Why Today's Laws are Not Law

(From the archives: August 4th, 2003)

Back in the 1920s, an eminent judge was heard to remark: “Three-fourths of legislation is unnecessary. And the other fourth is mischievous”. Do you wonder, if he was miraculously brought back to life today, what he might think?

Politicians around the world are bombarding us with barrages of crazier and crazier "laws." And they are doing it faster, and faster. Hardly a week passes without some politician trumpeting plans for yet more tough new laws, and harsh penalties against those who break them. Almost everyone senses that something has gone badly wrong with the law.

For example, I know a director of a tour operating company in England. The British government has made a law requiring his company, whenever they sell travel arrangements to anyone, to offer also travel insurance. If one of the staff fails to do this, the directors of the company can be charged with a criminal offence!

Another friend is a wine merchant in Connecticut, USA. He reports that, inside the last three years, several US state governments have declared shipping wine across state lines to be criminal. And shipping wine to some states - for example Florida - is classified as a felony, in other words, a grave offence meriting harsh punishment.

A local taxi driver told me that his wife is no longer allowed to drive his car when they go away together. This is because the local authority has decreed that only licensed taxi drivers may drive cars registered as taxis, even on private journeys.

Officials confiscate nail-scissors out of people’s hand baggage at airports, because they just might attack someone with them. There is a proposal to ban the old Scottish recipe, haggis. Both Greek and Thai politicians want to stop people playing computer games. Oregon firefighters were forbidden to tackle a large forest fire in what environmentalists had designated a wilderness area, so endangering the homes of 17,000 people.

And politicians are always finding new rationalizations for their favourite pastime, taking away our earned wealth. For example, taxes to "combat" (non-existent) human-caused global warming. In Britain, a law called IR35 - of which I myself am a victim - designed to suppress one-man software consultancies. And proposals to increase, yet again, fines for motoring offences, supposedly to build up a fund to compensate the victims of crime!

Is this all a big joke? I think not. For, while piling on more and more laws and regulations that are mad, or bad, or both, the politicians are also perverting time-honoured procedures of law. In Britain, for example, they are chipping away at the right to trial by jury. And they are trying hard to overturn the most important principle in criminal law, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

Meanwhile, police seize people's computers on suspicion of holding porn. They can take DNA samples and fingerprints from anyone they arrest, even if not accused of any crime. Their, and their masters', favourite words are crackdown and clampdown. They carry out dawn raids against those accused of "hate crimes" - laws which can turn, for example, a careless comment or facial gesture into a "crime." There are spy cameras all over the place, waiting to catch us out. And bureaucrats are being encouraged to confiscate large sums from "criminals." They are even being set targets for how much they must confiscate.

How can we understand what has gone wrong with law? We must go back to basics, and ask, what is law for? And what is the relationship between law and laws?

I do not have space here to review the history of law. Nor to discuss the differences between common law systems, as in England and the USA, and civil law systems as in continental Europe. I will simply take a common-sense view of law, one with which most people would have broadly agreed in, say, the last quarter of the 19th century.

There are three main divisions of law. Historically first is personal law, which regulates things like marriages, divorces and wills. Second is the civil law. This provides for resolution of disputes, and for compensation of harms done to others through negligence or irresponsibility. And the third division, criminal law, is concerned with acts outside the bounds of society, acts that are - in essence - not becoming of a human being, and therefore deserving of punishment over and above mere compensation of victims.

I will not comment further on personal law; it is not the main problem area today. As to civil law, the basics are still working, up to a point. Although the doctrine known as strict liability, or liability without fault, means that no-one is safe from legal assault, however responsibly and carefully they behave.

In the common-sense view, and historically, there is a sharp distinction between civil wrongs and criminal offences. For a crime requires, not only an act, but also a state of mind - so-called mens rea. For an act to be criminal, the perpetrator must also intend to commit a crime. For example, to kill someone, or to steal or damage someone's property. But today, this distinction has disappeared. Politicians rush to apply penalties to acts or omissions, which no-one using common sense would think of as criminal. No-one today is safe from being punished for "crimes," however innocent they are of any real wrong-doing.

It is time to review fundamentals. I ask first, for whose benefit does law exist? Almost everyone would agree that law exists for the benefit of the people it serves - for the public good. I think of John Locke's definition of the public good under law: "the good of every particular member of that society, as far as by common rules it can be provided for."

I must catch myself here. There is one group, whose interests are clearly not served by law - the criminals. But this does not contradict Locke's view. For he said also that a criminal "becomes degenerate, and declares himself to quit the principles of human nature, and to be a noxious creature." In the common-sense view, crimes - real crimes, violations of the law - are sub-human acts, behaviour not befitting members of society.

