The tenet from ancient Rome is that ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. How does this square with the current American legal system? How do we reconcile this principle with the huge pile of statutes and regulations already on the books? With the federal government producing a 200-300 page book of additional rules and regulations every workday (Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations)? With the states all doing the same kind of thing?
2006-12-15 07:04:35 · 13 answers · asked by Captain Obvious! 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Ignorance of the law is no excuse for you. It is an excuse for the police. Simple at that depends on who you are. You don't believe me check out the number of cops and judges that don't know the Constitution and the number that only know the Titles of the Amendments in the Constitution and try to use the Titles as the whole amendment of the Constitution.
The cop's simple explanation, "I wasn't made aware of the change in the law," or "We were not informed about that law," exempts him. You try that and see what happens.
2006-12-15 07:26:07 · answer #1 · answered by JUAN FRAN$$$ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They did a big push about that a few years ago and put billboards up all over the place that said "Ignorance is no excuse to break the law" so unless they changed things I assume it's not a good defense. The only time I say it might be a valid excuse is in situations where the law is not consistant from state to state or town to town....like smoking bans. Who keeps track of every town, city and states rules on all this? Just hate to get busted on a vacation to someplace because I put my cigarette out too close to the door or if a bar was too dark to read a no smoking sign.
2006-12-15 08:01:51 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you're absolutely right; it would be unreasonable to think even the most "juridical" person would know all the crimes on the books. The criminal law operates according to the maxim, ignorance is no excuse for the law, because it has too. As was said before, if it didn't every Defendant would say he didn't know. While this may be unfair in the few cases when trhe defendant really didn't know or have reason to know, the benefits of the presumption of knowlegde of the law outweigh the good, at least in my eyes.
2006-12-15 09:38:42 · answer #3 · answered by John Tiggity 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, a judge told me that once, so now I am a law student.
It isn't an exuse, all the information is out there for the public to view and research. There is no reason not to know the law, everyone says at one time or another that they think their rights have been violated, if they could know that much they could know more. If you were arrested and the police didn't read you your Miranda rights, you would know that was a negative for them and a positive for you right? So why wouldn't anyone want to be more knowledgeable in the law, it would be helpful if they ever had to defend themselves.
2006-12-15 07:45:46 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reason for the law: by allowing ignorance as a defense, you give every defendant a way out of their crime. It would probably be OK for murder (difficult to claim you didn't know that was illegal) but there are numerous other 'bad acts' that might be open to that defense. The courts are liable to take into account such factors when a finding of guilty is entered and a punishment is determined (unless restricted by statute). So in general, lack of knowledge can reasonably be used in mitigation, but does not excuse the crime.
2006-12-15 07:09:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance of the law is still not a defense. It is so easy to know the laws of the state/county/city that you live in.
No ignorance should not be an excuse for breaking the law.
2006-12-15 07:33:09 · answer #6 · answered by Loli M 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's the way it is, and should be! Though I think that 99% of the laws very few Americans have ever heard of!
I think most know which affect them, or should know! When a sign says 65 and your speedometer says 80, you might want to slow down whether you know it's a law or not!
2006-12-15 07:10:31 · answer #7 · answered by cantcu 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You make a very good point, since even lawyers don't know every aspect in all the different areas of law. That is why some just specialize in one area of law.
2006-12-15 07:09:49 · answer #8 · answered by WC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good point. But there is another side of the "ignorance" coin. If a 16 year old girl tells you she is 18 and shows you ID, you can still be convicted of statutory rape. What's up with that?
2006-12-15 07:13:05 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the laws that involve common sense are the ones that are broken everyday!!! All crimes are based on what is right and wrong. Everyone who knows right from wrong is capable of deciding if what they are about to do might be illegal. When in doubt don't do it.
2006-12-15 07:24:17 · answer #10 · answered by On Time 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