The very purpose of law, in a layman's language, is to regulate the affairs of the society and the state within a specified jurisdiction. In other words, one can say that one of the main objects of Law is to regulate the social, economic, political, cultural, religious, administrative, educational and physical atmosphere of a society and the relations and interactions between individuals, institutions and communities and the means of expression and mass communication.
Since the Law is aimed at maintaining an atmosphere that the society considers as congenial for the growth and development of the individual and the nation and is helpful to every individual to enjoy his rights and liberties, every citizen is expected to know his rights and also his duties so that, while he makes efforts for his peace and progress, he does not obstruct the fulfilment of similar aspirations of others, and, thus, does not violate law and invite punishment. But if legal Acts roll out from the legislative bodies as products roll out from a big industry and amendments and additions to or replacements of the existing legal provisions become too frequent, unwieldy and abundant, then it becomes impossible for a citizen to keep abreast with the law and to completely avoid violation of law.
As new kinds of crime come up and new situations arise because of industrialisation, urbanisation, commercialisation, etc., new Acts are passed and, therefore, Law has now become like an ocean and even the eminent and successful professionals in the field know only a limited part of it so that one is reminded of Newton's statement that he had been able to get only a few words out of the ocean of Knowledge.
Add to this, the fact that, because of the ambiguity in the wording of the Acts and their clauses, and also because of the absence of clear definitions of those crucial words for which the whole Act was framed, there are so many interpretations and, based on them, so many different judgements and precedents that, in many cases, there is not much pleading on the point of law and much efforts of the defence lawyer are made to escape punishment by finding the flaw, the loophole or a convenient precedent or by building a new interpretation of a vague term.
So, seeing this situation, the society must now try to find a new paradigm, have new concepts and adopt new ways so that humankind marches towards less and less crime and there is need of fewer and fewer laws that are without lacuna or flaw. This is possible only through spiritual and moral education.
Alas, the society had cared to take this step instead of having more and more crimes, laws, litigants, lawyers and jails.
The writer is a spiritual educator and popular columnist for publications across India, Nepal and the UK, and has written more than 8,000 columns. He can be contacted at nikunjji@gmail.com / www.brahmakumaris.com
