Gerald .M Magembe
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 17, 2013
- 2,496
- 1,797
The law doesn’t exist or live, in a vacuum. Nor does it materialise out of thin air. The law is based on a society’s norms, which are drawn from its dominant civilization.
Norms are fountains of knowledge and wisdom in which the law is sheathed. The law can protect you, or harm you. Like a sword, it’s double-edged and cuts both ways. It’s indeterminate.
That’s why laws and norms are end products of political processes. They are the distillation of social, ethical, religious or class-based interests of elites.
Often, laws are a class imposition by a hegemonic group, or elites in society over subordinate, or subaltern, strata.
Norms are fountains of knowledge and wisdom in which the law is sheathed. The law can protect you, or harm you. Like a sword, it’s double-edged and cuts both ways. It’s indeterminate.
That’s why laws and norms are end products of political processes. They are the distillation of social, ethical, religious or class-based interests of elites.
Often, laws are a class imposition by a hegemonic group, or elites in society over subordinate, or subaltern, strata.