The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #113474 Message #2412273
Posted By: Paul Burke
13-Aug-08 - 03:12 AM
Thread Name: BS: Breaking Laws and Crime
Subject: RE: BS: Breaking Laws and Crime
Not every wrong is a crime. That's clear, and many people get rich by operating just this side of the law, or in areas like the internet where law is uncertain. Their effect on the victims can be far more devastating than some criminals. Firms which go (legally) bankrupt owing money to suppliers and employees, and/or having taken money in advance from customers, are an example of this. A recent UK case involved a firm that built boats. They went into liquidation, having taken 65000 pounds (over $120000) off a retired couple, who wanted the boat to live on, and had sold their house to pay for it. They ended up homeless.
Certainly not every violation of the law is a crime. Some (at least in UK law) are non- criminal civil offences.
Conversely, not every crime is a wrong. The obvious case is where a state passes unjust laws, in which case it becomes a moral duty to break the law.