The law, then, taken as a whole, should serve the interests of all good people. But what of laws; where do they fit? Laws are - or should be - the guidelines, which implement the law. Law provides the framework, and laws provide - should provide - the practical application.

The law has an important feature. It is dynamic, not static. Like a living thing, it can adapt to changing conditions. There are two mechanisms for this. First, when new situations arise in cases at law, judges make decisions based on precedent and interpretation. And these decisions become guidelines for future cases, and so, in essence, become laws. Second, when new knowledge becomes available on how people should behave to make life better for everyone, lawmakers can lay down new guidelines to match. These two mechanisms have familiar names: case-law and statute.

From this common-sense view of law as serving the interests of all good people, and laws as its practical guidelines, flow several consequences. First, every law must be made for a clearly stated reason. Everyone must be able to understand this reason, and - even if they dislike that law personally - can approve of it as of benefit to good people in general. Laws should never be based on whims, lies or rationalizations.

Second, lawmakers must recognize that obeying laws has costs, and not just financial ones. Costs in time, costs in freedom, costs in pleasure, costs in convenience or independence. Laws should never impose greater costs on people than the benefit they are supposed to provide. In particular, no law should be made whose purpose is to impose costs on people. And no law to pre-empt a problem can be valid, unless the cost if that problem happens, multiplied by the chance of it happening, is greater than the costs of obeying that law.

Third, laws must not demean people. They must not constrain people so tightly that they lose the right to use their own common sense and judgement. Fourth, laws must not intentionally favour some individuals or groups against others. Laws must not be made for personal gain, to benefit particular lobbies, to build bureaucratic empires, to harm particular groups of people, or to buy popularity with some at the expense of others.

Fifth, laws must not be made in the heat of the moment, for example in swift reaction to a particularly heinous act or to a media-induced moral panic. Every law must be slowly, carefully, painstakingly considered, including its costs and down-sides. Sixth, laws must be as few as possible, as simple as possible and as clear as possible. Only then can individuals satisfy themselves, easily and at any time, that what they are doing is within the law.

Valid laws - laws consistent with common-sense law, laws made for the benefit of all good people - should satisfy all six of these rules. But today's laws fail on several of the counts. If you doubt this, look at the examples above, and think what may have been the motives of those that lobbied for, and those that made, those laws. Our friend from the 1920s, if he were brought back to life today, would probably throw up his hands in horror, and declare that all laws being made now are mischievous.

It is obvious, after a little consideration, that a lot of today's laws are simply not right. For the philosophical basis of laws made today is quite opposite to that of common-sense law. John Locke's remarks show that, as he understood it, human beings are naturally good, and criminality is rare and an aberration. And common sense supports this view. On the other hand, today's laws seem to be made from the standpoint that we are all naturally bad, and need to be forcibly controlled. That every one of us would be committing real crimes if we thought we could get away with it.

Bad laws, said Edmund Burke in the 18th century, are the worst sort of tyranny. He was quite right. And that is exactly what we are suffering today. The law, the very institution which should defend good people from those that want to harm us, has been taken over by hi-jackers. These hi-jackers are making bad laws to damage, and to try to destroy, our liberties, our lifestyles, and our livelihoods. How long will it be before they start taking our lives too?

Judges (and on occasions, it must be said, juries) are not entirely innocent of the perversion of the law, which has taken place over the last century or so, and particularly over the last 50 years. But by far the greatest blame lies with the politicians, lobbyists and vested interests. With amazing foresight, Locke described exactly the situation we are in today. “Constant frequent meetings of the legislative, and long continuations of their assemblies, without necessary occasion, could not but be burdensome to the people, and must necessarily in time produce more dangerous inconveniences”.

So, what can we lovers of freedom do? First, we need to understand the nature of our task. Resisting individual bad laws is not enough. Trying to solve the problem bad law by bad law is like fighting a hydra. For every bad law we knock down, lovers of tyranny, with a few pen-strokes, can raise ten new bad laws in its place.

What we must do is wider than just resisting bad laws. We must change people's perceptions. We must re-claim the law. We need to make it possible for the law to work as it should. We need to make it work for the benefit of us good, peaceful, honest people who respect others' rights, rather than against us.

Second, we need to make plain by our words and actions, that bad laws have no moral force. We should not criticize the victims of bad laws if they evade them, break them, or even flout them. Although, on the other hand, we should strongly censure those that break the law - for example, the violently aggressive, thieves and the fraudulent.

Third, we need to reflect on the nature of those that are doing these things to us. There is no worse crime than hi-jacking the law. Those that lobby for bad laws, those that make bad laws, and those that call for strict enforcement of bad laws, are degenerates and noxious creatures. Many people are coming to understand this. There is already a powerful undercurrent of hatred and contempt for politicians and lobbyists. We need to help this process along. And how do we do that? Simply by telling the truth.

