[ExI] the law

[William Flynn Wallace]

I am certainly no legal theorist, but (it's always 'but' with me, isn't
it?) here's an assumption:

Most, maybe all laws, are based on this:  do no harm to people or property.
So a law is passed:  cars must come to a complete halt at a Stop sign.

Example:  in the middle of the night I arrived at an intersection on a
highway.  Utterly no traffic.  I arrived, looked both ways, put the car in
1st gear (my transmission allowed that) and went through the Stop sign at
maybe two miles per hour.

Blue lights!!!  Pulled over.  I argued that I had obeyed the spirit of the
law in that my action did not pose any harm to any person, including myself
or property.  Technically I ran the Stop sign.

Should I get a ticket inasmuch as I did not obey the law, or should I be
let off as doing something completely harmless?

Result:  I got a warning.  (A friend ten minutes behind me, got a ticket.
He was furious when he found out that I didn't.  Upon relating our stories
it was clear that he verbally abused the patrolman whereas I said 'Sir'
frequently and never contradicted him (maybe this made a difference to him
because he was Black, but we don't know that.))  But which side do you come
down on:  ticket or no ticket?  Another way of phrasing this, which I think
is equivalent:  how much latitude, if any, do you give the police?

bill w
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