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As St. Augustine said 'an unjust law is not law at all.' In other words, an unjust law would be a law, that takes away ones freedom, or causes harm, or basically just causes chaos. Which is the exact opposite of what a law is put in place to do.

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(From "Why We Can't Wait" Letter from the Birmingham Jail - by Martin Luther King Jr.)

A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. ... Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. ...

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. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is difference made legal.

Let me give another example. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. ... Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

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