Fourth, those of us who have contact with policemen and policewomen need to work on them. Most individual police are not, in the round, bad people. But they have been hoodwinked into giving their support to a legal system that has become perverted. They must learn to distinguish real crimes, violations of the law, from trumped-up ones. And they must concentrate on their job - dissuading and catching the small minority of real criminals.

I will end with more words of John Locke. Written more than 300 years ago, they are as relevant to us today as they were in Locke's time.

“But if a long train of abuses, prevarications and artifices, all tending the same way, make the design visible to the people, and they cannot but feel, what they lie under, and whither they are going, ‘tis not to be wondered, that they should then rouse themselves, and endeavour to put the rule into such hands, which may secure to them the ends for which government was at first enacted”.

Chapter 50. Of the Galactic Marching Band

There were still twelve days to go before the first and biggest of the ceremonies, which was due on the last Saturday of October.

The Galactic embassy was a hive of activity. Parts of it were already in full use, housing and serving the many Galactics who had already arrived. Other parts were still being built. There were many Garut’nim busy assembling things. Even busier were a species called the Piantur. They looked like tall, purple penguins, and Michael told me they were the Galaxy’s top engineers – 18th in the rich-list.

Ramael and Hazael met us when we arrived. With them, I was surprised to see, were Cristina and Helen. “We didn’t want to go back to our old life in Amsterdam,” Cristina said. “So we stayed with Ramael and Hazael in the ’mobile. Now, we have taken jobs on the staff of the Embassy, and this is our home.”

Hazael gave us copies of the detailed plans for the twelve ceremonies, which he had put together based on my list. Looking at the plans, I noticed that the Galactic Marching Band was due to play a leading part. “That might be fun,” I said to Gabriel, “for those of us, who are musicians, to play in the band at the big ceremony.” “It can be organized, I think,” he said with a smile.

As it turned out, only Marie and I from the Team were musically inclined. Gabriel took us to meet Mostro of the Vivar, the captain of the band. He was from the planet Vivro-2, and his species’ own induction into the Galaxy had been famous – enough so, for Bart to have used it as one of the examples in his report on us.

Mostro was physically closer to human than any other Galactic I had yet met. In fact, if his skin colour had had a little more pink and a little less blue, he could have passed as a Scandinavian.

Now, there is almost no discrimination in the Galaxy. Beyond, of course, the obvious and rational discrimination; those who behave well are treated well, and those that behave badly are treated badly. But the Galactic Marching Band was an exception to this rule. To qualify, you had to have exactly two legs, at least one windpipe, and a certain degree of musical ability.

But all was not lost for musicians of other bodily configurations. For quadrupeds, for instance, there was the Galactic Trotting Band, which had been centre stage at the ceremonies for the Brjemych. And, for insect species, the Galactic Six-legged Harmony, and for spiders the Galactic Eightfold Way. Regrettably, species with odd numbers of legs, such as the Galant’I, had to be left out of the fun.

Marie and I both qualified on legs and windpipes. But musical ability? Mostro said to us, “I will audition you the day after tomorrow.” Michael took Marie back to her home to pick up her flute, while Gabriel organized the loan to me, from a local enthusiast, of an E flat bass tuba.

Galactic musical notation is, at first sight, very different from Earthly. But it follows almost exactly the same principles. So, it is not hard to learn; nor is it hard to transcribe between the two. And a march, after all, is a march, is a march.

The audition was a breeze. After I played a few bars to Mostro, he said, “That is good, but you could play louder.” I obliged. Of course, that was playing while sitting – marching is another matter. So, Marie and I had several days of tough practice ahead.

But I determined to do yet more. With the help of several Band members, I re-arranged for the Band “The Liberty Bell” and a march I myself had composed years before. And we translated them into Galactic notation, just in time for the Band to learn them. It was a hectic week’s work.

Lily, on the other hand, was interested less in the band than in the aerial display and fly-past which would conclude the ceremony. “I want to pilot in the display,” she said to Gabriel, in my hearing. “You and Michael will be on the podium, won’t you? So can I please borrow your ’mobile for the ceremony?”

Gabriel paused, then said, “We can do better than that. Othriel and his partner Mirandin will be with us on the podium, and their ’mobile is not so far planned to be used in the ceremonies. It is the smallest and easiest to pilot model we make. It is much the same size as an Earthly family car. It has only two passenger seats in the back.”

We went to meet Othriel and Mirandin. Their robes were a dark, lustrous green. Othriel was taller, and looked older, than any Seraph I had yet met. He told us that he had now completed his stint as Chief Seraph, and had been offered – and had accepted – the post of Galactic ambassador to Earth.

Mirandin, like Gavantchin, presented herself as female. She was quiet and soft-spoken, but she also laughed a lot. And it became clear how this partnership worked. Othriel dealt with matters mental, and Mirandin with matters physical, including piloting.

