cloquewerk (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cloquewerk) wrote, |
More and more I am realizing that the notion of laws serving the public interest was essentially tacked on to the original purpose of legal systems--protecting the property of the rich. As far as I know, laws originated after the formation of hierarchical societies; even in many North American pre-conquest cultures had nothing like European and Asian legal systems (a great challenge to today's progressive lawyers who are trying to synthesize Canadian and Native ideas of law). That isn't to say that non-hierarchical groups were "anything-goes" societies, but there was no need for a rigid system of laws until some people had to protect their wealth against others. I guess it is no wonder then that we just can't seem to get the legal system right.
