It’s the Law - And Other Things People Say to Avoid Thinking
I often hear people say, “Well, it’s the law,” as if that ends the discussion. I’m reminded of Samuel Pepys (and later Dickens) who remarked, “Then, sir, the law is an ass.” I couldn’t agree more.
Let me go further: lawyers, in general, are not the noble defenders of justice they’re often made out to be. They are, in my view, the grease in the machinery of injustice—drafting the very laws that protect the powerful, and then helping the wealthy find the escape hatches they so carefully designed.
You don’t have to look far for examples.
Law as a Weapon of the Powerful
Take Donald Trump. He has used the legal system not only to delay accountability but to bludgeon his opponents with lawsuits, non-disclosure agreements, and calculated loopholes. The same applies to Benjamin Netanyahu, who has used his position to reshape Israeli laws to shield himself from corruption charges. Viktor Orbán in Hungary has hollowed out democratic checks and balances through entirely legal mechanisms—restructuring courts, media oversight bodies, and electoral law to cement his power.
They didn’t do it through tanks and coups. They did it through legislation. Through the law.
When Corporations Write the Rules
Let’s step into another arena: taxation. International companies like Amazon, Apple, or Google avoid billions in taxes each year—not by breaking the law, but by using it. Shell companies, double Irish with a Dutch sandwich, intellectual property havens—these are not illegal. They're designed by law firms and financial consultants precisely to be legal.
Switzerland is not exempt. Quite the opposite—it’s a world-class enabler. Glencore, based in Zug, is a perfect case. It has profited enormously from the extraction of resources in countries where laws are weak or easily influenced. Human rights violations and environmental devastation follow in its wake, but the company thrives within legal frameworks. Who writes these frameworks? Who makes sure they remain porous? Lawyers.
“It’s Legal” Is Not the Same as “It’s Just”
Slavery was legal. Apartheid was legal. Colonial exploitation? Legal. Women being denied the vote? Legal. Legality is not morality. Yet people still say, “Well, it’s the law,” as if that’s some kind of ethical North Star. In truth, it’s often a tool of convenience—used to shut down thought, dodge responsibility, or justify silence.
The phrase has become a way to abdicate moral responsibility. But if history has shown us anything, it’s that injustice thrives not only when laws are broken, but when unjust laws are followed without question.
When Breaking the Law Was the Right Thing to Do
We shouldn’t forget: the law has often been an obstacle to progress.
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Suffragettes broke the law to win women the right to vote.
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Anti-apartheid activists in South Africa were jailed for defying a legal system built on racial oppression.
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Civil rights marchers in the U.S. broke segregation laws that were immoral, but fully legal.
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Gandhi’s Salt March openly violated British law in India—and changed the world.
Even the Berlin Wall didn’t fall because a law changed. It fell because people acted from conscience.
What’s called “civil disobedience” is often just moral clarity in the face of immoral authority. In hindsight, history praises those who stood up—but at the time, they were called criminals.
So What’s the Alternative?
Some lawyers are exceptions—they fight for justice, speak up for the vulnerable, and challenge broken systems. But they are rare, and often underfunded. Most operate within a system that rewards compliance with power, not conscience.
So what can we do?
We can stop mistaking legality for legitimacy. We can stop repeating “it’s the law” like a hypnotic mantra. Not only that, but we can start using our own discernment—our ability to know right from wrong, regardless of what the rulebook says.
The law is only as good as the hands that shape it. Right now, too many of those hands belong to people whose interests are not yours or mine.