When Lily asked Mirandin if she could pilot her ’mobile in the display, she said, “Yes, of course, as long as you first satisfy me that you are a good enough pilot.” So, Mirandin took us to her mobile. I rode in the back. The leather seat had been much sat in; for Othriel was a back seat passenger. It was also soft, deep and luxurious.

Being near cities, we avoided interfering with Earthly air traffic by first going straight up like a lift, to a height of more than fifteen kilometres. Then we flew north and west, to near Churchill, Manitoba, where it was polar bear season. There were hundreds of the critters. And to think that politicians had tried to tell us that we were endangering them.

* * *

After Lily had passed her test with Mirandin, we went to see Bart Vorsprong, who had arrived a day or so before. He had another Tefla with him, whom he introduced as Benno Adam. “Benno is a field historian,” said Bart. “That means, he collects eye-witness accounts of historical events, and assembles them so his readers can understand the processes at work. He has come here to find out about your Awakening, so he can write a book about it.”

“I would like to talk to you, and to each of your Team,” said Benno. “To get your view of what happened.”

“I doubt that we the Team can be of much help,” I replied. “After all, we were on Perinent until just a few weeks ago.” “I understand,” said Benno. “But you have had a large-scale view of the Awakening. Your evidence will be of great value to me.”

I made an appointment for the day after the big ceremony.

* * *

It was Saturday. It was Washington DC. It was the end of October. It was early afternoon. It was cloudless and cold, not far above freezing. We, the Galactic Marching Band, assembled near the Capitol. Our uniforms were black and yellow, very bright and striking.

Normally, the band had 48 members, not counting Mostro – a 12x4 formation. With Marie and me as well, we had 50 – so Mostro had ordered 10x5. Marie with her flute was in the second rank on the right, and I with the tuba was in the middle of the back rank.

We set off, playing the Liberty Bell. There were thousands – no, hundreds of thousands – of people lining the Mall. They cheered.

There was no “security” presence. Nor any need for one; for Ramael was hovering his ’mobile just ahead of us and to our right. In any case, with so many good people around us, if anyone had tried to make trouble they would have been very quickly either shot or lynched.

I looked up at Ramael’s ’mobile during a few bars’ rest, and saw Cristina waving to me. She has the best seat in the house, I thought.

It was three kilometres down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial, where Rrrela would welcome humans into the Galaxy. And it took a while. For, even not counting us humans, there were 20 different species among the players in the Galactic Marching Band, and all had to go at the pace of the slowest. Which was about three-quarters the pace of an Earthly marching band.

About half-way down, I turned the music, and my march was next. I had named it “The March Without a Name.” And I fondly remembered the Lewis Carroll-esque conversation I had had with Mostro…

“The march has no name?” he asked.

“No,” I replied. “The name of the march is ‘The March Without a Name.’”

“Ah, I see. So the march is called ‘Without a Name?’”

“No. The name of the march is called ‘Sine Nomine.’”

It went on for a while. Then Mostro cried, “So what is the march?”

In reply, I played the first four bars on the tuba…

We marched on, and came to the Memorial, ending with the Liberty Bell again. We pulled away a little to the right, and on our left there came up a parade of a hundred or so Earthly movers and shakers, who had followed us from the Capitol. More than half of them, I am proud to say, members of our first, second or third waves.

Rrrela Himself stood on the steps of the Memorial to welcome us into the Galaxy. He was flanked by Othriel and Mirandin. Behind him were Michael, Gabriel, Balzo, Bart Vorsprong, Tuglaydum and Tuglaydee, and ten of the Team – but not Lily and Hoong, who were completing final preparations for the display. Behind them, again, were several hundred other Galactics, including Olgal and Benno Adam.

Rrrela’s speech was not memorable. But what he said didn’t have to be memorable. The pictures told it all. Humans joining the Galactic fold at last. Peace, prosperity and justice beckoned.

Then came the display, led by Ramael, who suddenly took his ’mobile up, and looped it. Then the other Seraphimobiles arrived. There were about two dozen of them, and they performed a silent, complex looking dance above the heads of the crowd. Among them was Mirandin’s ’mobile, piloted by Lily and co-piloted by Hoong. Lily was doing a grand job; no casual observer could have told that one of the pilots wasn’t a Seraph.

And then, higher up and not so silent, came the interstellar ships. Four Toronur, three Piantur. Two roaring Garut’nim cargo pods.

And, last and loudest, Harv’I of the Elo’I.

Government versus the state

Many people seem to think that government and the political state are the same thing. But they’re not. In fact, they’re all but opposites.

A true government would be a “justice provider.” By this I mean an institution or network of institutions, which honestly delivers common sense justice to all.

