LAW

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LAW

• Etymology-
• A layer, stratum, a laying in order,
  "something laid down or fixed"

Definition- an ordinance of reason for the common
good, promulgated by those who are in charge of
the community.
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Definition Law (four distinct parts) an
ordinance of reason for the common good
promulgated by those who are in charge of the
community
(reasonable)
(greatest good for the greatest number)
(to be made know)
(made by the proper authority)
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--Must be Reasonable--

• Speed Limit Signs
• What if New York State reduced the
  Thruway speed to
• Would that law be
  reasonable?

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• What if the posted signs
  contradicted each other?
• Is that reasonable?

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What makes a speed limit reasonable?

• How are Speed Limits set?
• 85th percentile rule - the speed limit is set to
  the speed that separates the bottom 85 of
  vehicle speeds from the top 15.
• The theory is that traffic laws that reflect the
  behavior of the majority of motorists may have
  better compliance.
• Other factors also apply to specific areas
  (e.g. accident history).

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What is the highest posted speed limit in the
United States?

• Speed Limit 80 mph
  (night 65) on a rural
  stretch of Interstate
  highway in western
  Texas.

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What if New York State added some new parking
signs across the state?
--Must be for the Common Good--

• Would that law
  be for the common good?

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What if the speed limit was loweredbut there
were no signs with the new limit?
--Must be Promulgated--

• Can a person be held
  accountable for a law
  if the law is not
  promulgated?

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Not all speeds are posted
And ignorance of the law is no excuse

• The State Speed Limit (a blanket speed limit for
  rural roads) is --
• 55 mph
• (which is also the highest speed a
  non- expressway highway may have)
• In New York State, the default speed limit on any
  road not marked with a speed limit sign in cities
  or villages is --
• 30 mph (unless local restrictions are stricter).

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What if you see a sign
--Must be made by the proper authority--

• and adjust it to what you think is appropriate?

Would that law be made by those who are in charge
of the community?
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Are there any places with no speed limits?

• Nepal, the Isle of Man, and two Indian states
  (Uttar Pradesh and Kerala) are the only places in
  the world that do not have a general speed limit.
  
• In Germany, 57 of the autobahn motorway system
  remains free from speed limits.
• The highest posted speed limit in the world is
  160 km/h (99 mph), which has been experimentally
  applied on selected test stretches in Austria and
  the United Arab Emirates

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• Definition Law (four distinct parts)
• an ordinance of reason
• for the common good
• promulgated
• by those who are in charge of the community

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Do laws limit freedom?
What if the state suddenly suspended all traffic
laws?

• Would your freedom of travel
• increase or decrease?

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What if people drove anyway they wanted, what
would happen?
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The purpose of Law is to enable freedom to exist.
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• Sports example

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• Rules of Hockey
• Offsides
• A player may not skate into his offensive zone
  ahead of the puck. If that happens, a whistle is
  blown, and a face-off is held just outside the
  zone where the breach-offside- occurred.
• An offside pass is also called a two-line pass. A
  defenseman with the puck in front of his own net,
  for example, cannot snap it to a teammate beyond
  the red line at center ice because it would have
  to go over two lines, first the blue and then the
  red, to get there.
• Icing
• Icing is called when a player behind the red line
  in his end of the rink shoots a puck past the
  goal line in his offensive zone when both teams
  are playing at even strength. Play is stopped
  when an opponent other than the goalie touches
  the puck.

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• Why have a rule against being offsides?
• Offside is called to keep players from hanging
  around the red line at center ice, or all the way
  down in their offensive zone, and waiting for a
  pass that will give them a breakaway (skating
  toward the goal with no defenders around except
  for the goalie) and an easy chance at a goal.
• Why have a rule against icing?
• Icing is considered an infraction because it can
  be used by teams to take away legitimate scoring
  chances from skaters on the offensive.

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• Also there are rules against
• Tripping
• Hooking
• Cross Checking
• Holding
• Charging
• High Sticking
• Why have rules against all these actions?
• Not only do they break up a play, they can also
  seriously injure a player, especially if the
  stick is used or if the opposing player in hit in
  the face.

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• What if the National Hockey League
• (or the National Federation of State High School
  Associations)
• suspended all these rules for the rest of the
  season?
• What would hockey be like?
• Would your ability to play increase or decrease?

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• The purpose of the rules is to enable the game to
  be played.
• The purpose of Law is to enable freedom to exist.

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There are different types of Law

• Eternal Law
• Natural Law
• Positive Law
• a. Divine Law
• b. Ecclesiastical Law
• c. Civil Law
• 4. Evangelical Law

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Eternal Law

• Eternal Law the cosmic order established by
  God.
• The first law
• Foundational for all other laws
• Universal

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Natural Law

• Natural law is the eternal law, written in the
  heart of every human being.
• Natural law is
• 1. universal applies to everyone
• 2. immutable unchanging
• Natural law laws of nature

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Natural Law

• Based on human reason -
• are there moral standards that apply to all
  people at all times and in all places?
• Example
• Is it always wrong to dismember and eat a
  conscious human being?

