From: "Kay, Martin (DEI)", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Robert wrote:
".......On the contrary, Nuremberg reminded us, nothing more,
because the law was
> already clear, pre 1945, that obeying an illegal order was no defence.
>
> Every *soldier* is taught that; I am surprised that policemen don't know
> it!..."
>
Maybe because policemen are civilians.....like it or not.
Martin Kay
--
I don't think I agree with this line of thought because the defence
some Nazis used was that they were following perfectly lawful
orders given under the law in force at the time. Ergo,
they lacked responsibility according to the defence as they
were not responsible for the law.
The laws allowing about 90% of what they did to the gypsies
were in force prior to the Nazis coming to power, so the Nazis
could even use the defence that they were not the ones
responsible for the law even.
They did not receive illegal orders, what they did was act
in a grossly immoral way contrary to a hastily enacted
international law that didn't even exist when the acts
were committed. The point being made (I guess) that you
have to be careful not only to do the legal thing but also
the right thing.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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