Laws should be flexible enough to take account of various circumstances, times, and places.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
While most of us are aware of the age old adage ‘justice is blind’, what we often forget is that the proverb is incomplete. The entirety of it is ‘justice is blind, until a judge gives it eyes.’ This proverb clearly implies that the rendering of judicial decisions is oftentimes a culmination of existing statutes and subjective beliefs. If the purveyors of justice possess the flexibility to exercise subjectivity based on context, shouldn’t the same be taken into account while framing of these laws. Consequently I am wont to mostly agree with the proposition that the law ought to be flexible, as rules cannot exist in a vacuum bereft of circumstantial knowledge. Before I elucidate my two main reasons in support of this proposition, I will first carve out certain exceptions to the aforementioned statement.
There exist certain laws that govern crimes of a universal nature and consequently penalise them in similar manner. It means that across a multitude of domestic jurisdictions the penalties prescribed for these acts are commensurate. This includes crimes of a heinous nature such as culpable homicide, murder, gangrape, child sex abuse etc. Perpetrators are usually sentenced to either life imprisonment or imprisonment extending a period of 7-10 years. The rationale is that in case of crimes that are an affront to all societies across the world, there cannot be much scope for flexibility with regards to punishment. When man violates the fundamentals of humanity, punishment must be harsh and uniform, regardless of time or place.
However most other acts that constitute as being law abiding or rule breaking cannot be examined in the absence of context. If a law is to be framed in a stringent and un-amendable manner, it can neither aid in providing justice or serving as a deterrent. The history and current circumstances prevailing in a particular region ought to be considered while formulating legislation. Take for instance, in a country like India that has a sinister history of aborting female foetuses, pre-natal determination of the sex of an unborn child is strictly prohibited and subjected to stringent penalties and jail time. Whereas in most western countries around the world such as United States of America, France and Germany there are no prohibitions governing determination of gender of a foetus. The simple reason is that these countries have a different social fabric, one where a girl child is not considered burdensome or less than a boy. Thus, it becomes increasingly clear that laws are governed by the conditions that exist in a particular society. They seek to remedy different evils in different places.
Another pertinent point is that the law only serves its purpose if it is able to keep pace with a rapidly evolving society. laws governing a particular region must reflect its realities as they exist currently. In the absence of this evolution, there exist possibilities of misuse of archaic statutes to quell dissent in democratic nations. In order to contextualise the aforementioned statement one needs to look no further than the Indian Penal code that continues to criminalise dissent, unfavourable opinions against the government under the guise of sedition. A law that belongs to the colonial era, which has ironically been repealed in its coloniser country continues to exist in India. It is weaponised and frequently misused to silence voices of disagreement. As is clear from the above example, laws need to be flexible to meet the demands of time and progress.
In conclusion, it must be said that a fine balance needs to be struck when it comes to both formulation and application of laws. There is no one size fits all solution in this case. While certain stringent principles that ensure absolute welfare of society must remain steadfast, it is also important to ensure that law reflects the society as it exists today, replete with all its advances and complications.
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 504, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Consequently,
...to account while framing of these laws. Consequently I am wont to mostly agree with the prop...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 1, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
...uniform, regardless of time or place. However most other acts that constitute as bein...
^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 125, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Laws
...p pace with a rapidly evolving society. laws governing a particular region must refl...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, consequently, first, however, if, look, so, thus, whereas, while, for instance, in conclusion, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 35.0 19.5258426966 179% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 12.4196629213 97% => OK
Conjunction : 17.0 14.8657303371 114% => OK
Relative clauses : 22.0 11.3162921348 194% => OK
Pronoun: 50.0 33.0505617978 151% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 92.0 58.6224719101 157% => OK
Nominalization: 24.0 12.9106741573 186% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3309.0 2235.4752809 148% => OK
No of words: 643.0 442.535393258 145% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.14618973561 5.05705443957 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.03561760524 4.55969084622 110% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.04514953964 2.79657885939 109% => OK
Unique words: 344.0 215.323595506 160% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.53499222395 0.4932671777 108% => OK
syllable_count: 1074.6 704.065955056 153% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59117977528 107% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 6.24550561798 144% => OK
Article: 5.0 4.99550561798 100% => OK
Subordination: 9.0 3.10617977528 290% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.77640449438 0% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.38483146067 137% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 29.0 20.2370786517 143% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 23.0359550562 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 45.5646565995 60.3974514979 75% => OK
Chars per sentence: 114.103448276 118.986275619 96% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.1724137931 23.4991977007 94% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.72413793103 5.21951772744 71% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 10.2758426966 107% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 5.13820224719 195% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.83258426966 166% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.142440689089 0.243740707755 58% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0336133779069 0.0831039109588 40% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0299353651749 0.0758088955206 39% => Sentences are similar to each other.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0741604695222 0.150359130593 49% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.016338568544 0.0667264976115 24% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.9 14.1392134831 98% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 40.69 48.8420337079 83% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.1 12.1743820225 108% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.59 12.1639044944 104% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.47 8.38706741573 113% => OK
difficult_words: 193.0 100.480337079 192% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 11.8971910112 122% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.2143820225 96% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.7820224719 119% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 79.17 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.75 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 504, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Consequently,
...to account while framing of these laws. Consequently I am wont to mostly agree with the prop...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 1, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: However,
...uniform, regardless of time or place. However most other acts that constitute as bein...
^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 125, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Laws
...p pace with a rapidly evolving society. laws governing a particular region must refl...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, consequently, first, however, if, look, so, thus, whereas, while, for instance, in conclusion, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 35.0 19.5258426966 179% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 12.4196629213 97% => OK
Conjunction : 17.0 14.8657303371 114% => OK
Relative clauses : 22.0 11.3162921348 194% => OK
Pronoun: 50.0 33.0505617978 151% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 92.0 58.6224719101 157% => OK
Nominalization: 24.0 12.9106741573 186% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3309.0 2235.4752809 148% => OK
No of words: 643.0 442.535393258 145% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.14618973561 5.05705443957 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.03561760524 4.55969084622 110% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.04514953964 2.79657885939 109% => OK
Unique words: 344.0 215.323595506 160% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.53499222395 0.4932671777 108% => OK
syllable_count: 1074.6 704.065955056 153% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59117977528 107% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 6.24550561798 144% => OK
Article: 5.0 4.99550561798 100% => OK
Subordination: 9.0 3.10617977528 290% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.77640449438 0% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.38483146067 137% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 29.0 20.2370786517 143% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 23.0359550562 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 45.5646565995 60.3974514979 75% => OK
Chars per sentence: 114.103448276 118.986275619 96% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.1724137931 23.4991977007 94% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.72413793103 5.21951772744 71% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 10.2758426966 107% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 5.13820224719 195% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.83258426966 166% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.142440689089 0.243740707755 58% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0336133779069 0.0831039109588 40% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0299353651749 0.0758088955206 39% => Sentences are similar to each other.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0741604695222 0.150359130593 49% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.016338568544 0.0667264976115 24% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.9 14.1392134831 98% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 40.69 48.8420337079 83% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.1 12.1743820225 108% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.59 12.1639044944 104% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.47 8.38706741573 113% => OK
difficult_words: 193.0 100.480337079 192% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 11.8971910112 122% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.2143820225 96% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.7820224719 119% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 79.17 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.75 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.