page 8
opinions
Law as a house
SAM MICHAELS
Contributor
With only two weeks of law school behind me,
and the recoil of this seemingly monumental
career leap still reverberating, I thought now
would be a good time to take a stab at the question which has so clearly dominated my time
at Osgoode so far. What is law? Every speech,
every presentation, and every professor’s introduction included some iteration of this question.
The issue was broken down, analyzed, deliberated, and defined, with reference to every philosophy on the matter, and the full history of
the debate. My understanding of the question
has grown immensely, and my appreciation for
the advice and instruction offered so far knows
no bounds.
profession. I have neither the knowledge nor
experience to know how wrong my answer will
be. Which is why I will put it out there now, to
be torn apart by myself and others as I learn
However, something in all these talks has left
me troubled, which is why I am writing this
now.
For all the depth we reached on the question “what is law,” every speaker I heard still
seemed horribly afraid to offer anything close
to what could be considered an answer. Why is
this? Are we worried about the shame of a bad
response, or the inevitable debate any ideological answer will lead to? I’m not sure. And perhaps it is this lack of surety that leaves me so
confident to tackle the question for myself. As
of now, I am on the ground floor of the legal
PICTURED: LAW.
and grow through my time here. It is my hope
that from reading what I have to say, minds
much better than my own will find a renewed
confidence in taking their own turn to say what
is law.
So, what is law? Law is the rules of the house.
And the house is society. Not just “our” society (or the Oz society we are all currently lost
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in), but all of society. We are already seeing
international law growing as we formulate
rules for the whole house, but if you a staunch
nationalist, at least you can hopefully picture
each country as its own room. Some of the
rooms have more furniture, some are sturdier,
some are prettier, but all are part of the same
building. The rules of each room, whether it
is noticeable or not, will affect all the others.
Now some of the rules are easy to know. Your
house needs walls, floors, and ceilings. Society’s house needs to not kill each other, be in
general agreeable in public, and not steal from
each other. At this point you may stop me to
mention any of the million cases where killing
is acceptable, or when stealing is forgivable. I
can only respond that all I said was that we
need walls, but not how they should look or
what material they should be. These are more
detailed rules, they need to be arrived at slowly,
with delicacy and dedication.
Just like with the rooms of a house, each country has its own benefits and, ideally, its own
purpose. For countries, that purpose should be
the well-being of its people, and as such, the
law needs to be designed towards that aim. As
we get into more complex situations, just as we
get into the minute details of how our home
should be organized, the law needs to respond
with more complexity. It is easy to know that
child molestation is bad for society’s house.
In my house, it is easy to know that the bed
shouldn’t go in front of the door. But what of
an issue such as tobacco control? Here it gets
complicated, and like the very tiny details of
how I organize my home, whether to stack the
pots on the pans or to leave the towels hanging or folded, it will take much more effort
to arrive at the right answer. Whether that
answer is out there, or whether I will have to
use the information and evidence to arrive at
the best possible rule, it doesn’t mean the effort
is not worthwhile.
This is how I see all of law. It is the rules of
the house that will keep things organized and
running smoothly. Because society is one heck
of a complicated house, it’s simply taking us a
while to arrive at all the correct rules, but that
doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort! If we see
society as a house, one in which the contents
and rules of my room affect all the others, than
we are far more likely to be careful with how
we treat our sovereign space. Seeing law as the
rules of the house allows us to view law as an
active, organizing force in our lives. In this way
we can see ourselves, as lawyers, as responsible
for making good, workable rules, ones which
will help not only to maintain our home, but to
ensure that it is strong and beautiful for all the
» continued on page 19
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