Such a justice provider would, if it existed, be well worth paying for. For it would uphold the public good; that is, as John Locke identified, the good of every individual among the governed, real criminals excepted. It would be uncompromisingly for the benefit of all individual, civil human beings who subscribe to it. It would uphold objective justice, peace and human rights. It would resolve disputes justly. It would discourage uncivil conduct. And it would impose no limits – beyond justice, the law and respect for rights – on human freedom, prosperity or progress. Furthermore, it would claim no rights other than those which its subscribers explicitly delegated to it. Otherwise put: Government should be an umpire, and no more.

In contrast, today’s political governments – I call them “gunvermints” – impose the rule of states and their political classes on those in the geographical areas they control. And I’d say: Government is an umpire, but the state is a vampire.

States are corrupt, unjust, anti-individual and a drain on civil people. They make aggressive wars, and carry out acts of terrorism. They implement harmful agendas. Far from delivering “law and order,” they impose legislation, most of which is bad, and they order people around. They harass people, and violate human rights and dignity, while offering lame excuses like “health and safety” and “national security.” They claim rights for state functionaries to violate the law. They inflate their currencies. And they take away huge chunks of our earnings, and re-distribute the proceeds to their cronies and supporters.

It’s important to recognize that any “government” which is not for the public good, that is, which acts otherwise than for the good of every civil individual among the governed, cannot be a legitimate government. If you’re a civil human being, and a “government” isn’t a nett benefit to you, then it isn’t a government. It’s a criminal gang.

Why you shouldn’t vote for politicians

(Neil's Note I thought I'd put this extract from "Honest Common Sense" up today, in view of US mid-term elections.)

There are at least three very good reasons why you shouldn’t vote for any politician. First and most obviously, there is all but zero chance that one individual’s vote can ever make a difference, even in which politician gets elected. And a far smaller chance that one individual’s vote can ever influence any policy, even in the slightest.

Second, there’s not much difference between the main parties anyway. In the UK, choosing between the Hoary Gories, the Slaver Party and the Slob Dims is like choosing between being hung, being shot, or being beheaded with an axe. In the USA, the choice between Repressive Reptiles and Depressive Demons doesn’t look much more appealing.

And third, there’s a very strong moral reason why you should never vote for any mainstream political party. For to vote for a political party is to underwrite both that party, and the system within which it exists. It will be taken as an expression of satisfaction with the party’s previous policies, however evil. It enables the next political government, whether or not you voted for it and however badly it behaves, to claim that you gave it an endorsement of legitimacy. It also violates the Law of No Aiding or Abetting, by showing support for the party’s agenda – which, for all the mainstream parties today, is to harm innocent people, to violate rights and to restrict or destroy freedom.

If the candidate or candidates you vote for are not elected, your vote is shown to be utterly worthless. If, on the other hand, they do get elected, you may have a more serious problem. For a vote for a politician or a political party, that acquires government power, violates the Law of No Harm. It’s an assault against all the innocent people who are, or will be, harmed by the agenda of that politician or party.

Now, many people find that, in the politics of the country they live in, they hate one particular party above all the others. They are tempted to vote for a different party, thinking they’re voting for “the lesser of two evils.” For example, those who hate Labour or Democrats are tempted to vote Tory or Republican, and vice versa. But the lesser of two (or more) evils is still evil. And to vote for an evil is itself an evil.

Let me make this even clearer. Say you voted for a political party, and once in power they make policies that harm an innocent person. If, later on, you fall on hard times and need help that he can provide, what do you think his attitude is likely to be? Will he say, “Of course, I’ll happily sacrifice my needs and desires for your sake.” Or will he say, “You voted Labour (or Republican), you bastard. You assaulted me. I won’t give you a f***ing penny?”

Or will he say something like the following, perhaps?

Only pricks play politics,
And only thickheads vote for dickheads.

As to touted proposals to make voting compulsory, this is an assault on a basic freedom, the right to say “no.” And to argue that forcing people to vote would make the resulting governments more legitimate is simply crazy.

For a government is only legitimate if it upholds the public good. That is, in John Locke’s words: “the good of every particular member of that society, as far as by common rules it can be provided for.” So, if a government makes legislation that damages the life of any non-criminal individual (for example, by fining them for not voting), that makes it illegitimate. And how many people voted for it is irrelevant.

I suppose it can, in principle, be OK to vote for someone who is a genuine human being, and who isn’t in any way part of the political system. But the only individuals it can ever be OK to vote for are those who are both scrupulously honest, and uncompromisingly committed to common sense justice and to human rights, freedom and prosperity. And in today’s conditions, such people keep as far away from (sniff) politics as they possibly can.

Common Sense Freedom

Fourth and last comes the Principle of Common Sense Freedom:

Except where countermanded by justice, the law or respect for rights, every individual is free to choose and act as he or she wishes.

