Do you feel it is justice that the law considers "ignorance of the law is no excuse " when a law is broken without Intention?
by 
PrairieWind
ANSWERS: 12
-
Well, most laws are pretty much common sense, but if you break one of those stupid laws from a hundred years ago that just never got removed from the books, then I think you shouldn't really get into a crap load of trouble.
-
Nope. If you do not know something is illegal I think that needs to be taken into consideration. Kind of like someone spanking a child for doing something they had never been told they were not allowed to do. +4
-
If someone ran over your child in a school zone, would you accept the drivers excuse that, "i did not know it was a school zone. the school zone sign was not there". The driver, seeing children walking along the side of the road, at school dismissal time, should have known to reduce his speed. just because the sign was missing, gave him no excuse for his driving actions, especially near a school. Agree or disagree?
-
Only if it is obvious that the thing would be illegal, like murder. Or if the punishment for the first offense is not too harsh.
-
I once did but considering the thousands upon thousands of regulations and laws that we deal with today, how can anyone be informed of all of them? I would wager that all of us have unwittingly violated something, and likely seriously so, without knowing it.
-
It might be unfair in a very few cases, obscure laws etc, but what is the option. If we accept that ignorance is and excuse, we will have rapists, bank robbers etc. saying they didn't know it was illegal. How do you prove they did? (Remember, they are innocent until you prove they knew). As Jenn pointed out, most laws make sense. At the least, it makes sense that there must be specific rules governing it (example, fishing regs.), and then the onus is on you to check before you negage in the acivity.
-
Yes. It's really the only way it can be. As a citizen you are charged with knowing the law and keeping up with changes. Reading the paper will generally keep you informed.
-
I think a lot of people are missing your "without intention" flag. Depends on the law, really. If it's illegal to do catch and release out of season on your own private pond, and you have no idea, well, you're not really hurting anything. If it's illegal to catch more than two fish at a public pond, you probably should have known there was *a* law and looked it up -- also you're messing up the stock for everyone else. I remember a book where a boy tied his dog to a parking meter and put a coin in while he went into the store, and got a ticket for that. That would be crap. He was obviously *trying* to follow the law. But if, say, I park my car and don't put anything in the meter because it's saturday and where I'm from the meters are free on saturdays, that's me taking up a parking spot that would have been used by someone paying, AND not really trying -- i could have taken a look at the meter or a sign for hours.
-
Ignorance of the law IS an excuse. Laws varie with culture. You just have to be sure that the perp isn't trying to pull a "I didn't know any better" lie on you.
-
despite the fact that true ignorance of the law is a valid excuse it can be twisted into a reason to intentionally break the law and get away with it...so the best you can do is gain as much knowledge as you can when the law is concerned and just follow your gut as to what is right and wrong.
-
It depends on the particular "crime". As John P. said in his answer, driving at a dangerous speed in ignorance of the law should be no excuse if you kill someone. OTOH, if the law is politically motivated and has noithing to do with common sense, or rights vs. wrong, or hurting anyione...such as, for example, someone with cancer from California visiting New York and taking his pain-killing medicine in public unaware that his particular medicine is illegal in New York, that should be a perfectly valid excuse.
-
Not at all, in most cases, the law doesn't have to be explained, or the person does not have to be notified. perfect example. if your drivers license is revoked, the DMV does not have to notify you, but if the police stop you, you can be charged with driving with a suspended license. to that point, you have no way of knowing, and it just favors the state, because they can collect fines
Thriftymaid 
HungryGuy RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC