King questions the differences between just and unjust laws to justify his actions in Birmingham and the charges of breaking laws willingly. ... An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. ... Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.... Unjust laws are "out of harmony with the moral law. ... He must consider the law as an expression of the group, and be willing to confront that law if he deems it unjust. ...

• Word Count: 700
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Socrates Vs King In the two reading assignments that were assigned each of the characters argue whether breaking the law is just or unjust. ... Socrates being a firm believer in what is just and unjust supports his position that escaping from prison and fleeing in exile to an adjacent city would be unjust because by him doing this would result in breaking the commitments that he has agreed upon by the courts after he was found guilty. ... Martin Luther King Jr. on the other hand, feels that the segregation laws that the black people had to abide by were unjust laws, and the blacks were discr...

• Word Count: 702
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

"(20) Thoreau influenced those African Americans to speak their minds about the unjust laws, gaining the governments attention. ... "(320) Thoreau addresses the idea of defying the government when the law is unjust. ... Thoreau's acts of defiance against unjust laws he didn't believe in caused Martin Luther King and his fellow Negro community to do the same. ... Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws A just law is a man-made code that is out of Harmony with the moral law."(5) Like Martin Luther King, Howard Zinn also sided with Thoreau in b...

• Word Count: 1318
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography

King describing two types of laws, just laws and unjust laws. King goes into great detail defining his versions of just and unjust laws. ... Any law that degrades human personality is unjust". ... "Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. ... Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all". ...

• Word Count: 1011
• Approx Pages: 4

King uses the excuse that his actions were just since he was fighting an unjust law. He defines segregation and unjust laws like this "Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. ... It is the nature of unjust laws that make them prone to be broken. ... He believes that anything done to battle an unjust law is just and must be done. ...

• Word Count: 733
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

He provides clear explanations of "just" and "unjust" laws. King defines "Just" laws as a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God" (159). "Unjust" laws is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law (159). As times back then, being religious was important, King identifies "unjust" laws almost as a contradiction to God's laws and "just" laws was not. ... King directed the moral laws to his audience to convince them that what the white men is doing is unjust. ...

• Word Count: 940
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In the selections "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr. and "Ballad of Birmingham Jail" by Dudley Randall, these authors identified the hardships the black community were forced to endure, and the sacrifices they committed in an effort to overturn unjust laws. ... During his imprisonment, he wrote an extended letter as a response to his social concern of unjust laws implicated on the black community. ... King mentioned how this group of religiously-devoted individuals faced hungry lions for failing to "[...] submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman ...

• Word Count: 675
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography

Reforming America's criminal justice system is a top priority, in order to end racism, and to clear up the population's tarnished image of law enforcement. ... Obviously, the most obscene accounts of racism are observed in the media, and they are depicting law enforcement taking harsher actions against minorities, as opposed to other races. ... Racism in law enforcement has become such a common deed, as we date it back to 1991 with the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles, California. We won't go into detail about it, as it is just an example, for how long law enforcement has acte...

• Word Count: 730
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

During that time he wrote a letter justifying the breaking of some laws. Martian Luther felt there were two types of laws, the just and the unjust. A just law is a man-made code that agrees with morality or God's law and uplifts human personality, an unjust law is out of harmony with moral law and degrades human personality. ...

• Word Count: 257
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

He defines a just law as " a manmade code that squares with the moral law or the law of God" (Jacobus 187). A law that is mandated on the minority, but the majority is not required to follow, is considered unjust (Jacobus 187). The unjust laws, such as the segregation statutes, infringed on humans rights, and therefore slows the progress of society and African Americans. ... King saw the discriminatory and unjust treatment of African Americans. ... These unjust laws further enhance the malicious treatment of African Americans. ...

• Word Count: 1281
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Whether that is new laws coming into place, switching up your daily routine or even graduating from high school and attending college. ... King talks about the unjust treatment of him and the rest of the Negro population in America. ... Defending himself further, King addresses the issue of law breaking from his fellow demonstrators. ... Furthermore, King goes on to discuss that there is a difference between breaking a "just" law and an "unjust" law. ... King proceeds to tell the clergymen that even though it was illegal for people to hide the Jews for protection in WWII th...

• Word Count: 892
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Racial profiling is a form of discrimination by which law enforcement uses a person's race or cultural background as the primary reason to suspect that the individual has broken the law. ... While these groups of individuals may feel they are being subjected to racism, law enforcement stand to believe it is a simple act of private security. ... Law enforcement agencies have gone through time consuming and expensive litigation over civil rights concerns. ... The policies and practices that are used in racial profiling (such as those on immigrants) have caused destruction on individuals,...

• Word Count: 1975
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Afterwards, Martin Luther King Jr. starts to explain the difference between when a law is either just or unjust. Many people fail to understand that as he says, "an unjust law is no law at all" quoting St. ... Then he goes right to the main point and says that any law that degrades human personality is unjust and there's no exceptions to it. ... He tells that he was arrested for parading without a permit but later says that this matter of civil disobedience is in a way denying citizens of their privilege of a peaceful protest, and then this becomes unjust? ... This in itself sho...

