Ryan Byrd wrote:
clarification:
There is no evidence of any "Prima Nocte" laws in feudal Europe, even in France. It is an invention, designed to produce controversy, of our beloved Hollywood (though allusions appear in Mozart's opera, Le Nozze di Figaro.)
Actually, there is some evidence that it was a common law in Europe. Though not at the time of William Wallace but one or two hundred years later.
But the point I was making still applies. Perhaps a better example would be that of American slavery which was perfectly legal and ratified by the Supreme Court (see the Dredd Scott case) which ruled that slaves were property.
Just because a law is on the books does not mean that it is a law that should be obeyed or honored by society. I suppose we could fall into the pit of moral relativism but if we stayed in that pit, there is likelihood that there would still be slaves in the South, Bogg's extermination order might still be standing, and it would still be permissible to slaughter American indians.
I think that any of us would argue that the laws that permitted our forefathers to enslave the blacks, kill the Mormons and native Americans were just laws. Just as there were laws 100-200 years ago that let others enslave and kill unjustly, there are laws today that let one group to take life liberty and property from one group or another unjustly.
Because you can get enough of your friends together to pass a law does not make it just or that it should be obeyed or enforced.
-Art
-- Art Pollard http://www.lextek.com/ Suppliers of High Performance Text Retrieval Engines. .===================================. | This has been a P.L.U.G. mailing. | | Don't Fear the Penguin. | | IRC: #utah at irc.freenode.net | `==================================='