This Principle is a catch-all. It’s a little bit like the Tenth Amendment to the US constitution. It says, in essence: When there is no other guide, the choice in any matter affecting you is yours.

The Principle also makes it plain that freedom is the fourth and lowest in the hierarchy of Principles. It can be trumped by common sense justice. It can be trumped by the law, and so by moral equality. And it can be trumped by the obligation to respect others’ rights. But it can’t be trumped by anything else. Not ever; not for any pretext or excuse; not at all.

I’ll here bring out three particularly important kinds of freedom. First, freedom to choose. You are naturally free to make your own choices and decisions. Second, and closely related, freedom to refuse, to say “no,” or in more choice language “bugger off.” And third, freedom to make mistakes, and to learn from them.

There’s a follow-up, too. In any matter which doesn’t involve or affect anyone else, you as an individual have absolute, total freedom to do exactly what you want. This is how I formulate my equivalent of the “self-ownership” principle put forward by my liberty friends.

Common Sense Rights

My third Principle is a consequence of the Principle of Common Sense Justice. But it’s sufficiently important, that it merits its own title and statement. Furthermore, I separate it from Common Sense Justice because it occupies a different place in the hierarchy. For rights can, at need, be trumped by both justice and moral equality.

I call it the Principle of Common Sense Rights:

Provided you behave as a civil human being, you have the right to be treated as a civil human being.

Behaving as a civil human being means obeying the law, including respecting the equal rights of others. It is because of this that common sense equality can be said, like justice, to trump rights.

So, what rights do you acquire through behaving in this way?

I’ll start with a conventional list of human rights, the UN Declaration from 1948. Looking through the list, I find myself dividing the listed “rights” into four groups. I call these: fundamental rights, rights of non-impedance, wisdoms and aspirations.

Fundamental rights result from moral prohibitions – that is, prohibitions applicable to everyone – of the form “Thou shalt not...” followed by something bad. For example: The right to life (thou shalt not kill). Dignity (thou shalt not treat human beings as less than human). Security of person (thou shalt not do violence). Property (thou shalt not steal). No slavery. No torture. No cruel or unusual punishment. No unjust arrest or detention. No unjust interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence. No untrue defamation. No coercion into marriage. And others.

There are also some fundamental rights which should be in the Declaration, but aren’t. Notably, peace (thou shalt not commit aggressions). But also, no stalking or routine surveillance, no search without reasonable suspicion of real wrongdoing – and in particular, no random searches, on any pretext – and no unjust seizure of goods or other assets.

I am coming to think that there should also, perhaps, be some kind of “right to truth,” based on “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Aspects of this might include: A right to challenge false public statements made about you, or about issues affecting you. A right to know what information others hold about you. And a right to have such statements or information corrected or removed if they are wrong.

I hope all readers will agree with these fundamental rights, and the rightness of the prohibitions which underlie them. I hope, too, that few will disagree with my second category, rights of non-impedance. These result from more nuanced moral prohibitions, of the form “Thou shalt not put any obstacle in the way of...” followed by something good. In this category fall rights such as: Freedom of movement and residence. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Freedom of opinion and of speech. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Freedom to marry. Freedom to seek work. Free choice of employment.

As with fundamental rights, there are also some rights of non-impedance missing from the Declaration. For example, freedom for each individual to pursue his or her own happiness.

The third group I call wisdoms. Examples include: equality before the law; public, impartial courts and trials; and innocence until proven guilty. They represent, in a Western view at least, the best ways found so far to organize Civilization justly. These are all good stuff; but they’re necessarily provisional. There’s always a chance of discovering better ways to do these things.

The fourth group I call aspirations, though some call them “positive rights.” Examples are a “right to work,” social security, a minimum standard of living or “free” education. While most people would agree with the gist of these aspirations, there’s a problem with elevating them into “rights.” For, when such a “right” requires someone other than the receiver to pay for it, that is itself a violation of the rights of those who are forced to pay.

But these aspirations can easily be recast as rights of non-impedance. For example, the “right to work” turns into the right not to be impeded from seeking work. And the “right to a minimum standard of living” becomes a right not to be impeded from trading with others to get your basic needs satisfied such as food, shelter and sex. In other words, no-one should ever put any obstacle in the way of anyone’s access to the free market.

Similarly, no-one should put obstacles in the way of anyone insuring against illness, injury or other incapacities. Or providing a good education for their children. Or making themselves financially secure.

Thus, all real rights are either fundamental rights, rights of non-impedance, or “wisdoms” which represent the best ways so far found to achieve justice.

But there’s a sting in the tail. Or, more accurately, in the proviso at the front of the Principle. If you fail to behave in a civil manner, then to the extent that you fail, you forfeit correspondingly some of your own rights. This is why it’s OK, for example, to deny freedom of movement to convicted criminals in prison.