• Word Count: 959
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

King brings in to consideration a persons logical thought when he talks about just and unjust laws. King says "A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law." ... In other words King is saying the Supreme Court can hand down a just law and yet people do not obey it but yet they expect me to obey an unjust law. ... Should these laws be followed? ...

• Word Count: 1136
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

However, he believed the pressure to exceed the limits of the law was undesirable. ... King writes," an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law" (815). To King, nonviolence does not mean passively accepting anything unfair or unjust. According to him, Black American must take nonviolent actions to break Segregation laws. ... Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a boycott of the bus system to ...

• Word Count: 461
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

"An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself a law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law," (King, p 1307). A law becomes injustice when a specific group of people were denied voting rights. ... King used logo, a logical appeal, to clarify the, "unjust law codes," that people of color were forced to abide by. ... "Unjust law" indicates the outrageous regulations that many Afri...

• Word Count: 910
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

He distinguishes between just and unjust laws addressing the clergymen's anxiousness over the black man's "willingness to break laws" by quoting St. Augustine "An unjust law is no law at all" [3]. To sum up his point he mentions Hitler's laws and how he would've broken them to help the Jews. ...

• Word Count: 591
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography

He discusses Nebuchadnezzar, and how people in that time refused to obey his laws because they were unjust, just as King did in Birmingham. ... King's is an intelligent African American who has been jailed unjustly but yet holds no grudges. He uses historical facts and religious references as logos and pathos toward the white clergy, and uses his pathos of being a black man in an unjust world to appeal to the black society being unfairly treated. ...

• Word Count: 411
• Approx Pages: 2

"Any Negro who displayed a spark of manhood, a southern law enforcement officer could say "Nigger, watch your step or I"ll put you in jail"." ... (King p. 35) Black and White alike lived in a state of fear, a fear that caused silence to the unjust way Black Americans were treated. ... Direct action is a response to what Martin Luther King calls unjust laws, he explains the difference between just laws and unjust laws as well as gives a specific definition of the two. "An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obe...

• Word Count: 1704
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

"Any Negro who displayed a spark of manhood, a southern law enforcement officer could say "Nigger, watch your step or I"ll put you in jail"." ... (King p. 35) Black and White alike lived in a state of fear, a fear that caused silence to the unjust way Black Americans were treated. ... Direct action is a response to what Martin Luther King calls unjust laws, he explains the difference between just laws and unjust laws as well as gives a specific definition of the two. "An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obe...

• Word Count: 1711
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

"Any Negro who displayed a spark of manhood, a southern law enforcement officer could say "Nigger, watch your step or I"ll put you in jail"." ... (King p. 35) Black and White alike lived in a state of fear, a fear that caused silence to the unjust way Black Americans were treated. ... Direct action is a response to what Martin Luther King calls unjust laws, he explains the difference between just laws and unjust laws as well as gives a specific definition of the two. "An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obe...

• Word Count: 1704
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Finally, King addresses the fact that he was urging people to break "unjust" laws. King says "One has not only the legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws.... Augustine "an unjust law is no law at all" he consciously uses this quote so to reference a source that would be of respect to the Clergymen but also to help support the fact that he believes that the manner in which he is breaking the laws is to better the community. King is considered to be a nuisance due to the fact that he was breaking ...

• Word Count: 1506
• Approx Pages: 6

He recalls unjust treatment in the courts, bombings of homes, and general brutality towards Negroes. ... King has a eloquent way with his words in comparing the treatment of Negroes with how the clergy would react if the unjust treatment were directed towards them. ... All through the letter, King questions the laws of humans compared to that of God's laws. He also brings into question whether or not Negroes breaking laws were any worse than white "heroes" of the past that had broken laws in an effort to do justice. He suggests that the colonists defending themselves against unfair an...

• Word Count: 1396
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Civil Disobedience is the refusal to obey the laws which are seen as unjust in an effort to bring about a chnage in governmental policy. ... It was against the law, so she was arrested. ... In 1957 and 1960, two federal laws called the Civil Rights Act were passed. They reaffirmed equality of the races and made many racist state laws known as Jim Crow Laws. ... Civil Disobedience Civil Disobedience like stated before is the refusal to obey a law or follow a policy believed to be unjust. ...

• Word Count: 1562
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

In December 1956, the United States of America Supreme Court proclaimed that Alabama's segregation laws were unconstitutional. ... King preached that there were just laws and unjust laws and they had the right to go against the unjust laws. ... While in jail, King wrote his acclaimed essay "Letter from Birmingham Jail", urging the white population of America to put a stop to segregation, asking them to see how truly unjust the punishment of African-Americans was and that African-Americans were people who only wanted to gain their full civil rights one hundred years after they became citiz...

• Word Count: 2369
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School