Friday, January 27, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Columns Eagle eyes by Tony La Vina

Weaponizing the law

Tony La ViñabyTony La Viña
February 25, 2020, 4:00 am
in Eagle eyes by Tony La Vina
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

"What is the distinction between what is legal, ethical, and just?"

 

With this column, I begin a series on the concept of lawfare, the proposition that law is being weaponized for political purposes—in a good way as when we used law in fighting a military and economic giant, but also unfortunately in an evil way when it is used to violate human rights and suppress our freedoms of expression, press, and dissent.

Like religion, morality, and social conventions, law is a normative social practice which purports to guide human behavior and direct human actions and his social, political or economic relations towards a common goal. Apropos is the Latin legal maxim “Lex est sanctio sancta jubens honesta et prohibens contraria” which says that a law is a sacred sanction, commanding what is right and prohibiting the contrary.

ADVERTISEMENT

Along with other social conventions, law is a norm that melds societies together. Without law, there can only be chaos and anarchy. This is why no modern society can possibly function effectively, if not exist, without some form of rule that brings or imposes order on how people should behave in dealing with others. Law is the reason why hitherto small communities are able to transform themselves into great empires. The Roman empire, which originated from an unknown tribe in Latium, was forged not only by military might but by the legal system, to be known as ius gentium or jus gentium (Latin for "law of nations") which created cohesiveness among the different tribes they conquered. The Roman legal system survived the collapse of the Roman empire and was handed down to and inherited by the great Christian empires of Europe, although the traditional ius gentium of the Roman system was now interspersed with canon or ecclesiastical law.

When every person in a collectivity operates under the principle of “to each his own,” it will result in the breakdown of order and civility, man being impelled only into action in accordance with his primal instinct of self-preservation. Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen and a few other countries have been declared failed states due to loss of control or legitimacy and inability to perform the functions of a state. Factors that drive states into the abyss of lawlessness and anarchy include escalation of communal conflict like in Somalia, Yugoslavia and Yemen, to name a few; collapse of democratic infrastructure such as Nigeria or Madagascar; or crisis in succession like Iran under the Shah or Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The quest for peace, security and prosperity is a fundamental necessity that drives humans into setting up some form of rules or laws that will create social cohesion and direct the community into achieving a common good. But to attain this, there is a person, group or collectivity of individuals vested with authority to orchestrate the communal effort, make and enforce rules in accordance with the mandate of the sovereign.

Since time immemorial, legal theorists have elucidated on the questions: What is law? What is its purpose? What is the distinction between what is legal, ethical, and just?

Four major theories of law try to answer these questions: the Natural law theory, Positive law theory, Marxist law theory, and Realist theory of law.

The natural law theory is founded on the belief that the source of law is not man or legislation, but “God, nature or reason.” Preeminent classical philosophers of this persuasion are Plato and Aristotle who explained the nature of natural law. The Catholic philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas borrows from these Greek thinkers, especially Aristotle.

The positivist theory posits the view that law is man-made, enacted to oblige or specify an action. This subscribes that law is only effectual as a guide to human behavior unless the language of the law and the methods to interpret it are useful to ordinary citizens. Laws in society are a subset of the sovereign’s commands: general orders that apply to classes of actions and people and that are backed up by threat of force or “sanction.”

In simplest terms, law, according to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is the will of the ruling class. Marx subscribe to the idea that law and state are the creation of those who have the means of production contrived to exploit those who do not have in order to protect their private property. This theory assumes that perfect equality can only be attained in a Communist stage where there is no private property, class, state and law.

As the name suggests, the realists are more interested in the actual workings of the law rather than its theoretical abstractions. Based on this approach, rules not applied to address practical uses are dead; they breathe life only when they are put to good use in real-life situations. On this premise, laws are laws only when applied by the judge and not by legislators. As such, the judge, not the legislator, is the real lawmaker.

No single theoretical framework discussed can be dismissed outright as false, discredited in its entirety or swallowed as the repository of truth. In the next column, I will propose an approach that will help us understand and defeat evil lawfare.

Facebook: Dean Tony La Vina Twitter: tonylavs

Tags: freedoms of expressionKarl MarxLawlaw of nationsmoralityReligionsocial conventions
ADVERTISEMENT
Tony La Viña

Tony La Viña

Related Posts

Gigi Reyes and everyone’sright to speedy trial

byTony La Viña
January 24, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
Denying Villafuerte justice

"The SC said while Reyes’ detention is based on a court order, her prolonged detention, without any progress on the...

Read more

Attacking human rights defenders

byTony La Viña
January 17, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
Denying Villafuerte justice

"The story of Dyan and Armand ended well but others will not be too lucky in the future until the...

Read more

Protest, petition, passion and praise

byTony La Viña
January 14, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8

"These days, it’s San Francesco’s praise for suffering, sickness, and death—lines he added to the canticle when he became sick...

Read more

New year, new life

byTony La Viña
January 7, 2023, 12:05 am
0
8
Christmas path to peace

When you read about this cancer and possible scenarios, there is always an optimistic air. Prostate cancer is compatible with...

Read more

Lessons as a government official

byTony La Viña
December 31, 2022, 12:05 am
0
8
Denying Villafuerte justice

"The essence of good governance is that it is sustained and inter-generational." This is the second of four columns where...

Read more

How I became a social activist

byTony La Viña
December 27, 2022, 12:10 am
0
186
Denying Villafuerte justice

"I believe in peace processes and that we must work for a peaceful settlement of all conflicts in this country"...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • ‘Cali shooter admits guilt, mentally ill’
  • Spain port reels after man kills 1, hurts 1 at church
  • German parliament spotlights Nazis’ LGBTQ victims
  • Ex-paratrooper set to sweep
    Czech prexy vote vs. ex-PM
  • Tough new rules for Myanmar political parties
  • Thai ruling party names deputy PM as main poll bet
  • Isabela celebrates 2023 Bambanti Festival 
  • Pag-IBIG finances over 18,000 socialized homes for low-wage earners in 2022

Advertisement

Latest News

Thai ruling party names deputy PM as main poll bet

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 6:00 pm
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Bangkok—Thailand’s ruling party on Friday named Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan as its candidate to be premier in the kingdom’s...

Read more

Isabela celebrates 2023 Bambanti Festival 

byJessica M. Bacud
January 27, 2023, 2:59 pm
0
8
Isabela celebrates 2023 Bambanti Festival 

City of Ilagan, Isabela - Vice Governor Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III, the Director General of the 2023 Bambanti Festival...

Read more

Pag-IBIG finances over 18,000 socialized homes for low-wage earners in 2022

byManila Standard
January 27, 2023, 1:37 pm
0
8
Pag-IBIG urges employers with unremitted contributions to avail of penalty condonation 

Pag-IBIG Fund financed 18,657 homes for low-income and minimum-wage earners in 2022, its top officials announced Friday (January 27). Socialized...

Read more

Philippines to appeal ICC resumption of drug war probe

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 12:00 pm
0
8
Philippines to appeal ICC resumption of drug war probe

The Philippine government said Friday it intended to appeal an International Criminal Court decision to reopen an inquiry into Manila's...

Read more

Knicks hold off Celtics in overtime, Pistons top Nets

byAFP
January 27, 2023, 11:00 am
0
8
Knicks hold off Celtics in overtime, Pistons top Nets

New York's Julius Randle scored 37 points Thursday as the Knicks handed the NBA-leading Celtics a third straight defeat with...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App