opinion of justice manson
Fellow Justices, a case has come to my attention that raises many interesting questions to the effectiveness of our legal system. A few months ago five explorers became trapped in a cave when it caved in. When they emerged a month later with the help of rescue teams, only four still lived. The four had killed their fifth companion and ate him to survive. This would be a clear-cut case of homicide if the five men had not agreed to randomly kill one of their own so that the others could live. Our fellow Justice in charge of the case sentenced the four to death, as is our law for homicide. However, after the jury made an appeal the sentence was reduced to a six-month incarceration. In m . . .
The men what was right at the time and that is all that is needed for a full acquittal. A crime must also fit the spirit of the law. It is fundamentally wrong to be persecuted for ensuring that your life continues. Laws by nature should be flexible so that all possible situations are covered. Furthermore, what happened was the best of the possible resolutions to the problem. We have no right to judge a decision made under circumstances we could never understand. Under dire circumstances the five men created a dire pact to ensure their survival. The five explorers agreed that the victim should be chosen at random so that the burden of choosing who would die would not fall on anyone. The only laws that applied to the five explorers are those of their surroundings. Had the men not acted and sacrificed one of their own we would have five dead explorers instead of just one. These men should not be persecuted merely because their case falls within the letter of the law. These men perpetrated nothing more than self-defense. They knew that they could not survive with out the sacrifice of one of their own and they took his life so they could live. The five defendants were trapped miles from civilization and miles from the world where our predecessors penned our laws.
Common topics in this essay:
Fellow Justices, five explorers, five explorers agreed, laws nature, trapped cave, explorers agreed, chosen random, |
Acceptance Essays