Rejecting the cop-out clauses

Conventional views of human rights, however, don’t make this proviso. Instead, they allow political governments – or the EU, or the UN – to cop out, and to limit rights for trumped-up reasons.

The Declaration includes the following text:

2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

– United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 29

If the Article quoted above had stopped after the word “others,” I could have accepted it. But instead, there are excuses for cop-out such as “morality,” “public order,” “the general welfare” or “the purposes and principles of the UN.”

Questions present themselves. What morality? How can “public order” be compatible with the nature of conscious beings to create order, not to be brought to order? Does “the general welfare” differ from John Locke’s “public good,” and if so, how and why? And if the UN gets a bee in its bonnet about something – say, deep green environmentalism, or world government – does that negate all human rights in that area? These cop-outs are both wrong and very, very dangerous.

Certainly, you may choose to give up some of your rights in a particular situation, if you wish. If you have joined with other people in a defensive war or a fight against oppression, for example, you may be willing to give up for the common cause some of your property, or some of your freedom of movement, or some of your opportunities for rest and leisure.

But the rights of a civil human being, unless he or she voluntarily chooses to forgo them, must not be violated. Not for any reason. Ever. They are sacrosanct. And those that violate others’ rights cannot complain if they, in their turn, suffer their own rights being violated.

Common Sense Equality

To the second of my principles: Common Sense Equality.

Equality is a troublesome concept. To the political right, equality is a dirty word. The idea is vague and shadowy, but it threatens them and their privileges. It’s outside their paradigm, their way of thinking. So they ignore it, deny its validity, or suppress discussion of it, as far as they can.

The political left, on the other hand, do take on board the idea of equality. But then, seemingly failing to understand the difference between justice and equality, they pervert the idea into an excuse to harm good people. In the name of ideals like “equality of outcome” or “equality of opportunity,” the left seek to create both inequality and injustice.

An example: Suppose A and B do similar jobs, but A is much better at the job than B. Perhaps he has more experience, or is more conscientious, or has developed his talents further, or is a self-starter, or works quicker or harder than B; or, perhaps, several of these. So A fairly earns – say – twice as much as B. But the political left see this as an inequality to be “rectified.” They want to better B at the expense of A. So they authorize someone – let’s call them C – to take away some of A’s earnings, and re-distribute them to B.

Now this is an inequality, and far bigger than the one we started with. C has acquired a “right” to take away and re-distribute A’s earnings; yet A has no such “right” to take away C’s earnings and re-distribute them to B, or whomever else he wishes. It’s an injustice, too; for A has done no-one any harm, and so he deserves not to be harmed.

In reality, the remedy in this situation lies with B. He should watch what A does well, and make himself more like A. In time, perhaps, he will come to compete with A, and – in an extreme case – may even take over his job.

Neither the political right nor left offer a helpful view on equality. Yet my common sense tells me that in one very strong sense at least, we human beings are all equal. Although each of us is different and unique, we’re all morally equal; we all have the same moral rights. I express this in my Principle of Common Sense Equality:

What is right for one to do, is right for another to do under similar circumstances, and vice versa.

This kind of equality is usually called equality before the law. The idea being, that the same law and the same rules should apply to all of us. It is an essential part of the so called “rule of law.”

Equality before the law does, indeed, tally with my common sense view of equality. But my Principle is more primitive than law. It applies not only inside legal systems, but even prior to, or in the absence of, any framework of law.

Some will ask, under common sense equality, how can there be a justice system? And in particular, how can some have a right to be judges over others? For if A has a right to judge B, doesn’t B have an equal and opposite right to judge A?

My answer to this is that Common Sense Equality, my second principle, is subordinate to Common Sense Justice, my first. Otherwise put: Justice trumps equality. And so, allowing some to be judges over others doesn’t contradict common sense equality, provided those judges are entirely, and always, focused on delivering objective, common sense justice.

Some, however, will disagree more fundamentally with this kind of equality. They may make the Orwellian claim that some are more equal than others. But they must answer: exactly who is “more equal?” What do the more equal have the right to do, that the less equal do not? When? And why? And if they think some should be treated as “less equal,” and allowed less moral rights than others, they why should they themselves not be thrown down to the very bottom of the heap?

Please don’t underestimate how radical this Principle is. For it denies any claim by political officials of any right to do things which other people may not. It does not suggest that an official, such as a policeman, may not sometimes be better equipped to do a particular act in a particular situation than another person. But it affirms that what is right for that policeman to do, would be right for anyone else to do in the same situation. And vice versa.

