Why do societies have laws?

Answer 1

Some people only limit themselves by what is legal and what is illegal, and haven't moved to a higher stage of Moral development (referring to the research of Lawrence Kohlberg). In order to keep people at that level in check, we need laws.

The rules also keep things working, and usually actually *grant* us freedom when we follow them. (For instance, a driver's license typically grants us the freedom to use the public roads and to be relatively safe. If there were no laws about driving, it would be much more dangerous or costly.)

On the other end of the spectrum, at a higher level some people are going to realize that sometimes, rules need to be broken. At that level, we still have to have laws and consequences so people can measure whether breaking a law is worth it, and choose how to behave at that point, even from a moral perspective.

For instance, when people decided to rebel, declare independence, and establish the United States, they had to know the consequences and the legal situation, and know that they were choosing to take that extreme step for a cause that they believed in. The same with choosing a front seat on the bus despite the race rule of having to sit in the back, or smuggling escaped slaves, or hiding Jewish people from the Holocaust. There are some rules that must be broken, but we can't make those choices lightly. So, we have to look at the benefits of the law and the consequences of breaking the law (for everyone, not just ourselves), and when there are laws in place that are harming us as a society, then we can examine them and decide when to break them.

Answer 2

It is sometimes argued that since governments have a long history of corruption and abuse, human society would work better without them, and we could all just live our lives as we choose rather than having any laws telling us what we should or should not do, or any justice system designed to punish people who transgress against the law. However, so far anarchistic societies have not worked very well. There are certainly many people in the world who will treat their fellow human beings well, with or without any legal system that is designed to control them, but there are other people who prefer to treat their fellow human beings very badly, and it has been found to be useful to have some organized method of dealing with such people, rather than leaving it all up to individuals to do as they see fit.

Answer 3

Societies have laws because we need certain rules to help us live in society.

Answer 4

1.In society, we need rules in order to help humans live safely.

2.To prevent anarchy where the strong dominate the weak.

3.Minorities can live in peace.