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Positive Law

• Established law - more concrete, less theoretical
• Divine Law revelation of God
• the Bible
• 2. Ecclesiastical Law Church law
• Canon Law
• 3. Civil Law law of the land - legislated by
  legitimate government

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Positive Law

• Examples
• Divine Law
• example - the Ten Commandments
• 2. Ecclesiastical Law
• example - the precepts of the Church
• 3. Civil Law
• example - traffic law, tax law

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Divine, Civil, or Natural law?
All Three Divine, Natural All three Possibly
all three Divine Civil, possibly
Natural Divine, Natural All three

• Do not steal.
• Take care of your elderly parents
• Take care of your young children
• Rest on the Sabbath
• Do not take the Lords name in vain
• 17 year olds cannot drink alcohol
• Do not get drunk
• Marriage is between a man a woman

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• The Seven Precepts of the Church
• To attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of
  Obligation, and rest from servile works.
• To observe the days of abstinence and fasting.
• To confess our sins to a priest, at least once a
  year.
• To receive the Holy Eucharist at least once a
  year during Easter Season.
• To contribute to the support of the Church.
• To obey the laws of the Church concerning
  Matrimony.
• To participate in the Church's mission of
  Evangelization. (To spread the faith).

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Evangelical Law

• Law of the gospel
• specifically established by Jesus
• an interior law (as well as external)
• The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will
  make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
  the house of Judah.
• It will not be like the covenant I made with
  their fathers the day I took them by the hand to
  lead them forth from the land of Egypt for they
  broke my covenant and I had to show myself their
  master, says the LORD.
• But this is the covenant which I will make with
  the house of Israel after those days, says the
  LORD. I will place my law within them, and write
  it upon their hearts I will be their God, and
  they shall be my people.
• No longer will they have need to teach their
  friends and kinsmen how to know the LORD. All,
  from least to greatest, shall know me, says the
  LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and
  remember their sin no more.
• Jeremiah 3131-34

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Evangelical Law

• Law of the Gospel
• Also known as
• The New Law
• A law of love
• A law of grace
• A law of freedom

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What if there is an unjust Civil Law?

• What should you do?
• Change it?
• What if you cannot and you remain forced to
  live under an unjust law?
• Two things
• Break the law
• Accept the consequences

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Civil law is not the highest law.
Not an option

• We break a Civil Law in order to follow the
  Eternal Law of God written on our conscience
  (Natural Law).

a Necessity
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What are examples of unjust Civil Laws?

• From History -
• Slavery
• Racial Segregation
• Limited suffrage
• In Todays world -
• Abortion Coercive abortion policies in many
  countries (China, US, etc.)

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Example of MLK

• We must accept the consequences for breaking a
  civil law
• to acknowledge the importance and validity of
  the rule of law.
• to draw greater attention to the injustice of a
  particular law.

Why?
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CANON LAW INDIVIDUAL IMPEDIMENTS TO MARRIAGE

• Canon 1083.1 A man cannot validly enter marriage
  before the completion of his sixteenth year of
  age, nor a woman before the completion of her
  fourteenth year.
• Canon 1084.3 Sterility neither forbids nor
  invalidates a marriage.
• Canon 1085.1 A person bound by the bond of a
  previous marriage, even if not consummated,
  invalidly attempts marriage.
• Canon 1087 Those who are in sacred orders
  invalidly attempt marriage.
• Canon 1090.1 One who, with a view to entering
  marriage with a particular person, has killed
  that person's spouse, or his or her own spouse,
  invalidly attempts this marriage.
• Canon 1091.1 Marriage is invalid between those
  related by consanguinity in all degrees of the
  direct line, whether ascending or descending,
  legitimate or natural.
• Canon 1091.2 In the collateral line, it is
  invalid up to the fourth degree inclusive.
• Canon 1094 Those who are legally related by
  reason of adoption cannot validly marry each
  other if their relationship is in the direct line
  or in the second degree of the collateral line.

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What is an annulment?

• A declaration by the Church that there never was
  a valid marriage.
• There also exist civil annulments that can be
  declared by the state.

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For an annulment to be granted
There must an
investigation by a diocesan tribunal Factors
explored include age and maturity at the time
of marriage patterns of physical abuse,
emotional abuse, substance abuse openness to
children serious psychological problems
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All of these factors are considered relevant to
whether or not the couple gave a full,
free-willed consent at the time of marriage.

Family and friends are interviewed as part of
the process. The process typically takes at least
a year.
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How many laws are listed within the Torah?

• 613

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• 22. To pray to God (Ex. 2325 Deut. 613)
• 27. Not to stand by idly when a human life is in
  danger (Lev. 1916)
• 170. Not to do wrong in buying or selling (Lev.
  2514)
• 184. Not to delay payment of a hired man's wages
  (Lev. 1913)
• 207. Not to break a vow (Num. 303)
• 355. To slay the inhabitants of a city that has
  become idolatrous and burn that city (Deut.
  1316-17)
• 365. That a man shall not wear women's clothing
  (Deut. 225)

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• Are there any specific laws that Jesus demands we
  follow?

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Laws of Jesus

• Dont call Jesus Lord when you dont obey Him.
  (Lk 646, Mt 721).
• Forgive those who wrong you. (Mt 524-25).
• Do not look with lust at a woman. (Mt 527-28).
• Do not divorce and marry another, this is
  adultery. (Mt 532, 199, Mk 1011-12).
• Dont swear an oath. (Mt 533-37).