Arguing Philosophical Claim

Is it more important for society to be lawful or to be fair? This is not an abstract
question as throughout human history the choice between fairness and strictly following the
law has resulted in devastating consequences. Take the example of Mrs. Hamilton, an African
American woman who in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to vacate a seat for a
young white man. Heavily pregnant, she could not afford to stand on the bus for long. For her
refusal to vacate her seat, the driver called in the police who arrested her for breaking Jim
Crow laws that required black people to vacate seats for white people in buses. For Mrs.
Hamilton and millions of other people who have lived in societies where there is a dichotomy
between fairness and lawfulness, the choice between the two is not a difficult one.
The example of Mrs. Hamilton shows why it is more important for society to be fair
rather than lawful. Fairness is a natural human quality that cannot be legislated away. Thus,
in a fair society, one is guaranteed to enjoy justice at all times because unlike laws which can
be made and unmade, fairness is a constant human quality. If 1950s Alabama were a fair
society, police would not have needed to arrest heavily pregnant woman for refusing to
vacate a seat for a healthy young white male. It is because the society was strictly legal and
unfair that such actions could take place.
Some people, however, have argued that it is better for society to be lawful instead of
fair. They argue that lawful societies promote justice because the laws apply equally to

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everyone. As Aristotle notes in Nicomachean Ethics, “All lawful acts are in a sense just acts”
(Ross (translator) 1). However, promoters of this argument fail to recognize that many civil
laws can be just and promote unfairness, particularly against minority groups. Examples of
such laws include Jim Crow laws in the USA, Nuremberg laws in Germany, and Apartheid
laws in South Africa. In places with such laws, adherence to law promotes injustice against
some groups and individuals.
For so many people like Mrs. Hamilton who have endured injustices that are legal, the
question of whether society should be lawful or fair is not a hard one. History is littered by
examples of monstrous injustices that were committed while maintaining the law. These
examples show that if a society wants to guarantee justice for everyone at all times, it needs
to place a higher premium on fairness than law.

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Works Cited
Ross, W.D. Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle.