be just abolished (like the right to walk your sheep across Tower Bridge on a Monday) - that I dont think it makes anymore sense.

I try not to break any laws but I'm sure that I probably do without knowing. They are there for a reason but I can see why some people feel the need to look at the grey area rather than purely in black and white (like squatting).

Most people break the law at some point. Speeding, parking on the pavement, parking outside of a church on a Sunday etc.

No not all laws are equal and I would break the law if I felt it necessary. Sometimes we need people who stand up to tyrants. I'm thinking more political here. Certyainly we are lucky in this country but what if we weren't? Would you just sit back and take it?

For me I think its about my values mixed with a little common sense.  I was told as a kid never to steal, intentionally hurt people etc and wouldnt dream of doing any of these things today.  I found a £5 note a couple of months ago and handed it in as when i was a kid my mum would have killed me if i kept it, hence today I still hold these values.

However i do break the speed limit on a daily basis, I tend to drive slow around schools and in housing estates etc as aware of kids running about however give me a country lane or a clear motorway...zoom zooom! 

If you can think for yourself, you don't need someone else to tell you how to behave.

Combination of my own moral views, consequences of getting caught and to a small extent probably a feeling that law is law and there is some value in a society having shared rules - so long as I don't actively disagree with them.    It's mainly down to my own moral compass and chance/consequences of being caught though.   

"Too many laws makes you Germany. Too few makes you France"

Seriously though, i think the adhoc laws that spring up governing political protest everytime a demo gets out of hand are bad news for us all. They stem from fear of, and create fear of, protest. Voting every 4 years and in local elections is and has never been enough. Curtailing legal protest, strike action, picketing leads to the idea that really we shouldnt be arguing against the status quo until our elders and betters have said so.

Everytime I hear a call for a curfew on the young or a call for more CCTV I can help think that the powers that be wouldnt like us all tucked up in bed by 8:30pm

As for the argument that if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear from this or that law, so you should be prepared to lay your life bare for the authorities. My answer is I have plenty to hide, embarrasing things , funny things, lies,  half truths, full truths, my hopes, my dreams, my fantasies and my reality. .The onus is on those in authority to prove they need to know these things not on me to prove they dont.

Any law should have as it base the idea that the individual is soveriegn and any law governing the conduct of that individual is an imposition requiring first consent and then constant review.

My brain hurts

Bed time

I wouldnt harm others and i wouldnt steal or be dishonest in any way, i do speed , and im sure ive broken minor laws. The law is an ass, and justice is blind, you can be banged up longer for robbing a bank than killing a granny...whatever happened to Wergeld?

Paganthegoat wrote (see)

whatever happened to Wergeld?

It was a little unfair if you happened to be a woman or a slave or just not very important in the scale of things.

Hierarchical laws are a bit rubbish.

"You got to pay a fiver if you killed an urchin but a tenner if you kill butcher"

The law is the law, whether you agree with it or not.

Notts Runner wrote (see)

The law is the law, whether you agree with it or not.

I've never really got that sentence.

Nah m8 the law was always made to be broken .......How much wergeld can i extract from my neighbour whoes pussy  killed one of my Bantams? 

Like most things in life there is no black and white but a lot of grey areas...

I tend to think that it is not so much the laws themselves and some are really out of date or belong to a long lost era. I think it is about judges and magistrates applying the law fairly and reasonably.

The problem may be that so many judges are so cut off from the real day to day existence of modern society that they simply follow a given format in sentencing rather than use their powers of discretion and wisdom. After all they are employed to judge.   Even relatively young judges live a rarefied lifestyle.

Perhaps like in China the great and powerful should regularly do a share of menial labour so that they always are aware of how the less equal live.

As a nurse, i have looked after everyone from a known sex offender, to an ex Hells Angel. I judge no one, my actions hurt no one, but only aim to heal. If your actions hurt someone on some level, be it however small, then a law needs to be in place to stop this from happening.

Wow KK, you've found a grand topic here. So many people have looked at it and decided not to admit guilt. You are only guilty when you have been FOUND guilty of breaking a law. Believe me, it's almost impossible to survive totally within the law.

As some people find it impossible to survive driving without their mobile stuck to their ear with their shoulder and a cup of Starbucks in one of their hands.