A recent report in the newspaper related that a member of the Punjab Assembly had violated the law by breaking traffic rules. When he was stopped by the traffic warden to point out his offence, he became furious and told the warden to ignore his offence since he was an MPA. In another reported incident, when the warden stopped a car which had tinted glasses, instead of being paid heed to, the warden was warned to care of his job. This car belonged to a general of the army. There is a popular story that is told that someone asked a clerk about rules and regulations regarding some case and the clerks telling response was, Show me the man, I will show the rules.
In a feudal and bureaucratic society, the law is for the common man while the powerful and privileged are above the law. It is their privilege not to just disobey the law but to defy it to show their power and privilege. It is interesting that in the olden times, rulers as well as people were very much concerned about law. In their opinion, the law was necessary to discipline society. Ancient lawmakers are famous for producing laws which could prevent crimes and maintain peace and order in the society. We know about Draco (620 BC) who for the first time introduced written laws which were drastic enough to control people committing any crime against society. We still refer to laws as Draconian whenever they are severe and want to condemn the nature of these laws.
Another famous lawmaker was Solen (638 B.C.) whose laws were engraved on stone and put in the market place where people could read them. The market place also had the building where the legal cases were decided. A separate building housed the legal archives where judgments of the past were preserved and were quoted as precedents from time to time. Such was the consciousness of law that every Athenian used it to protect his rights.
Sophocles (497 B.C.), the dramatist, wrote a drama known as Antigone. The story goes that the father of Antigone was killed fighting against his brother who was the king .He forbade the burial of the body of his brother as punishment. She violated the order of the king and buried the dead body. When she was tried on the violation of kings order, she boldly told him that it was man-made law which she violated and by burying the dead body, she had observed natural law. If the man-made law was based on injustice, it could be defied. The theme of this drama centered around law and its manifestation in society which demonstrates the sensitivity of the ancient Greeks to legal matters and issues.
The ancient Greeks gave much emphasis to the observance of laws. According to them, it kept the community together, maintained moral values and checked unlimited liberty. The Roman followed this concept and during the time of the republic, the laws were engraved on tablets and were out in the public square where the public could read them. In the 6th century, Justinian introduced his own system of law which was suited to an empire. The Roman legal system was so comprehensive that Europe inherited it and used it in the medieval period. The concept of Rule of Law derives both from the Greeks and the Romans.
In the East, Hamurabi (750 B.C.), emerged as the famous law-giver who claimed that his laws were divine. They were based on the principle of eye for eye and a tooth for tooth. In the East, all laws drew their legitimacy from divine power. As such, they could not be changed. This strengthened the political and religious authorities In spite of political and social changes, the legal system remained unchanged.
On the other hand, in Western societies, as the laws were man-made, they were more open to change and laws were continuously changed according to the need of time. After the French revolution, Napoleon introduced the code of Napoleon which radically changed the legal system of Europe. In the 18th century, the Utilitarians emphasised the importance of the rule of law. Hence, Western legal systems have a history of being subject to change and timely evolution.
In modern history, the black Americans resisted discriminative laws and forced the lawmakers to change them. A similar thing happened in South Africa, where a movement was launched against the apartheid laws and that particular struggle ended triumphantly. The legal system of any society reflects its social structure. The ruling and elite classes make attempts to formulate laws which could protect their privileges. Therefore, if the laws are based on discrimination, people have the right to protest against them and force the authorities to change them. In Pakistan, we still have a number of laws which were made during the colonial period in order to defend the interests of the colonisers.
As these laws are still protecting our ruling classes, they have been kept intact rather than being subjected to reform. People observe the law only when they uphold equitable principles; if not, they are justified in challenging them.
The writer is one of the pioneers of alternate history in the country.