The Principle can be applied to other political acts, too. For example, taxation. Now taxation, obviously, isn’t for the sole purpose of objective, common sense justice. In fact, most taxation has exactly the opposite effect; it re-distributes wealth away from those who justly earn it, and towards the politically hip and their supporters. Therefore, in this case, equality can’t be trumped by justice. So we can apply the Principle in full force, with the following effect: If they have a right to tax me, I must have an equal and opposite right to tax them.

As another example, consider the routine interception of our e-mails. Plainly, this can’t be for reasons of common sense justice. For if it were, it would only ever be used against those reasonably suspected, on the basis of objective evidence, of having committed, of committing or of planning to commit some real crime. Therefore, again the Principle applies in full force. If they have a right to intercept our e-mails, we must have a right to intercept theirs.

The political class try to make out that “national security,” or some other such ruse, demands that they must know about everything each of us is doing or planning to do. But we have an opposite, and far stronger, argument. That is, that our security against them and their kind requires that we must have the right to know about everything they are doing, or planning to do, to us.

Furthermore, my Principle goes directly against two of the historical guiding ideals of political states. Namely, sovereign immunity, the idea that officials cannot be brought to justice for their offences; and irresponsibility, the idea that the state isn’t responsible for damage it causes. My Principle goes directly against the ancient mantra: “The king can do no wrong.”

The law

I’ll take this a step further. From common sense equality, it follows that there exists a moral code of what is right and wrong. And this is independent of time, place, culture, or the social status of an individual. Otherwise put: Morality is universal.

To see this, try the following thought experiment. Take a large (large!) sheet of paper, and make two column headings: Act and Circumstance. Then write down pairs of acts and circumstances, in which the act is wrong under the circumstance, and should be prohibited. By common sense equality, any such prohibition must apply equally to all individuals. Continue until you have covered all such situations you can think of.

Then take another sheet (rather smaller), and do the same for acts which are required. In other words it’s wrong not to do the act under the circumstances. When finished, you have your moral code. The first sheet contains the prohibitions of that code, the second its mandates.

Of course, actually doing this will take lots of time and ink – probably more than you have available! Nevertheless, if common sense equality is right, this moral code must exist. I call it the law; or, the law of civil conduct.

Now you may ask, won’t each individual’s version of the law tend to reflect the particular culture from which that individual comes? Perhaps so; though, personally, I’d hope to be able to minimize the effect. Nevertheless, I’ll refine the thought experiment, by having it done a thousand times over.

Let a thousand greybeards scribble, I say, from as many different cultures as possible. And then we’ll take only those prohibitions and mandates which appear in all their screeds – or, at least, in a goodly proportion, say 95 per cent.

I’d expect that, provided all the beards are grey enough, there should be at least some moral rules which would survive this process. A strong candidate is Confucius’ Golden Rule, which has been generally accepted, in one form or another, by almost every religion and major culture. Three more contenders, from the Judaeo-Christian stable, are, “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Thus, as the mathematician in me would say, the law exists, and is non-empty. QED.

Particular moral codes, of course, may include elements beyond this core. They may, for example, require observance of customs such as not eating pork or not drinking alcohol. Or they may demand particular religious formalities, or require that individuals subordinate their economic interests to those of others, or seek to minimize some “footprint” of some kind. However, all valid moral codes must include the common moral core, which is the law. And to try to browbeat or to force individuals, against their wills, to obey rules not part of this core, is itself immoral and against the law.

Those familiar with conventional philosophy may also ask, in mock American accents: “Does that make you a ‘deahntahlogist’ rather than a ‘cahnsequentialist?’” My answer is no. In fact, I consider the distinction between the deontologist who judges right by adherence to a moral code, and the consequentialist who judges it by consequences, to be a straw man. I think of myself as both. For, when judging any act, I take into account both bad consequences (which I call the civil law part) and immorality or bad motive (the criminal law part).

Is this concept, of the law, the same as what has traditionally been called natural law? My answer is, broadly, yes. I hesitate to give an unconditional “yes,” mainly because the phrase “natural law” seems to mean different things to different people. But in my view, the law is the code of conduct, which is natural to civil human beings.

And legislation made by governments is only valid, if it is consistent with the law. Or, in John Locke’s words, legislated laws are “only so far right, as they are founded on the law of Nature.” (Second Treatise, §12).

I also note that the law has no statute of limitations, since it applies to everyone at all times in all places. It doesn’t matter where, or how long ago, individuals broke the law; they still broke it.

And furthermore: What is right on a Tuesday, or in Antofagasta, cannot be wrong on a Sunday or in Antananarivo.

Similarly, the law is what it is. It can’t be changed to fit political agendas. Surely, its details can change as the law is applied to new situations. And very occasionally, it’s possible that new knowledge may become available, which enables a better understanding of what the law is. But it cannot be changed merely by the say-so or the legislative fiat of any politician or group of politicians. Otherwise put: the law can be discovered, but it cannot be invented.