“I will put My Law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people” – Jeremiah 31:33-34

 

All human beings have an innate sense of right and wrong, an innate sense of the way they ought to behave. This sense is called the natural, moral law. It is God’s law of right vs. wrong literally written on our hearts, woven into the very fabric of who we are.

 

Because human beings have free will, and can willingly choose to ignore and disobey this sense of the way they ought to behave, governments and laws are created by men. Governments and laws do not create right and wrong, they themselves are created in response to our sense of right and wrong.

 

These ideas were captured in the declaration of independence, “…That to secure these rights (not create them but protect them…secure them), Governments are instituted (created) among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

 

By rights, Thomas Jefferson is referring to experiences human beings ought to have, unencumbered by the ill will or mal-intent of other human beings, such as life, liberty, and the freedom to pursue happiness. These rights need to be protected because they can in fact be taken away. While your true, spiritual life and mind are eternal, your life on this earth can be ended “before your time”. Your liberty and freedom can be taken from you through imprisonment, among other things. To protect these rights, people have created governments, laws, and courts of law.

 

It is important to recognize that the governments, written laws, and courts that people create are but expressions of the real law that is written on our hearts. The real law that ensures liberty and justice for all is not found in a single law book or written constitution. The real law is written on our hearts. Governments and written laws are but expressions of this law written on our hearts, expressions of this sense of the way we ought to behave.

 

Governments, laws, and courts of law are just and fair only to the extent that the office holders, lawyers, and judges are willing to obey this sense of right vs. wrong they find within themselves. The world today is full of examples of office holders, lawyers, and judges who are not willing, and the unjust, unfair, and corrupt governments and laws that result from such willful disobedience.

 

Living in a society that acknowledges and submits to the natural moral law requires hard work. Just governments and laws are created by human beings in response to the sense of right vs. wrong found within them. This act of creation requires diligent human effort. Ensuring that these governments and laws, once created, do not become the vehicles by which one or a group of people live at the expense of others requires just as much work.

 

To paraphrase Wendell Phillips, The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

 

Human beings are responsible for the creation of just government and laws, and they are also responsible for maintaining them. These ideas were also captured in the declaration of independence.

 

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

 

Everyone has heard stories of the unscrupulous lawyer who finds a loop hole in the law to get an obviously guilty defendant off the hook. Everyone has heard stories of the innocent defendant who was fined or imprisoned because of unjust laws.

 

Such stories are examples of the letter of the law being followed, but the real, moral law written on our hearts being ignored or disobeyed.

 

American court rooms have a vehicle to ensure that the natural moral law can be expressed and override unjust law, if need be.

 

This vehicle is called jury nullification. When a jury hearing a case believes that the defendant on trial is being subject to unjust laws, the jury can find the defendant not guilty on grounds that the law is unjust. Jury nullification stands as a last defense against unjust laws…laws that are contrary to the real moral law written on our hearts.

 

John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court said "The Jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy."  - John Jay, Georgia v. Brailsford, 1794

 

Democracy, jury nullification, the rule of law…all of these things are but expressions of the real moral law found within us. If people are not willing to obey and follow these moral laws of right vs. wrong that God writes on our hearts, no amount of democracy, jury nullification, rule of law, or any other law, idea, or form of government will allow liberty and justice to prevail.

 

God is our ultimate law giver, our Lord[1]. He is our source of the sense of morality and justice we find within us, and “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” – II Corinthians 3:17

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