The Four Main Laws

Posted Sep 28, 2010

Throughout all human history, every group has had rules and laws that everyone is expected to live by. Sometimes they are transmitted verbally, in the case of small groups. Other times, they are written down and all within that group is asked to read and obey those laws or rules.

These laws/rules can cover everything from what you can and cannot wear, where you can go, even who you are supposed to associate with. They cover issues of safety, community and most importantly crime.

Every household has their own rules. Every city has theirs. Every state and every country all have different laws.

However, when you cover the biggest issue of crime, there are four and only four laws that are consistent with practically every culture.

From the 10 commandments, to the most basic aboriginal tribe, there are 4 main crimes that, if ever ignored, brings certain destruction to the community.

The reasons these laws are important are not built on some religious reason. Whether some God(dess) decreed them or not doesn't change the fact that we need these four laws. They are the corner stone of proper human interaction on all levels from a single family, all the way up to nations dealing with each other.

These four laws are:

Theft
Assault
Murder
Attempting to avoid punishment

The definitions of these crimes are very simple:

Theft = Taking the property of someone else without their consent
Assault = Attacking and intentionally causing harm to someone else without their consent
Murder = Taking the life of someone else without their consent
Attempting to avoid punishment = Doing any/all of the above three, and then trying to escape punishment for the crime

Any society/culture/group of humans that allows any of the above four crimes is doomed to failure.

Yes there are degrees of crime.

A child that steals a toy from his brother will have their hand slapped by the parent and the toy given back to the 1st child. Hopefully the child will grow to understand that taking things is not allowed, and punishment is the result.
A government or company that takes money from an employee health care fund, and spends that money elsewhere when they are not allowed, those involved in the action should be forced to pay back the money and lose their jobs.
A bank robber that shoots and kills an eyewitness is guilty of both theft and murder.
An army trying to invade another country (in other words, steal land) by their own action gives the defending soldiers the right to defend themselves, even if they must kill the aggressors to do so.
A criminal trying to bribe, intimidate and/or kill eyewitnesses in order to hurt the prosecutions case against them is automatically guilty of the 4th law, along with whatever of the 1st 3 they were charged with.

When any of these crimes are committed and the guilty person(s) are found, the punishment must fit the crime. If the criminal walks away after punishment with any extra above what they had before the crime, they are much more willing to commit the crime again.

Suggested punishments for the 4 main laws are:

Theft = Return ALL that was stolen and fined 5% extra
Assault = Pay ALL medical bills and replace/repair all damaged property related to the attack plus fined 5% extra
Murder = Pay ALL funeral/related expenses plus fined 100% extra
Attempting to avoid punishment = Pay all bills related to their flight from justice plus fined 5% extra

1/2 of the fines will go to the victims, and the other 1/2 will go toward paying the justice system.

If they are unable to pay their bills & fines, they must perform work labor until the equivalent of the bills/fines above and beyond the costs of the employment is paid for. However, the criminals property can not be confiscated or taken to pay for any bills. Regardless of their criminal activity, if they bought that stuff with their own money, it belongs to them. They cannot be forced to sell it to pay their debts.

With these 4 laws in effect, and proper punishment given to those that break them, than the rest of the laws and rules a society lives under is merely details, and I'm fine with that.

But woe be to any society that ignores these four fundamental laws.

Back to list