Law in Contemporary Society

-- NonaFarahnik - 05 Feb 2010 A few years ago, I read an Anatole France quote that hit me like a ton of bricks: "La majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts." Rough translation-- "The law, in its majestic equality, makes no distinction between rich and poor; both are forbidden to sleep under the bridges [of Paris]." By defining the class that commands power as "the owners," our focus remains on the acquisition of wealth and property as the means of control. The France quote reflects the concept that the powerful class manipulates our institutional and legal structures to favor themselves. Examples in our society today abound. Is Eben's "owner" distinction too limiting? We can always have policy arguments about why we might forbid sleeping under bridges, but to what extent do our laws reflect power's goal of maintaining perpetual inequality?

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r1 - 05 Feb 2010 - 22:07:58 - NonaFarahnik
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